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Herald group makes journalists redundant

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Published Date: 04 December 2008
By Craig Brown
THE Herald and Times newspaper group has made all its journalists and publishing staff redundant and asked them to re-apply for their jobs.
The Glasgow-based company, which publishes the Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times, told up to 250 staff of the move yesterday.

It is expected that between 30 and 40 staff, 17 per cent of journalists, will be cut as the company merges all edi
torial departments on its three titles.

Last night, Paul Holleran, the Scottish organiser of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), described the move as a "brutal attempt at forcing changes".

Outlining the moves in a statement issued yesterday, the group said it was merging certain newspaper staffs under the new editor-in-chief, Donald Martin, to increase efficiency and make full use of state-of-the-art news production technology.

Tim Blott, the group's managing director, criticised the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), claiming that it had, in part, forced the move.

"We are committed to producing vibrant and relevant newspapers and websites, and see a bright future for the Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times and their digital versions," Mr Blott said.

"Regrettable industrial action this week by members of the NUJ at the titles makes the need for radical change even more urgent as we work to secure the future of the business and as many jobs as possible," he said.

However, the NUJ said that it had suspended action planned for this week prior to a meeting with the group heads.

Mr Holleran said of the announcement: "This is a brutal attempt at forcing changes which can only cause major problems in these titles.

"There are changes taking place across the media industry, with redundancies and new technology being introduced.

"Every other media employer in Scotland is working with the union to try to handle these changes in a civilised manner."





Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 04 December 2008 12:42 AM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Guga II,

Rockall 04/12/2008 00:16:24
The Hootsmon is next.
2

Mercutio,

FALKIRK 04/12/2008 00:46:01
Typical inane comment from the guano producer!
3

KampungHighlander,

Jakarta 04/12/2008 02:25:48
#1 Guga

So which of the Scotsman Journalists will be let go?

My guess is Hamish and Davie.

It would be much cheaper just to print Labour Party press releases verbatim, rather than employing someone to edit them.
4

W Smith,

Middle East 04/12/2008 02:53:42
The Scotsman, in its business pages, has been telling us for the last two years how well Scotland's economy is doing using words like "positive" and "optimistic" and the old favourite Scotland's-economy-won't-be-hit-as-bad-as-other-areas-of-the-UK routine.

Looks like the advertising revenue, or lack of, is forcing the Labour supporters at this newspaper to get real.

At least the unemployed "green" journalists will help to reduce Scotland's carbon footprint while they stay at home - and they will have more time to spend at home worrying about real issues like wildlife.
5

yockel,

04/12/2008 04:04:58
The whole coutry is next Guga.
They won't notice in Falkirk.
6

Watson,

Irvine 04/12/2008 04:41:49
Maybe The Herald ill employ real journalists instead of Labour Party spin doctors....................I wish
7

donald,

glasgow 04/12/2008 06:22:51
The Weegie Times was notorious for its anti SNP spin. So, the ET editor was the logical choice for the Onionist group heading for disaster and further alienation from its discerning readership..

As for its website: all pretence of objective journalism has been abandoned in its pursuit of censorship, due to heavy criticism from its dwindling readers for its crude Labour Unionist bias.

Its "comments" section is unwieldy and unworkable and disappeared up its own Labour passage. This another case of press barons putting blind political considerations ahead of commercial considerations. Ownership of a newspaper group has often been a method of entering the magic circle, even if that venture has been run at a loss by capitalists with a political agenda. The Herald group has now become another loss leader in th market, subsidised be whom and for how long?
8

steve 1511,

aberdeen 04/12/2008 07:08:52
the hootsman staff can blame comrade bean broon when their turn comes,THEY HAVE BACKED A LOSER

WE ARE DOOMED WITH BROON,DOOOOME
9

yockel,

04/12/2008 08:05:23
#8 The Hootsmon is safe they don't have any journalists.
10

Fifi la Bonbon,

04/12/2008 08:13:55
Quite pathetic to see you losers, none of who probably ever actually buy a newspaper, cackling at the loss of people's jobs.
11

gus1940,

Edinburgh 04/12/2008 08:20:21
#3

There isn't much editing happening with the Labour press releases.

