Job Losses Expected As The Guardian Integrates Digital And Print Operations
The Guardian newspaper’s move to integrate its print and digital operations could lead to significant job losses as the group looks at cost cutting to help finance more than 100 new jobs in digital media operations.
The group, which owns The Guardian, The Observer and the Guardian Unlimited network of websites, is preparing for a “24/7 news operation” and a move to new offices near King’s Cross station from October 2008, to assist with its integration process.
New managing director Tim Brooks said that the company would undertake a review over the next 18 months to achieve a “major process of organisational change”, which would involve job cuts.
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, has warned the move towards a digital future would involve re-examining the union house agreement with the paper’s editorial staff that prevents compulsory redundancies and guarantees a nine-day working fortnight.
Brooks said: “We may need to do some things completely differently or indeed stop doing some things altogether as our priorities change and adapt to the changing media world.
“Our overheads and administration costs are too high. We must reduce these costs so that we can invest more in our journalism, invest more in new technology and invest more in product development and new businesses, increasing our revenues and ensuring our long term success.”
The newspaper operation lost almost £50 million last year on top of £48.3 million of losses the previous year. The print edition of the group’s flagship has seen sharp declines in the past few years according to ABC data, with a slight upturn more recently.
Guardian Media Group has invested £242 million in the national newspaper division over the past four years, including £80 million in the new Berliner format, which has failed to kick-start circulation (see Guardian Hits Newsstands In Berliner Format).
However, the Guardian Unlimited site, which launched at the beginning of 1999, continues to remain the UK’s most popular online newspaper destination. Usage for January reached 15.7 million, a record high (see Newspapers’ Print Circulations Decline As Web Traffic Blossoms).
Last summer saw the Times newspaper integrate some online and print operations, whilst the Financial Times also announced its merger of online and print newsrooms, saying it would create “one of the most integrated multi-media newsrooms in the world”.
The Daily Telegraph also said it was restructuring along similar lines, having moved its City section into its new multimedia complex in Victoria (see Newspapers In Multi-Media Reshuffle).
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The Guardian: 020 7478 5240 www.guardian.co.uk