NUJ condemns Trinity Mirror decision to turn Liverpool Daily Post into weekly newspaper
The NUJ has moved to condemn the decision by Trinity Mirror to begin publishing the Liverpool Daily Post as a weekly from next year.
The announcement was made yesterday that the title would move to print once a week from 19 January, which the NUJ claims will see seven staff made redundant.
Three weekly titles, the South Liverpool Merseymart, Bootle Times and Star will also no longer be printed separately and distributed free, but will come as an insert within the Liverpool Echo on a Tuesday, while the Echo will be cutback to two editions.
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary said: “The end of one of the country’s most famous morning papers is a national tragedy. This paper was a part of my daily life when I grew up in the city and the people of Liverpool will lose out enormously. The move from daily to weekly production is part of a very worrying trend – and here we have yet another iconic city title biting the dust. Trinity Mirror should be investing in quality journalism, not killing off our local press.”
Chris Morley, Northern & Midlands Organiser, said: "This is the latest in a string of grim redundancy announcements by Trinity Mirror. Turning the Liverpool Daily Post into a weekly is a real gamble by the company with a title that has a prestigious history of publishing.
"As a union, we remain to be convinced that this format is likely to be a successful way forward in Britain's big cities. Trinity Mirror has already carried out a similar operation with the Birmingham Post some two years ago but the jury is still out on the impact on circulation.
"We will be engaging with the company closely during the consultation now to take place, but our members are acutely conscious of the effect these cuts would have on already extremely stretched departments such as photographic."