Some day somebody may take the Death Announcements form The Scotsman and publish them on the web - see how that affects the circulation.

I don't see how the paper can claim copyright as the copy is paid for and doesn't originate with the paper but with the advertisers.
12

The Online Scot,

.. Herald Refugee ... 04/12/2008 08:50:51
The Herald hit new lows in the run up to the Glenrothes by-election, it actually was worse than The Scotsman on some days.

These redundancies could have been seen a mile off, Douglas Fraser destroyed his own reputation prior to jumping into the lifeboat provided by the BBC. Having listened to him a few times on radio and the TV he isn't very good.

The new editor of The Herald was editor of The Times, so content is only going downhill. Their new comments website appears to be a crude attempt at creating a newspaper within a paper. However the number of comments suggest that hits are virtually non existant.

The Scotsman is clearly having it's losses subsidised and this has allowed it to basically become a propoganda newspaper.

Scotland must be the only developed Western country that has not one quality newspaper. With the BBC controlled entirely from London we are entering an era of total news manipulation in Scotland.
13

Paul Spencer,

Glasgow 04/12/2008 09:11:25
I dont think it has anything to do with what the Herald's political stance is, after all its sister paper the Sunday Herald has pursued a nationalist line over the last few years. It is all down to the fact that Newsquest have no idea what a national newspaper should look like which is no surprise when it owns such august organs as the Penzance Pirate who doubtless have an investigative team that deal with the local village flower and produce team. The Herald group newspapers are amongst the most profitable in the Gannet empire, but at the same time they dont fit the "Penzance Pirate" business model, which is akin to a few journos, an accountant and an advertising sales team.
Arnold Kemp must be spinning in his grave to see a total demolition of what was one of Britains great regional newspapers.
What we are going to have is a very slimmed down operation, with poor editorial standards down to the fact that there are no resources.
As for the online content I couldnt agree more, there is room for moderation, but the fact you can't comment on any of the stories is ridiculous.
This is a set of papers that are going to die, its down to the fact that nobody has been able to marry up the fact that circulation and advertising is going down and they havent got a clue how to make online content pay. Given the dilution of editorial standards and general dumbing down along with the advent of cut and paste journalism this is the latest death rattle of a once proud scottish newspaper.
And for all the above comments, you can swap Herald/Gannet for Scotsman/Johnston Press, because for once this is a singularly transferable story.
14

Number 6,

Germany 04/12/2008 09:13:32
This paper IS next. Shares in the group now at 7p!!!!!!.

The Daily Record has frozen it's internet forums.
They simply could not deal with the amount of complaints
on the boards at the level of anti SNP trash they print on a daily basis.

No amount of e-mails to the on-line editor will elicit a response.Also no explanation on the boards either.

It is this spiteful cowardly response to criticism of their london based heros that will be the death knell of all the unionista rags in Scotland if they don't start being a little more objective .
15

Boy Wonder,

04/12/2008 09:20:04
The Hootsmon will not let any of its journos go ... for the simple reason that they only hire pretendy-journos with a New Labour fixation.
16

person who's right,

Edinburgh 04/12/2008 09:31:47
What amazes me is the fact that the owners of Scotland’s papers don’t spot the gap in the market for a nationalist-leaning paper.

The SNP is the most popular political party in Scotland, the party of government at Holyrood. Yet not one paper in Scotland supports independence.

It’s always struck me as ironic that the comments sections of the Herald and the Scotsman are awash with us cybernats (as are the letters pages). By rights, we should be boycotting such papers and gathering at a more spiritual home. But if you want news from a Scottish perspective there simply isn’t anywhere else to congregate…

In other words, there’s a gaping chasm of a gap in the market. Talk about a business opportunity.

