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Up to 12 jobs at risk at former Local World titles

David BartlettUp to 12 editorial posts are at risk at former Local World titles in the East of England as new owner Trinity Mirror continues its rolling restructure of the enlarged business.

Some new roles are also set to be created as a result of the changes, which affect the Cambridge News and a series of weekly sister titles in Herts and Essex.

Seven posts are at risk at the News, and five at Herts and Essex Newspapers, which includes the Hertforshire Mercury, Herts & Essex Observer and Harlow Star.

The proposed changes come 24 hours after the Liverpool Echo’s David Bartlett, left, was announced as the new editor of the News, following Paul Brackley’s departure earlier this year, although he does not take up the role until 1 August.

Trinity Mirror has confirmed that its print and online portfolio in the region will be unchanged, with no websites closing or merging.

Restructures in some other parts of the former LW stable such as Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Kent and Essex have seen smaller newspaper companion sites merged into county-wide platforms.

A Trinity Mirror spokesperson said: “We have today announced changes to editorial structures in Cambridge and Herts & Essex Newspapers (HEN).

“In line with the strategy and approach across Trinity Mirror, the proposed changes focus on ensuring we have the right editorial structure to best deliver quality digital and print content to local audiences on the topics they are interested in, when they want it, how they want it.

“As part of the changes, a number of new roles will be created, but we also anticipate some redundancies. Seven roles are at risk in Cambridge and five in HEN. Staff affected have entered a period of consultation.

“Trinity Mirror’s portfolio in Cambridge and HEN will be unaffected and the business remains committed to providing the best local journalism across our print, digital and social channels.”

30 comments

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  • June 23, 2016 at 8:37 am
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    I often wonder how the new breed of editor favoured by TM and others view these cuts. Hardly a day goes by without scything job losses and every cut must affect the quality of the product. The very product they are responsible for growing and nurturing.

    I spent many years working my backside off to become editor of my home town evening paper. Now, I wouldn’t thank you for ANY editor’s job and I’m embarrassed to tell people what I used to do as my old paper is so bad.

    I wonder how many editors these days sleep well at night?

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  • June 23, 2016 at 8:58 am
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    “Rolling restructure” has associations with enemy tank divisions thundering across vast plains towards a defenceless city… which is what it will feel like in Cambridge and Herts right now. Good luck to all.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 9:02 am
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    More axings at TM than an episode of Game of Thrones. Where’s the dragons when you need them?

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  • June 23, 2016 at 9:08 am
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    This process is not about providing the ‘best local journalism’, it’s about covering the cracks in the short-sighted failing commercial strategy that doesn’t get close to making the money needed to pay for editorial and TM’s huge central costs. The commercial side fails, the editorial side pays.
    But at least the MD can still roll up in his new car without a slight hint of embarrassment.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 9:21 am
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    Why Just why?: Spot on. If anyone can discern a plausible commercial rationale (i.e. driving up profit, which is what a business should be doing) behind all this then they’re a better clergyman than me. What happens when the TM beancounters spot that Newsroom 3.1 isn’t improving turnover/margins in a few months’ time (and they must know already it won’t)? We all know the answer to that one. Polish your CVs, people.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 9:27 am
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    As an insider, may I say Trinity Mirror has been making us miserable for years.
    To all those on the outside: please send help!

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  • June 23, 2016 at 9:28 am
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    At least they’ve appointed a ‘real’ journalist to be the News editor. Bartlett is a thoughtful, intelligent newsman who knows his way round a story and has quality years under his belt covering big city stories and managing a big city newsroom. He’s also a thoroughly decent bloke. Best of luck to him.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 9:45 am
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    sadly being ” a real journalist ” wont count for anything as its all about patching the ship with running repairs and as cheaply as possible to produce “something” people may buy,its all about the commercvial bottom line and controlling vast overheads as @why just why comments and until these costs are dramatically cut from underperforming,non contributory areas,the editorial cuts will continue and the commercial fat cats will get fatter

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  • June 23, 2016 at 9:53 am
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    Desperate though all this is in the immediate term, those who bemoan TM’s tactics should play the longer game. It’s patently obvious there is no growth strategy here; the cutting of jobs wrapped up in talk of digital transformation is just reducing the cost base to meet declining revenues in order to maintain profit levels. And when you look at those charged with improving commercial revenues and their clear lack of understanding of market forces (witness innumerable complaints from customers furious at their web browsing experience being ruined by intrusive pop-up ads) then you know the game is up. So, TM will run down papers in markets which still want such a product sufficiently for more committed, strategic players – be they independents, new start-ups or existing media companies with a more long term strategy – to move into the territory TM once owned. There will thus still be a place for quality, considered print journalism, possibly in newer formats like magazines, niche publications etc long before TM realises it became, in the space of a few years, the Gerald Ratner of the UK local media industry.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 10:02 am
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    In amongst the daily slash and burn by TM does it not beg the question ‘why did they purchase LW in the first place?’
    They seem to be implying by their decimation of the editorial staff they inherited that the product they purchased was not very good/out dated and unprofitable.

