Reach to put 400 jobs at risk of redundancy
More job cuts are on the way at newspaper and magazine publisher Reach, with more than 400 roles at risk of redundancy, the company and National Union of Journalists said on Tuesday.
The owner of the Daily Mirror and multiples regional news websites, is axing jobs in response to falling advertising revenues amid the cost of living crisis, which saw it last week report a 28% fall in underlying pre-tax profits.
According to the NUJ, 420 roles in total will be put at risk, with 192 editorial roles being cut from the workforce and come only two weeks after the conclusion of a redundancy process announced in January that saw 80 jobs go.
“Plans will come as a major blow to our members hard on the heels of recent redundancies. As the company seeks to make good on its commitment to cut costs by £30m this year it is our members who are yet again feeling the pain," said the unions national organiser Laura Davison.
"Reach's focus has switched to launching a US operation, but it remains to be seen what this will deliver in reality and in the meantime more core jobs are being lost. While the cost-of-living crisis is impacting everyone, including Reach staff, it is the leadership that decides the strategy.
"We are a far, far cry from the period when Reach was investing in new local sites and expanding its footprint across the country, claiming to have created a sustainable model for digital-only local journalism."
In an email to staff, seen by the journalism website HoldtheFrontPage, Reach executives said the company "simply cannot afford to ignore the headwinds that are buffeting the whole industry".
"We must be realistic about the fact that working through them and staying on track to achieve our goals means taking some decisive action and difficult decisions along the way."
They added that they had "prioritised" alternatives to redundancies including closing vacancies and non-labour costs, but still envisaged "a number of redundancies".
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com