Johnston Press to Cull More Editorial Roles as Pace of Change Shows No Sign of Abating

Johnston Press has announced that the regional newspaper publisher will be cutting a “significant” number of editorial positions as part of a massive restructuring of their Scottish business.

It’s believed that “strategic” changes will be made at 28 of the publisher’s newsrooms following a review of the business.

Speaking to journalists, Jeremy Clifford, editor-in-chief for the publisher said:

“The planned restructure is designed so that we can continue publishing our community titles for as long as possible, against the backdrop of the challenging commercial pressures we face.

“We appreciate sometimes we have to take difficult decisions but they are in the best interests as we work towards maintaining these important, trusted local newspapers.”

A statement issued by the publisher highlights the challenges facing the newspaper industry, including the way people consume news – with the finger of blame for the cuts pointing directly at technology companies like Google and Facebook.

The statement reads: “The pace of change in the media industry is showing no signs of abating, as we continue to face the challenges posed by our audiences migrating to digital platforms, and industry giants like Google and Facebook changing the way people read their news. We have seen over the past year at least, a number of newspapers closing or being put up for sale as publishers struggle to confront the challenges.

“The latest Enders Analysis report makes detailed reference to the structural challenges the print industry faces and predicts that unless far-reaching changes are made in our industry, we will continue to see sharp declines in revenues. Johnston Press is today announcing a new editorial structure for its Scottish Weeklies titles to address these challenges.

“We have been reviewing our newsroom of the future publishing model to ensure we continue to manage workflows and workloads for our staff. This is a constant process to enable us to continue to publish all our titles in the most efficient way and ensure our smallest titles remain viable.

“This restructure is designed to ensure our news brands are able to continue to serve their communities – as their only source of trusted local news.”