UPTO ten posts are understood to be at risk of redundancy at the publishers of The Herald, Sunday Herald, The National and Evening Times newspapers.
It follows efforts to bring the editorial desks across the titles closer together and part of an exercise to save around £600,000, including supplier costs and travel expenses.
Applications for voluntary redundancy are being invited.
Said group managing director, Tim Blott: “We are working with all of our staff to support them through these changes. As reader habits and expectations are changing in our marketplace, we are re-aligning our internal processes, equipment and talent to meet this demand. We have been investing in new talent and roles where requirements and audiences are growing, but it is also necessary for us to reduce certain functions in our back-office and editorial departments. The consultation on redundancy disclosed to staff is being conducted in full and very close review with the NUJ.”
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THE Dundee newspaper, the Evening Telegraph, is seeking a deputy news editor, as advertised here on allmediascotland.com.
And repeated on www.twitter.com/allmediajobs.
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AND says an announcement issued by Dundee newspapers, magazines and comics publisher: “Regional daily titles, The Press and Journal and The Courier, have posted increased year-on-year readership figures of 2.7 per cent.
“According to the latest National Readership Survey, the newspaper titles also posted a joint 11.4 per cent period-on-period readership increase.”
Read more, here.
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THE Guardian’s Libby Brooks reflects on a “marked lack of blaming, or naming and shaming” in the case of the driver of the bin lorry that ploughed into people in Glasgow’s George Square, just before Christmas, resulting in the death of six people.
She continues: “I reported on the crash from the immediate stunned aftermath at the scene, through a Christmas week that felt as dimmed as the festive lights around the square. Tough questions were asked of the authorities about vehicle safety and staff health checks. But the driver, Harry Clarke, was not named in the Scottish press until well into the new year, and then in an un-bylined piece in a broadsheet. There was no floodgate of follow-ups, and when Clarke himself issued a single interview (here) to the Daily Record earlier this month, he thanked both the public for their support, and the media ‘who have not hounded me as they could have’.”
Read more, here.
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BEGINS the website, radiotoday.co.uk: “Heart Scotland breakfast presenters, Robin Galloway and Adele Cunningham, have said sorry after a technical error put their microphones live after their show had ended…[and proceeded to capture alleged swearing].”
Read more, here.
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FOLLOWING yesterday morning’s financial results announcement by STV (as noted here on allmediascotland), The Herald’s Greig Cameron writes: “STV Group chief executive, Rob Woodward, has suggested shareholders are in line for further increases in dividends as the board is confident of the financial strength of the business.
“That came as Mr Woodward confirmed a 300 per cent rise in the payment from 2p to 8p for 2014 and the media group reported a 14 per cent hike in underlying pre-tax profits from £15.2 million to £17.3m.”
Read more, here.
And Kristy Dorsey, in The Scotsman, begins (here): “Strong growth in the television advertising market drove turnover and profits at STV last year, allowing the media group to boost its dividend by 300 per cent.
“Glasgow-based STV, which has a ‘family’ of broadcasting and digital outlets, said its new local stations in Edinburgh and Glasgow are now reaching roughly 300,000 and 600,000 viewers respectively.
“Their combined audience share represents about one-third of their total potential reach, which chief executive Rob Woodward hailed as an outstanding achievement for the young stations.”
The Guardian also reports the story, here. As does the Daily Business website, here.
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