A weekly newspaper is set to move out of its office in the town it serves with no replacement yet lined up.
The Hawick News, in the Scottish Borders, will give up the lease on its office at the end of 2015.
No alternative arrangement has yet been found for the one full-time member of staff and other part-timers presently based at the News’s Towerdykeside headquarters.
News owner Johnston Press has closed a number of offices across the UK in recent years with journalists either working remotely or relocated to bigger sister titles’ offices, sometimes off patch.
A JP spokeswoman said: “We will be closing the Towerdykeside office at the end of December and are currently looking for new premises that better suit the needs of our news team.
“We live in an age when people are more connected than even via online and on mobile and, in fact, our news teams prefer to be out and about in our communities rather than sitting at a desk behind a computer screen or at the end of a phone line.”
JP’s programme of office closures began in a bid to release funds to ensure its remaining offices are “fit for purpose.”
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Er, the end of the year is only six weeks away so JP – “currently looking for new premises” – had better pull its finger out, though I suppose the flannel about “out and about in our communities” means people will be expected to work from home. Make sure you have the proper insurance if you do that, folks. I’m sure JP will reimburse you.
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Intrigued to see the statement from JP, which reflects a dramatic U-turn in policy since staff at its Burnley Express office were dispatched to Preston this year – a good 20 miles from their ‘local communities’.
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Yet another example of brilliant forward planning by the suits at JP.
Little wonder that the company’s shares are heading for yet another nosedive.
Comics !
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Out and about in the damp cold of a Scotch mist…I bet they love it!
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Hawick, the biggest town in the Borders without its own office. I can see that happening. JP will probably look to have these people moved to Selkirk alongside their colleagues at the Southern Reporter and ‘squeak’ and community outreach/surgeries at Morrisons or the green cafe (if it’s still there). Oh dear….
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“…in fact, our news teams prefer to be out and about in our communities.” Yes, they prefer being out of the neglected, Dickensian conditions that many JP offices have deteriorated into.
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They have destroyed so many local newspapers that were once respected in their communities throughout the UK. The deepest shame on them.
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