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Newsroom of the future through the eyes of AI. Illustration created by the author on FLUX.1 from Black Forest Labs through detailed prompting without modifications
British media publisher Reach has put 600 jobs at risk as part of its latest restructuring aimed at adapting to changing reader habits and the impact of artificial intelligence.
Delo.ua writes about this with reference to the publication of The Guardian.
Reach, which owns the Mirror, Express and Star newspapers, as well as numerous regional publications including the Manchester Evening News, Birmingham Mail and Liverpool Echo, announced on Monday that it plans to cut 321 editorial jobs.
The total number of jobs at risk does not include restructuring of commercial and manufacturing units, nor positions affected by the creation of a central sports hub to cover events across national and regional brands, which was announced in July.
The company, which made a profit of almost £100m last year and whose CEO Jim Mullin left in March, said the restructuring was part of a move to create more video and audio content, as well as a live news network.
“Our new structure represents the biggest reorganization we’ve ever undertaken, even more so than at the beginning of the digital revolution,” said Reach’s chief editorial officer, David Higgerson. “The changes we’re seeing now require a radical shift in how we work and how we tell stories. For our editorial teams, we’ll have to adopt a new approach to working from start to finish, aligning resources with our ambitions.”
Higgerson also noted that the company will create 135 new positions as part of the restructuring and is committed to “prioritizing people whose jobs are at risk.”
As part of the restructuring, the company also said it was “focusing new attention on digital subscriptions.”
The National Union of Journalists has expressed concern about the impact of the latest wave of cuts on staff morale.
“Once again, morale is plummeting with the threat of mass layoffs,” said Chris Morley, the NUJ's national coordinator for Reach. “The idea that any media business can afford to lay off hundreds of talented journalists to secure its future makes you wonder what that future will be like.”
The company has gone through constant and deep waves of layoffs and cost reductions in recent years.
In the 12 months to the end of 2023, the company has made three waves of cuts – a total of almost 800 positions – the biggest annual job loss in the British newspaper industry in a decade.
Reach had just over 3,500 employees at the end of last year, according to the company's latest annual report. Nearly 2,600 people work in editorial and production departments.
At its peak in 2018, Reach employed almost 5,500 staff after a series of acquisitions, including Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell – publisher of the Express and Star and OK! magazine – and the UK's largest regional newspaper group, Local World.
