Trinity Mirror's local newspaper arm to rely on more user generated content following job cuts
Trinity Mirror’s local newspaper arm, Local World, is shifting its editorial focus to rely on more user-generated content from social media after letting dozens of photographers go across its titles.
Local World to rely on user generated content
Journalists at a number of Local World titles have been informed that the group is moving to a new "model," which will rely on copyright-free photos and videos from social media rather than its own photographers.
As a result around a dozen photographers across at least 14 Local World-owned titles will be made redundant with many of the newspapers having no photographers at all. The Leicester Mercury provides an insight into the new model with a story on its homepage that uses an image taken from Google Streetview.
A spokesperson for Local World told the Press Gazette: "With more sources of copyright-free material becoming available and our journalists having technology that allows them to take photos and video, some centres are moving to models that gives them the flexibility to cope better with changing and varying demand.”
NUJ national organiser Laura Davison described the cuts as a “kick in the teeth for committed photographers at Local World” and said it “smacks of opportunistic budget cutting without a care for the quality of the content.”
The cuts come three months after Trinity Mirror’s acquisition of Local World however the group said the decision was not a result of the merger and was in fact something Local World had already planned.