A regional daily editor has hit back at claims by columnists that a weekly supplement that circulates as part of his title is “barely tolerated” by its publishers.

Three columnists have criticised Reach plc over the company’s treatment of Welsh language title Yr Herald Cymraeg.

Yr Herald was a standalone newspaper from 1855 to 2005, but since then has existed as a weekly supplement in the Daily Post.

Now columnists Angharad Tomos, Bethan Gwanas and Bethan Jones have hit out at what they perceive to be a “sharp decline” in the title’s content.

According to Nation.Cymru, the three columnists have urged readers to send Reach “a message to protest against the cuts in content”.

Angharad, pictured, a contributor to Yr Herald for almost 30 years, told Nation.Cymru: “It was a standard weekly Welsh paper at that time with its own editor and maintained the tradition of an office in Caernarfon.

“The page is now barely tolerated by Reach plc, and they only want a column for me every three weeks – the paper is now just the column by one of three of us.”

Bethan Gwanas, who has been contributing a column for more than 20 years, added: “Seeing the paper as a supplement in the Daily Post was a shock, but then the Caernarfon office was closed and the editor lost his job.

“Now, the page only has one column at a time. The current crew, who change every two minutes, do their best in difficult circumstances. But Reach plc clearly doesn’t care much about the Welsh language content.”

But Daily Post editor Dion Jones, who became the first Welsh speaker to take the top job at the North Wales daily in 2020, has defended its coverage, noting one-third of the paper’s full-time staff are “passionate Welsh language speakers”.

He told HTFP: “Yr Herald Cymraeg has a long heritage of over 160 years, and since 2005 the Daily Post has been proud to include it as a supplement week in, week out.

“While commercial considerations have meant it may not get the column inches of the past, our passion for keeping this tradition alive is still going strong.

“A third of our full-time staff are all passionate Welsh language speakers, we cherish our language and its history and appreciate Yr Herald Cymraeg’s role in keeping it alive and well.”