Trinity Mirror’s planned restructuring of its Midlands titles is part of an attempt to reduce editorial and advertising costs by 30 per cent in the region, according to this release from IBM.
“The company viewed short-term cost-cutting to be a necessary but not sufficient response to an industry experiencing permanent change. In partnership with IBM, Trinity Mirror is undergoing a major shake-up, transforming its editorial and advertising processes, and the technology it deploys, to become a leaner, smarter publishing business with a clear vision for future growth,” said IBM in the release.
Tim’s made stirling progress with setting up feeds of the share prices to Twitter and there’s no reason why this couldn’t be expanded beyond newspapers and mags in the future.
However, suggestions about a ‘front-end’ for the project are welcome. Building a newspaper-share-price-feed-tracking widget will probably be one of my Christmas Eve tasks – any suggestions?
Well, we could have brought you ‘Flocking Around the Twitmas Tree’, ‘We Three Nings’ or just a straightforward end of the year list (if only to add to our list of lists), but instead we chose this: your sing-along treat to round-up 2008 is the ‘Twelve Days of Online Media Christmas’ (hyperlinked to relevant stories, but bear in mind it’s a selection of picks and not comprehensive…).
On the first day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … An editor in a law court
… Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the ninth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Nine strikers strikin’
… Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the tenth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Ten blogs a-blooming
… Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the eleventh day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Eleven papers packing
… Ten blogs a-blooming, Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the twelfth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Twelve sites a-starting
… Eleven papers packing, Ten blogs a-blooming, Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks and an editor in a law court!
Mick Ricket, National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Merseyside branch chairman, has asked for an inquiry by the Competition Commission into regional newspaper ownership in the UK.
A day that saw plenty of job cut announcements. Here’s the roundup for this evening and Journalism.co.uk will update tomorrow.
Trinity Mirror: 78 jobs to go as reported at Press Gazette and Hold the Front Page. Press Gazette reported that a restructure will see journalists divided into four centralised multimedia divisions:
“The publisher has today entered into a consultation period with staff and said it envisaged 59 editorial jobs would be cut. It said it was committed to voluntary redundancies where possible.
“The bulk of the job losses will come in Liverpool, where the 175-strong editorial team will be cut to 132 and the Liverpool Daily Post will scrap its Saturday edition.”
“It is understood the cuts represent a 13-14 per cent saving to the editorial budget and will be brought into effect by Christmas at the latest,” reports MediaGuardian.
Below is the email sent by chief executive Sly Bailey to staff:
Company Announcement
Please follow the link to see the letter being sent today to all staff.
19 November 2008
Dear Colleague
We have all seen the severe impact of the economic downturn reported in the media on a daily basis. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be any sign of an improvement for the foreseeable future and there are indications that it could get worse before it gets better. What is clear is that the gravity of the challenge facing our business is unlike anything we have seen before.
As a consequence of this economic climate, all parts of Trinity Mirror have seen revenues come under severe pressure as advertisers have significantly reduced their spending. In addition, our readers are also looking to curtail their spending with a consequential impact on our circulation revenues.
This in turn is affecting our financial performance, and in particular the cash generated by the business. As previously communicated to you and the financial community, we anticipate that our profits will fall in 2008, with a further decline in 2009. Whilst we expect to remain profitable going forward, the fall in cash generated will adversely impact our ability to comfortably fund ongoing commitments such as interest payments on our borrowings, taxes, investment in our business (capital expenditure) and pension scheme funding. To partially address the constraints on cash we have already cancelled the share buy back and have halved the 2008 interim dividend paid to shareholders. The final dividend will also be reviewed by the Board in February.
With our revenues considerably reduced, our priority has to be to safeguard the future of the Group. To do this we have done much already to reduce costs in many ways. So far this year, sadly, this has involved the announcement of almost 1200 job losses across the Group. We have also had to announce the closure of 44 of our titles, 40 offices and our print plant in Liverpool. We do want to do all we can to minimise any further job losses.
I can also confirm now that our performance has been such that we will not be paying any bonuses relating to 2008. This goes for me; the Executive Committee and virtually all other managers.
