Monday 23 February 2009

Up to 50 jobs threatened by Northcliffe central subbing plan for East Midlands and Hull

Up to 50 sub-editing jobs could go under plans outlined by Northcliffe today for two centralised production centres in Nottingham and Hull.
The NUJ accused Northcliffe of "creating news factories" and showing a lack of commitment to local journalism.
Hold theFrontPage reports that under the plans, the Leicester Mercury, Derby Evening Telegraph and Nottingham Evening Post would all be subbed from Nottingham.
Meanwhile, the Hull centre would be responsible for production of the Lincolnshire Echo, Grimsby Telegraph and Scunthorpe Telegraph as well as the Hull Daily Mail.
In a separate development, sister company Harmsworth Press is also proposing the closure of its printing plant in Leicester which currently prints the Mercury.
A statement issued by Northcliffe said the plans were designed to meet "the rapidly changing needs of the industry."
It added: "The proposed changes involve a regional approach to editorial production. Editors, however, will be fully responsible for their titles to preserve the local identity of the newspapers and websites." According to the statement, around 50 positions could be affected if the editorial production proposals go ahead.
The NUJ immediately attacked the proposal. NUJ northern organiser Chris Morley said: "The establishment of a news factory in Nottingham demonstrates a total lack of commitment to local journalism. The area to be covered is enormous - from Market Harborough in the south to the edge of Sheffield in the north. Local knowledge will go out of the window”
The Northcliffe news came on the same day as Trinity Mirror announced 70 jobs are to go as a result of a merger of editorial departments on the Record and Sunday Mail in Glasgow.

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