Up to 22 editorial jobs are under threat at a group of Trinity Mirror newspapers with plans to turn two titles into a seven-day operation.
The publisher has announced a restructure which will see the merger of editorial operations at Glasgow-based papers the Daily Record and Sunday Mail.
As a result, up to 15 jobs are at risk across the two titles, with a further seven under threat at other Scottish regional papers.
As part of the restructure, Brendan McGinty will become Mail editor and also serve as deputy to Trinity Mirror Scottish nationals editor-in-chief Murray Foote, left, who currently runs the Record.
Brendan’s predecessor, Jim Wilson, took voluntary redundancy from the Mail last month after seven years as editor.
A Trinity Mirror spokeswoman said: “We are seeing growth in digital and in our events and business division but like all publishers we are having to carefully manage costs.
“We are therefore merging the Daily Record and Sunday Mail into an integrated seven-day operation covering print and digital. This means the merger of the two separate news and features departments into one, along with the back bench news and sports.
“As a result up to 15 jobs could be at risk at the Record and Mail, with a further seven in our Scottish regional titles.
“Daily Record Editor Murray Foote will also be editor-in-chief of Scottish nationals with Brendan McGinty his deputy. Brendan will have the title of Sunday Mail editor.”
NUJ Scotland is in talks with Trinity Mirror over the plans.
The union’s assistant organiser tweeted yesterday: “Meeting Trinity Scotland management over cuts announcement- tough times…yet again.”
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“…“We are seeing growth in digital and in our events and business division”
which will presumably make up for the huge losses in circulation copy sales and ad revenues will it?
Forget investing and developing printed publications,turnTM into an online events business then you`ll need hardly any staff at all-think of the cost savings to be had there.
With year end approaching and bottom lines being looked at expect more short termism by the bigger groups weighed down by layer upon layer of unproductive commercial staff yet who will always head to the editorial floor to make the cuts.
tis the season to be culling
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as a Scot, i am a little saddened that these two paper are merging. It will only lead to a loss of identity. As an investor in Trinity Mirror, I am delighted.
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Glad to hear the loss of 20+ jobs makes you happy and might mean a nice little bonus for you and your fellow investors @confused
And that a loss of identity is more of an issue than people’s livelihoods
Confirmation that an I’m alright jack mentality is alive and well in certain dark corners of the regional press in this country
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Think ‘confused’ was taking the mick, playing devil’s advocate to tease out people’s thoughts or to present the other side of the equation. IE All done for short term investor gain.
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And all this after TM gleefully announced that it was £5million ahead in their cost cutting. I’m the last one to say ‘I told you so’ (well, normally), but as I’ve already said, it’s clear that this cull is not going to stop until the whole shebang is run by one man and his (digital) dog.
My deepest commiserations to colleagues affected by this latest round of cuts.
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Is this a new template for elsewhere in Trinity Mirror, one of the companies responsible for the slow death of journalism?
Will other areas now suffer similar fates?
The circulation declines in Birmingham and Coventry surely dictate a return to Midland Daily Telegraph days – one paper for all.
In fact, why don’t TM adopt the strategy of the Metro free paper?
They could relaunch their websites with clickbait, clickbait and more clickbait, interspersed with local news in the form of rewritten – or not – press releases from each area.
Oh, I’m sorry, that seems to be the idea already.
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oh dear Archie… your inability to sense irony is troubling.
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Confused – I’ve already warned the famous, yet ironic, Dick Minim (by the way, where is he?) about using irony. It just gets you into trouble.
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