UK news media job losses: To October 2008

Posted by Peter Kirwan on 14 November 2008 at 12:00
Tags: Guardian Media Group, Independent News & Media, Media, United Business Media

As requested by one reader, a graphic. Prepare yourself for a big increase in November.

PS: Jeremy Dear (NUJ) and Jon Slattery (ex-Press Gazette) make the point that these reported job losses understate the real magnitude of the problem.

Plenty more jobs are being burned off by non-replacement of staff, for example. Here’s Dear on the subject:

The true picture in some newsrooms is grim. For example yesterday I spoke to a journalist at a daily regional paper who was the only reporter there that day. The reporting staff as a whole has dropped by half. It’s a familiar story for those working in local newspapers. But it is also now becoming more familiar to those working across the media.

A reader called hizz makes the same point — with reference to Northcliffe.

Certain parts of Northcliffe are doing drip drip redundancies and saying nothing about it in public at all, because it’s a sub here, an exec there, and a strict policy of non-replacement when the overworked and underpaid hacks who are left quit.

True enough. All we can do, I think, is capture the trend.

That said, If you’re reading this blog, you can help us by submitting news of unreported redundancies. Get in touch with me: 0208 670 0039 / fullrun [at] googlemail [dot] com.

Do remember to use a non-work email address. A non-work broadband connection might be a good idea, too. When you submit info, I’ll do my best to confirm it. . . and add your numbers to the running total.

Tags: Guardian Media Group, Independent News & Media, Media, United Business Media