    Therefore, why buy it in the first place?

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  • June 23, 2016 at 11:56 am
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    That’s 12 jobs at risk this week. They won’t be the last…

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  • June 23, 2016 at 12:27 pm
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    I’m pretty sure LW was bought short term to increase the overall reach of TM to make advertising more favourable for national advertisers in print. The titles themselves are to be used as cash cows to be milked until they are no longer tenable, like the rest of the TM portfolio. The long term investment was the digital audience for their websites, which I imagine will eventually be conflated into large regional websites as we’re seeing in the south, as well as the journalists, sorry, content creators, who will write for these websites. I think this is the plan; whether it works or not remains to be seen. Disclaimer: I don’t really see where journalism in the traditional sense fits in here, I recommend you start your own paper or at least a blog if you wish to pursue that line of work…

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  • June 23, 2016 at 12:31 pm
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    Isca insider
    Agree, especially the point about considered print publications and niche markets, look at the east where archant once had the monopoly and where now some truly superb magazines, county lifestyle publications and hyper local glossies are thriving and taking large chunks of archants once ring fenced markets. With the right people both editorial and advertising who have top contacts and genuine business ‘nous’ this kind of print publication can succeed.
    I have friends on one of the better higher end independent glossy mags and they are making good livings while watching the gradual dismantling of the regionals from afar.
    there’s a route out and a good living to be made away from the big four who are simply managing decline and with highly paid under performing passengers hanging on waiting for the inevitable.
    Good wishes to all concerned in the latest job cuts and dumbing down

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  • June 23, 2016 at 12:45 pm
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    It’s merely the continuation of a trend that started under Iliffe News and Media, the owners pre-2012, and continued under Local World’s stewardship.

    I joined the H&E Observer as a trainee in 2008, and even back then I was the sole replacement for two experienced senior reporters who’d just left.

    Be that as it may, we had (including myself) four reporters, a news editor, an editorial assistant, two subs, a dedicated editor, two receptionists plus five photographers (shared with two other titles), two sports reporters (shared again) and a daily private courier to shuttle documents between our sister titles’ offices.

    After these changes, I believe the same title will have three reporters (one part-time), no snappers, no courier, one shared sports reporter, one receptionist (i.e. the front counter closes to the public when they’re off sick or on hols) and a group editor. And they wonder why the quality keeps dropping, along with circulation.

    Incidentally, I gather staff were warned by head office to expect changes at the “Hearts and Essex Observer” – a sure sign of TM’s in-depth knowledge of, and commitment to, the new titles in its portfolio.

    To quote another HTFP regular’s username, I’m glad I’m out of it.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 12:52 pm
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    As an addendum to the above, another sign that Trinity Mirror is in “headless chicken” mode: they’ve advertised several times, including on HTFP, for various online video producer roles at a string of their local titles.

    On each occasion they’ve shortlisted and selected candidates before deciding to abandon the whole thing. They’ve then gone on to advertise the same role on different titles elsewhere in the country, but again that’s led to nothing. (Apart from existing reporters on those titles being given iPhones and told “congratulations, you’re now video producers”.)

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  • June 23, 2016 at 1:45 pm
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    The only thing Trinity will achieve here is making the Cambridge area absolutely ripe for competition to flourish. While the CN continues slipping towards a mere 10,000 copies per day, smaller, leaner products will fill the ever-increasing void. It’s short-term thinking at its worst but, hey, perhaps the downfall of the corporate behemoths is just what the industry needs to begin anew.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 1:56 pm
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    Iliffe was not perfect but from what I saw Local world and trinity mirror have done to the staff morale and the amount of staff, it was horrible massacre.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 2:34 pm
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    Sack the journalists so that ‘quality’ news can be acquired from ‘Facebook’ and ‘Spotted in…’
    Poor content = poor readership = less advertising response = less advertisers = less revenue = closed titles. Shame on TM. Tragedy for the industry…

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  • June 23, 2016 at 4:10 pm
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    The TM carnage will seem like a tea party once Johnston Press start closing titles and turning dailies into weeklies. This will happen soon as the shares are still in free fall.

    Shares in JP sunk to a new low again today at 27p. Bear in mind that the price I has to be dividen by 50, so they’re a halfpenny near enough.

    With no prospect of increased advertising revenues, paper sales going through the floor and websites that are chronically bad, there is no hope. But Ashley will be fine. Millions in the bank and he’ll walk into another job.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 10:45 pm
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    Harry Blackwood. Alarming news re ailing JP share price. I dread to think what is coming to the over-worked staff.

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  • June 23, 2016 at 11:22 pm
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    To Harry Blackwood. How do you think the reporters and other journalists working their backsides off to get out the paper you used to edit feel when they see you coming on here and saying how rubbish their paper is? Do us all a favour, and stop doing down the people who are trying to do a good job under trying circumstances.