At the same time, instead of clutching this opportunity with open arms, all of Scotland’s papers seem to be desperate to become seen as Nat-Basher-in-Chief, regurgitating Labour propaganda (most noticeable before the Glenrothes by-election, when it became farcical).

If I had any meaningful amount of money I’d buy the Herald or the Scotsman, realign the editorial stance to a pro-Scotland, open-to-independence position, and watch the circulation figure go through the roof and the money roll in…
17

Brian Ferrari,

04/12/2008 09:42:30
This is the down side to the internet. These posting sites will be next, after all if there's no one to write the copy there'll be nothing to read.

Just one huge BBC website.
18

Alan B,

04/12/2008 09:53:48
#Brian

The comments and posts are much better than the articles. Most of the time I do not read the articles and jump to the comments as they are more interesting and informative.

Most of the articles do not contain basic research that would leave you with more info than you start with but are just dumbed down political reteric.

The media also do not do there job to hold political parties to account for lying if that paper supports the party in question.

The only paper worth reading is the sunday herald because of Iain WcWhirter.
19

Number 6,

Germany 04/12/2008 10:08:35
As I mentioned at #14 The Daily record has frozen it's forums,unable to deal with the level of criticism at it's biased "journalism".

They used to let the posters set the agenda but of course so many of the topics were being ignored by the "Hard Copy", that the paper was beginning to look ludicrous.

Unable to stop the support for the SNP they have, as I said, frozen all the forums and refused repeated requests for an explanation.

Should I take it to the PCC?.
20

AJ Fife,

04/12/2008 10:10:36
Alan#19,

Very true and at least you get a sense of balance with the comments.....well....sometimes :)

21

Observer. 1,

Glasgow 04/12/2008 10:39:48
I don't think what they are doing to their journalists is technically legal. They are supposed to have a consultation process, it should last three months. I also heard Douglas Fraser blithely commenting on this on the Radio this morning, as if it was nothing to do with him.

The only decent thing worth reading the Herald for was the letters page, some of the best writing in Scotland could be found on there. And the slant was pro nationalist.

I'm just astonished neither the Herald nor the Scotsman have identified this huge niche in the market, now they could both go down the tubes because of sheer stupidity.
22

tbj,

Edinburgh 04/12/2008 10:48:06
Did we not have The Scottish Standard? The truth is none of us bought it and it went to the wall after seven issues. Why would anyone want to follow that?
23

LVT,

04/12/2008 10:55:33
I'm as annoyed as anyone about the political bias at The Scotsman and Herald, but that is not the reason for their current problems. Their business model is disappearing, and the recession is making things much worse very quickly. Their owners have long made big profits, and they are now simply trying to continue to make as much cash as they can while they can. That involves cutting while hoping that not too many readers notice.

The sobering thought for journalists is that many readers used to buy these papers for their adverts more than for their news copy. Apart from those who are used to buying them for the crossword, there's not many folk who really care- they can find news elsewhere.
24

Jimmy Le Pie,

04/12/2008 12:08:24
I used to buy the Hootsmon and to a lesser extent the Herald, on a regular basis.

I've bought neither for 2 years and as long as they continue their New Labour Sleaze bias, I will never buy either again.

I don't want a paper unless it reports facts and leaves me to make my own mind up.
25

Observer. 1,

Glasgow 04/12/2008 12:37:40
26 I think if you wish to pose as an intellectual snob, some evidence of intellect should be presented first.
26

