AROUND a dozen editorial production posts are at risk of redundancy at The Herald group of newspapers, as part of what the papers’ publisher says is a £200,000 investment in ‘newsroom modernisation’.
Says a statement issued by the Herald & Times Group, about The Herald and sister titles, the Sunday Herald and the Evening Times: “A new editorial production system will improve efficiency and allow reporters and photographers to send instant coverage from news events to heraldscotland.com andeveningtimes.co.uk using mobile technology fit for the fast-moving real-time news environment.
“Around a dozen staff from the some 160-strong newsroom are affected by the changes.
“Sub-editing of stories has been handled at external specialist centres for some years, currently in Wales, and the company is proposing to transfer some routine work as part of the modernisation. However, all editing and content decisions will continue to be taken in Scotland as will control of the multi-million-pound editorial budget.”
The website, holdthefrontpage.co.uk, begins its report of the news (here): “A dozen jobs are at risk at a group of Newsquest titles as a result of a newsroom modernisation plan which will see more subbing jobs transferred to Wales.”
In the Herald & Times Group statement, managing director, Tim Blott, is quoted saying that 18 extra staff are to be taken on by the group’s online business, s1.
The statement also says: “Editors will select page layouts from a huge library of templates created in Glasgow rather than drawing each page by hand from scratch.”
A voluntary redundancy programme is being offered to all of the group’s editorial staff.
The statement had begun: “The Herald & Times Group is investing £200,000 in new technology and automating editorial processes as it modernises its newsroom to focus on creating the best digital and print content in the Scottish media industry.”
The pressgazette.co.uk website begins its report (here): “Around a dozen production jobs are at risk across the Herald and Times group in Glasgow as it seeks to transfer more roles to Newsquest’s subbing hub in Newport, South Wales.”
allmediascotland yesterday afternoon tweeted the news of the redundancies risk, via its twitter feed, allmedianews.
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A FORMER vice-chair of the Edinburgh Freelance branch of the National Union of Journalists is one of two candidates running for the editor’s post at the union’s magazine.
Tim Dawson is also a former vice-chair of the NUJ’s Scottish Executive, but is better known for having been the chair of the union’s, UK-wide Freelance Industrial Council for 14 years.
He is also, currently, the union’s vice-president and has served on the National Executive Committee for a decade. As a journalist, he is best known as having, for several years, edited, and written for, the Home section of The Sunday Times Scotland.
The editor’s post at The Journalist is full-time and is the subject of a members’ vote every five years.
Ballot papers are being sent to members, with Dawson up against the present editor of The Journalist, Christine Buckley.
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A PRODUCER is being sought by Axis Animation, as advertised here on allmediascotland. The vacancy is also repeated on twitter.com/allmediajobs.
Please do mention allmediascotland.com when replying to job adverts you see on the site.
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THE business editor at The Scotsman and sister title, Scotland on Sunday, has announced he has handed in his notice to leave, to “take advantage of a number of approaches”.
In a statement, Terry Murden said: “After careful thought I have decided to give notice of my intention to leave Johnston Press to take advantage of a number of approaches in recent months which will take my career in a different strategic direction.”
Murden has been business editor of SoS for 11 years and The Scotsman for the past five.
He was recently convicted and fined – which he is appealing (as announced here) – of stalking a PR consultant.
In the meantime, he has launched a blog, Daily Business. Since his resignation announcement, his twitter account has shown a surge in numbers following it.
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BEGINS pressgazzette.co.uk: “The UK’s third largest newspaper group, Newsquest [parent company of the above-mentioned Herald & Times Group], made an operating profit last year of £52.8m on turnover of £289m.
“Both profit and turnover were down from the 2012 totals of £58.9m and £305m respectively, reflecting continuing decline in print circulations.”
Read more, here.
Both pressgazette and The Guardian (here) highlight the pay received by the company’s chief executive, during his final year in the post.
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