Nevertheless we need to take further steps to protect the future of our businesses. I have therefore decided not to hold a pay review for anyone in Trinity Mirror during 2009. This will apply to me, the Board, all management and employees of the Group.
We all hope that the economic climate improves in 2009 and, whether it does or doesn’t, I know we will all perform to the best of our abilities. To recognise this, a special 2009-only incentive scheme will be introduced.
In January, once we have a clearer idea of trading going into 2009, the Board will agree a target for this scheme. I can tell you that this target will be lower than the target set for profit sharing in previous years. The scheme is designed so that it could pay up to £1,000 to each employee (before tax) and will apply to all employees across the Group (see note below). Further details of the scheme will be communicated to you in January.
I appreciate that the times we find ourselves in are some of the hardest in living memory. I ask for your support so that we can manage our way through it and ensure the long term survival of our business.
Yours sincerely
Sly Bailey
Note:
All permanent staff will participate in the bonus scheme with the following exceptions:
Those not in receipt of contractual pay (i.e. casuals, or unauthorised absence).
Staff that have taken part in industrial action during 2009 will not be entitled to any payment.
In respect of starters and leavers:
New starters may participate and will receive payment on a prorate basis for full months’ service during 2009.
Employees who retire or leave under redundancy will receive payment on a pro rata basis for full month’s service during 2009. This will still only be paid after auditors approval of the final results.
Staff who resign their employment before end February 2010 (the date of the scheme profit calculation) will not be entitled to any payout.
Trinity Mirror has reported a fall by 21 per cent in underlying group advertising revenues since the end of June 2008, with property ad income ads down by nearly 50 per cent, reports the Guardian.
By creating an online version of the newspaper’s announcements page, the Limerick Leader has made its site the ‘focal point for entire community’s grieving,’ a press release from iAnnounce, the company which developed the page, said.
More than 17,600 people have now visited the Limerick Leader’s iAnnounce page for 28 year old Shane Geoghegan, who was shot dead in Kilteragh, Ireland, at the weekend.
Since the page was set up 36 hours ago, more than 8,500 ‘virtual candles’ have been lit and 2,000 messages of condolence written.
“The unexpected death of such a popular man as Shane has affected this very close community,” said Alex Stitt, the managing director of iAnnounce, in the release.
“It is a sign of the internet age that they have turned to online messaging to express their shock and sorrow at what has happened.”
iAnnounce is used by various newspapers in the Johnston Press, Trinity Mirror and Newsquest newspaper groups, and was developed to make use social network tools for newspaper birth, deaths and marriages notices.
It seems (via Adam Tinworth’s blog) that Smith/Zacharanda is handling the whole thing pretty well (he was already leaving his Trinity Mirror permanent job anyway…) Meanwhile Media Monkey plays the cynical card… Anyway, judging from the comments below the videos, and on the blogs, he’s got a lot of support behind him (give him a knighthood, someone writes).
So for the record, Smith says he didn’t cut and paste from the BBC, he is sorry if he damaged the reputation of the company, and the Birmingham Mail is a ‘fantastic organisation, staffed by people who really care’.
It’s hardly like newspaper jobs were all that secure anyway, but this month’s financial situation (something about a recession) hasn’t helped things either over the last couple of weeks.
This week news broke that two of the UK’s biggest-selling regional daily newspapers will cut 135 jobs.
The family run publishers Midland News Association are looking to merge their publications, the Express and Star and the Shropshire Star, with the aim of reducing costs by around £3 million a year.
After a decline in advertising revenue, the publishers considered it a necessary move, as reported over at the Guardian. There are plans to merge some parts of classified advertising, production and finance.
Press Gazette reported that despite the merger, both publications will maintain their individual identities, while also keeping separate editors and reporters.
At the beginning of last week we learnt that the Metro in Manchester will be axing ten jobs. It has since been announced that the jobs lost will be in editorial, sales and adminstration roles. The Liverpool office has been closed and relocated to Manchester.
Three of Trinity Mirror’s East Midlands publications ceased production last week, as reported over at Hold the Front Page: the 126-year-old Long Eaton Advertiser, The Nu News and The Long Eaton Trader. A distribution worker and 3 members of advertising were made redundant. Due to staff reassignments, no editorial job cuts were made.
