Telegraph group to shrink print editorial department by 14%
The Telegraph Group has announced that it is to cut its editorial workforce by 14% with the loss of 80 reporters as part of a major restructuring of the publishers operations which will see a full merger of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph.
The group currently employs 550 editorial staff but says it will offset the losses by recruiting 50 new ‘digitally focused’ employees.
Justifying the move Telegraph chief executive Murdoch MacLennan noted that print advertising had declined sharply since the start of the year on the back of continued circulation falls with weekday sales now sometimes running as low as 400,000.
The Telegraph website meanwhile has gone from strength to strength with 3,129,599 average daily unique browsers now making use of the site, an 11% increase on last month.
In a letter to staff MacLennan wrote: “We must adapt and transform how we function as a business and urgently diversify our revenue streams to guarantee our position in the longer term."