Scotfree,

Erskine 04/12/2008 12:40:24
The Herald has become a sorry shadow of it's former self when it cannot even comment on major stories affecting Scotland even when it affects itself, ironically, giving more support for the labour regime, on this day when its own staff face the prospect of having to resign on mass and reapply for their jobs. All part of the benefits of labours globalisation program which brings the benefits of employee serfdom to the American owners of the Herald.
It is ironic that the only party that offers liberation from serfdom for Herald staff is the one most vilified and attacked by them, with praise and sycophancy reserved for their most ardent oppressors and supporters of globalisation and resultant wage slave serfdom, the labour party.
Is this some kind of Stockholm symptom where the captive comes to admire his oppressor and even goes beyond this to Uncle Tom like praise and support for the system and party that enslaves them? Who knows? Of course it is justified on economic ground, no one is buying the paper. But why does no-one want to buy a paper that cant even tell the truth about itself? It bites the hand that feeds it by attacking the largest political block in Scotland and denying a voice to the struggle for Scottish freedom. A cynic would say their preparedness to pay the cost of doing this is an indication of how much control of Scotland is worth to the establishment; the Herald staffs are unwitting clogs in the wheels of the oppression and exploitation of Scotland.
(p.s. todate still no comments even allowed on this story in the Herald. Press (sic) freedom indeed!)
27

ignorant townie?,

Scotland 04/12/2008 13:02:57
Merry Xmas to all your staff..????

Has anyone else noticed that there are no real investigative journalists anymore....thats what is missing here and its all down to editorial/owner pressure - mustnt rock the boat old chap. Welcome to the 19th century - again - when no one in power, politicans/landowners/newspaper owners has anything to fear from the public catching them out in corruption/wildlife killing/political fixing.
28

Banana Heid,

Ayrshire 04/12/2008 14:08:09
Wouldn't making scotsman journalists cause a tear in the space time continuum? Scotsman journalists are already redundant so if they were again made redundant this would create a paradox which could upset the forces of nature...
29

Prester John,

Pots_n_Pans 04/12/2008 14:10:32
This is merely a continuation of the process started by Eddie Shah with the 'Today' newspaper all those years ago. Having satellite presses round the country allowed papers to be printed later and arrive on newstands with more up-to-date material sent electronically from a central editorial office with desk-top publishing replacing 'hot metal'. As technology improves - digital photography, satellite transmissions etc - this process gets ever more efficient. That's why you can get on-the-day editions of British papers in all sort of foreign places.

Did you know you can log into any of the Scotsman group of papers using your normal log-in ? I've just been on the Peterborough Times, reading about the ice that fell off wind turbine blades to the hazard of those nearby.
30

Prester John,

Pots_n_Pans 04/12/2008 14:14:50
Syndication of journalistic material helps to reduce the need for journalists too. I discovered that as well with some articles finding their way across some of the groups.

The Daily Mail and sister papers seem to be quite good at that.

Using one basic website design for each of the papers help to reduce overheads I ween.
31

I.Wright,

Glasgow 04/12/2008 14:38:39
"What amazes me is the fact that the owners of Scotland’s papers don’t spot the gap in the market for a nationalist-leaning paper. The SNP is the most popular political party in Scotland, the party of government at Holyrood. Yet not one paper in Scotland supports independence."

This is typical of SNP myopia. Support for the SNP may be relatively high at the moment, but support for independence is still stuck down at around 30% and seems also to be waning. An SNP-supporting paper would be pushing the separatist line and if you think aiming a new paper at just a third of the electorate makes sound business sense you are deluding yourself. If you think most people buy a paper because of its political stance you are also deluding yourself because most people aren't interested in politics.

As for the constant whining from Nats about how the Herald and Scotsman are Labour propaganda sheets - this is just more self-delusion, paranoid delusion at that. Just because they're not pro-separatist doesn't make them pro-Labour. Since Andrew Neil's time in charge the Scotsman has been pro-Tory if anything. The SNP is in government now and, suprise, surprise - governing parties get kicked by the media. It's life, so stop being a bunch of babies and grow up.
32

Niall,

Fraserburgh 04/12/2008 15:15:16
Sorry Mr Wright.
I stopped buying the herald and the Scotsman two years ago because of their overt bias to the New Labour spin machine. They printed wholesale every lie that Labour uttered despite there being ample evidence elsewhere that disproved the lie.

As for investigative journalism, they have utterly failed. I provided evidence that foreign landowners/ estate owners wher clearing the native Scottish farmers and people in general from the land in order to maximise their sporting potential. Was anything done by the Herald Journalists? Nothing not a single peep.

