SAYS a statement issued by the publishers of the Daily Record and its sister title, the Sunday Mail: “While Media Scotland is seeing record growth in digital audience and revenue, we need to carefully manage our cost base in what is a challenging market.
“We are therefore proposing some changes which may mean the reduction of some editorial roles, mainly in management and production, a number of which could be voluntary. There are no plans to make any changes to our print portfolio.”
It follows a letter sent to staff which said: “Subject to consultation, this could mean a reduction of around 20 out of our current 311 staff, mainly on management and production.”
Among those now involved in the consultation process is Steve Martin, group head of content at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail.
As well as aiming to make the majority of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail pages ‘templated’, the plans include reducing, by one, a sports writer post and a restructure at sister title, the Paisley Daily Express, which could see the separate roles of editor and news editor rolled into a single executive editor post.
The story is covered by pressgazette.co.uk (here), which says, of Martin: “[He] worked for the Sunday Mirror for 12 years before becoming Daily Record and Sunday Mail head of content in 2012. As a reporter for the Sunday Mirror he covered the Iraq war from Baghdad and the aftermath the September 11 attacks in New York.”
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THE language used by journalists when dealing with topics such as teenage pregnancy, disability, mental health and race is to be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the National Union of Journalists.
The meeting – being held jointly by the Edinburgh Freelance and Edinburgh and District branches of the union – will include, among the speakers, the NUJ’s equality officer, based in London, Lena Calvert.
The event is taking place a week on Monday.
For more information, email here.
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BEGINS STV Dundee: “An exhibition celebrating the work of the artist behind [comic character] Minnie the Minx opens this week.
“Jim Petrie, who died peacefully aged 83 last year, drew Minnie for 40 years and produced over 2,000 weekly strips – the longest-serving artist to draw her.
“He oversaw one of the mischievous character’s most successful periods after taking over from creator, Leo Baxendale, and his first strip was published on June 6, 1961.”
Minnie appears in The Beano comic, published by DC Thomson.
The exhibition is being staged in Dundee. Read more, here.
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A SENIOR digital editor is being sought by the accountancy body, ICAS – the post based in Edinburgh.
The vacancy is being advertised here, on the allmediascotland.com media jobs board.
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TRAINING in writing for the web and ePublishing is being hosted by the National Union of Journalists this month.
The writing for the web course is scheduled for the 17th, while the ePublishing one is on the 22nd.
Each are day-long, costing £100 for NUJ members to attend (£160 for non-members).
For more information, contact Joan Macdonald on 0141 248 6648 or by email: joanm@nuj.org.uk
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THE head of PR and communications at Heart of Midlothian Football Club is leaving, to go freelance, including heading up the production of the first-ever official club magazine for a Major League Soccer team in the USA.
Paul Kiddie has been at Tynecastle for over eight years, having previously been the Hearts correspondent at the Edinburgh Evening News.
Going freelance, offering a wide range of media services, he is producing the club magazine for Orlando City SC.
Although still based in Edinburgh the move sees Kiddie reacquaint himself with the ‘Sunshine State’ having lived and worked in Fort Lauderdale for a year after leaving the News at the end of 2005.
Read more, here.
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THE latest adjudications issued by the press watchdog, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, included complaints – none of which were upheld – involving the Sunday Herald (read the adjudication here) and the Daily Record (here) (plus sister titles, the Dumfries & Galloway Standard (here) and the Ayrshire Post (here)).
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DETAILS of the funeral arrangements for Father Noel Barry have been finalised (here).
As noted on allmediascotland.com, here, an obituary in The Scotsman, penned by Bill Heaney, began: “Father Noel Barry, who has died of cancer aged 59, was press secretary to the late Cardinal Thomas J Winning in the Archdiocese of Glasgow during a turbulent time for Catholic Church in Scotland.
“He was also a director and managing editor of Flourish, the official archdiocesan journal, whose columnists included Alex Salmond and George Galloway.”
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OUT this very moment: the latest national-newspaper-circulations-in-Scotland figures.
Issued by auditing body, ABC.
For more details, visit allmediascotland.com on Monday, in its The Media in Figures feature.
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SEEN anything you think readers of www.allmediascotland.com should be made aware of? Then just send the weblink to here and we’ll do the rest. All suggestions gratefully received. We’re back at noon on Monday.