    And if you can’t do that, perhaps you can tell us what you did as editor to prevent the sort of cuts which have happened since?

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  • June 24, 2016 at 8:48 am
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    As part of the commercial “group” as referred too. I would like to point out that some “fat cat editors” are pushing for the changes to happen behind closed doors and like to point out some of their salaries would pay for 4 much needed talented journalists whom actually care and work their backsides off. No mention on here the 8 commercial redundancies made with some great talents lost to keep inline the cost cutting saving pushed on us
    In fact maybe a “brexit” type vote on the figure heads in HQ and what their enormous salaries provide the local offices (both editorial and commercial) would be interesting
    Anyone care to think that some of the editors across the regions have helped the demise.
    Food for thought maybe……………………
    I await to hear the backlash

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  • June 24, 2016 at 9:37 am
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    Staff were recently told that it was “never more exciting to work at the Cambridge News”. A few lucky ones were even offered the unmissable and exciting opportunity to tour other TM newsrooms to witness such excitement in action. But what of the departed now struggling to pay their bills and keep up with the mortgage payments let alone recover their battered self esteem. Why is it always editorial that pay the price for poor strategy and incompetence? Surely it is the managing director who should be penalised. Maybe he should have some of his toys taken away such as new cars and cushy bonuses while hard working and loyal staff have to work in poor conditions while facing redundancy. Exciting times indeed…

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  • June 24, 2016 at 10:24 am
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    Its not always just editorial staff on the chopping block, lots of telesales have gone, graphic designers, – all paid the price of TM “vision” The industry needs to be knocked down and rebuilt, smaller companies that care about the product and the staff, not how many likes or retweets some story got.

    Its not just newspapers where journalists are getting replaced, a friend of mine worked for tech review sites. People with journalist skills where being replaced by bloggers, youtube reviewers etc (anyone without journalism experience!)

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  • June 24, 2016 at 10:33 am
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    Ad Enuf: It’s worth summing up what’s been said here to put your pain into context. The key point is that TM is not remotely interested in journalism; anyone on HTFP emoting about lack of quality (words and pictures), failure to bring those into authority to account, or even covering basic local processes such as council meetings and court sessions, is barking up the wrong tree because for this company there isn’t even a tree to bark up. Proper journalism costs money and to do it well you need well-trained, enthusiastic and dedicated reporters, a mix of all age groups – not just early twenty-somethings fresh out of college – and experienced and talented editors, whose exodus we’ve recently witnessed. Restaurant openings and lists are cheaper and will do as content/product for executives with no journalistic ethos background. To be fair to TM it is in an ever-deepening hole as revenues spiral, and clueless suits (in terms of turning things around) try to squeeze what profits are left to sustain their “cushy bonuses and new cars”. This is camouflaged by lots of disingenuous guff about “digital first” or whatever the mantra is at the moment. But once the sponge is dry the suits will migrate without blinking to other things – building materials, insurance, engineering and so on – because they are strategists uncommitted to the sectors they serve in anything but a personally advantageous way (i.e. dosh). Newspapers are the same as engine valves to them. This is why, paradoxically almost, the people most at risk in our industry are those with a sense of vocation for it and who work on its front line, actually creating the products/profits. To the people who matter, you just don’t matter. Journalism cannot sustain a corporation now and if you want a future in it that lies in a different type of employer altogether, and it will take a different mindset to embrace it. But perhaps you really have Ad Enuf, so there’s an end of it.

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  • June 24, 2016 at 11:54 am
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    Just to correct Jimbledon’s comments on Trinity Mirror’s video roles. We have appointed to every video role advertised this year, and are in the process of interviewing for four more roles. It’s wrong to say these roles were never filled, because they were, and they are making a significant difference to our newsrooms.

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  • June 24, 2016 at 12:39 pm
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    Septimus: Perfect summing up. Hurts, doesn’t it?

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  • June 24, 2016 at 2:35 pm
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    David Higgerson (above) is of course Trinity Mirror’s digital chief who has been on HTFP before to argue his case, for which he deserves top marks. I am willing to lead a whip-round to buy a splendid bottle of claret – or rustle up a cheque for David’s chosen charity – to read 500 words on where he thinks the next five years will take us, and TM’s place in what looks to be an inexorably contracting market. Digital will have a huge part to play in any recovery of the sector, of course, but ‘booming’ revenue is still a fraction of ‘fading’ print, so where does he see the solutions to current woes? Ad Enuf (above) and thousands of other people’s livelihoods depend on the answers, one way or another. Over to David.

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  • June 24, 2016 at 2:37 pm
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    ‘booming’ online revenue meant, of course. Apologies.

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  • June 26, 2016 at 5:01 pm
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    @Septimus Harding

    Try reading David Higgerson’s blog, which contains thousands of well-argued words about the challenges facing journalists in this rapidly-changing landscape.

    It’s the height of irony that the HTFP commenters who wail about a supposed lack of journalistic standards are happy to so play fast and loose with the facts when it suits their argument.

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