Mirror and Express publisher warns that up to 420 staff are at risk of redundancy
The publisher of the Mirror and the Express newspapers has warned that up to 420 staff could faceredundancy, as part of a continued cost-cutting drive.
Reach, which also owns hundreds of regional newspapers including the Birmingham Mail, Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News, has been battling higher costs resulting from inflation, as well as a slump in print advertising as the UK economy falters.
The move comes just weeks after the publisher, which owns hundreds of regional newspapers, said it would cut 200 jobs as part of a £30m cost-cutting drive, after disappointing sales of print and web advertising during last year’s World Cup and festive season.
The newspaper group, which also owns the Daily Star and a network of regionally-focused news websites including Glasgow Live and Hampshire Live, said it is reviewing spending across the whole business because of higher costs resulting from inflation.
It said the 420 affected staff – including 192 journalists – had been informed on Tuesday that they were at risk of redundancy. Reach added that resignations, job moves and redeployments among this group of workers would reduce the number of redundancies.
The company, which employs about 4,000 permanent staff in the UK and Ireland, said 80 journalists have been made redundant so far this year as a result of the previously announced job cuts.
The publisher is also investing heavily in a digital operation to tap into the US market.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) called the announcement of fresh job cuts at Reach a “major blow to staff”, coming just two weeks after the conclusion of the redundancy process announced in January.
Laura Davison, the NUJ’s national organiser, said: “As the company seeks to make good on its
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