The owners of the Herald and North British Person have climbed into bed with the Labour leadership and this is the result. No independent investigation and comment on Scottish issues including politics only a slavish adherence to the Labour party.

If you want independent comment on Scottish issues then you need to read the Aberdeen Press and Journal and the Dundee Courier. No wonder sales are plumeting, so if they do not return to their roots then they face oblivion and it serves them right.

'S mise le meas
Niall Ban
33

Alan B,

04/12/2008 15:20:18
#I.Wright

I do not think it is about having a pro snp paper but more a quality paper that is not so very pro unionist anti nat and labour apologist. One that the journalists actually do some research and are informative.

If you are pro nat you get annoyed with the biase. If you are pro labour you will not learn anything and will find nothing in the paper of interest. If you do not care you will learn little and find it insults your intelligence and you would be aswell reading a tabloid.

Scotland is not big enough like england to have quality papers with such editorial biase. We need quality papers that get back to being quality papers and lose the cheap tabloid type political backing for parties and back to really scrutinising issues.
34

,

04/12/2008 15:45:40
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
35

Sam the man the snp Fear most,

STOPPING SNP PROPAGANDA 04/12/2008 15:54:51
26# Brillant post and indeed very true.lol.

27# Mother Teresa poster a.k.a Betty- See you had a bash at the Fake posting game, leave the Fake posting and the politics to the men dear.

I am also sure you will agree as i predicted that the snp are dead in the water.

The Herald is an excellent paper and without a doubt will survive through this tough times, what it is doing is legal and above board Betty based on the information i have read and heard.
36

,

04/12/2008 16:13:44
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
37

Yok Finney,

Ross-shire (or Scotia Baltica) 04/12/2008 16:44:31
Onwart the internet !

http://wc4.worldcrossing.com/webx?14@@.1ddfb82e
38

Observer. 1,

Glasgow 04/12/2008 17:25:29
Sammy I haven't faked or been faked as far as I know, and I don't think what they are doing is legal, but that's for the NUJ to find out and act upon.

Good luck to them, it should be the management that get the boot, they are the ones who have ruined the paper, not the staff.
39

Truely English,

04/12/2008 19:27:56
Since there are so many of the same stories covered by all newspapers. Do we now require such a high number for falling readerships?
40

,

04/12/2008 20:34:35
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
41

Teamdroid,

04/12/2008 23:19:41
17, where you clearly see the failure of the Herald and Scotsman is when you compare their circulation figures to their equivalents in Ireland, Norway and the like. Even combined, the circulation of the Herald and Scotsman do not even approach the likes of the Irish Times or Aftenposten. This is not directly because of their political line: it is simply because they accept themselves as regional papers (by supporting the Union of the UK), rather than national ones.
It would be in their commercial interests to be newspapers in an independent Scotland, but as someone else has pointed out, "quality" newspapers are vanity projects for moguls, rather than serious business ventures.
42

donald,

glasgow 05/12/2008 06:46:05
The only paper with "investigating" journalists is the News of the Screws. The two "quality" papers in Scotland are Labour and Onionist cut and paste jobs, not fit for fish wrappers..
43

Schot,

09/12/2008 21:40:06
The Gannet takeover came just after a malicious legal action by Lord George Robertson, due to a comment on the Sunday Herald forum. This fact partly explains why the Scotsman is so ready to hide comments, because they could suffer the same fate.

Back then the Sunday Herald was one of the most prestigious anti-war newspapers in the world, certainly in the UK. I was told by one of their staff at the time of the takeover that I shouldn't worry as long as the editor, a good man by all accounts, stayed in his job. He left for the Age in Australia soon after and the group hasn't been any better than USA Today since then.

The current US owner of the group thinks he is an important freemason with Scottish roots. I would suggest the Scotsman would be doing the country and their own profits a diservice if they didn't try to poach the best of their rivals journalists. And offer them a decent wage and resources. Scotland needs at least one decent newspaper even if we don't have any independent banks anymore.

 

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