Trinity Mirror confirms job cuts on national titles but denies Brexit or New Day failure are to blame
Daily Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror has confirmed that it will cut several editorial jobs as it looks to mitigate falls in advertising and circulation revenue.
The publisher of the Daily Mirror is poised to make staff cuts
The Drum understands that the redundancies will affect staff at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People titles.
The changing media landscape has toughened the market for print newspapers and on top of this the group’s stock value share price has slumped by 40 per cent over the past six months – with 20 per cent of the dip occurring after the result of the EU referendum was announced.
The total number of job cuts has yet to be finalised, though the publisher is anticipating that up to 15 people could be affected, including nine journalism posts and six administrative editorial support staff jobs. Figures won't be finalised until it has completed consultations with those affected.
Back in May the publisher launched and folded print-only paper New Day. The title initially saw sales as high as 150,000 which slipped down to 40,000 just days after it was unveiled, and then closed two months after it first hit newsstands.
A Trinity Mirror spokesperson has denied that the failure of the New Day had anything to do with the fresh batch of job cuts and said that a savings plan for the publisher had been put in place long before the Brexit vote or share price movement.
The New Day was promoted via a £5m TV campaign to boost awareness of its debut, and its closure provoked staff on the media outlet’s flagship titles to speak out about their fear of potential job cuts and accuse management of being “secretive” over the short-lived paper’s cost.
Trinity Mirror, however, told The Drum that the implication from the Guardian that the two were connected was "untrue and irresponsible".
"Like all media companies, it is essential that we adapt to the changing industry and ensure we continue to operate efficiently and control costs. An unfortunate but necessary part of this work is identifying savings in editorial budgets, which will include some redundancies at the Mirror. We are now in consultation with those impacted," a spokesperson added.