Mirror’s City Editor Quits For Times
The Daily Mirror‘s city editor, Suzy Jagger, is quitting the paper and is expected to join The Times.
Jagger, who writes the Suzy In The City page, is understood to be in talks with The Times and an announcement is expected in the next couple of days.
The Daily Mirror will have to re-vamp its city pages once again following her departure. Prior to Jagger joining the paper the page was called City Slickers, but it had to be renamed when its two writers, James Hipwell and Anil Bhoyrul, were accused of buying shares which they later recommended. In a strange twist it was Jagger who broke the story in the business pages of the Telegraph.
Jagger’s departure is the second high-profile exit from the paper, following 3am show-business reporter, Eva Simpson’s, defection to The Sun this August. The Mirror has come under increasing pressure in recent months following its re-vamp into a more politically minded and serious newspaper. The chief executive of Trinity-Mirror, Philip Graf, announced his resignation last week (see Graf To Step Down As Chief Executive Of Trinity Mirror) and the company’s share price has fallen by more than 25% in two years.
The title has also been under pressure for what some have seen as its anti-American stance over the possibility of war with Iraq. Tom Shrager, a fund manager at New York-based Tweedy Browne, which has a 5.6% stake in the group, is believed to have called for its break-up. The investor previously publicly complained over a John Pilger article on US foreign-policy.
The latest ABC figures for March to August 2002 show that, despite heavy price cuts (see Daily Mirror Cuts Cover Price), the Daily Mirror has seen its circulation decline by 4.1% year on year to 2,114,666, down from 2,205,860 in the same period the previous year.
In contrast The Times is experiencing something of an upturn, latest ABC figures for March to August 2002, saw the title stem its decline to 1.4%, bringing circulation to 698,864, up from 708,593 in the same period last year. Earlier this week the paper upped its cover price by 5p to 45p, following the Telegraph and the Independent, which have both raised their cover price to 55p.
Trinity Mirror: 020 7293 3000 www.trinitymirrorplc.uk News International: 020 7782 3922www.newscorp.co.uk
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