Trinity to cut 15 print jobs in week of change for regional press

Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror has announced 15 redundancies in its print department as part of a rejig in the North East.

The move, which was announced on Friday, came during a week of change in the newspaper sector, with Johnston Press also making redundancies and Northcliffe News and Media selling its Staffordshire titles to Iliffe Media.

Now, in an attempt to boost its readership, Trinity Mirror has changed the publishing schedule for the Newcastle Evening Chronicle.

The title will now be printed at its Teeside plant, moving from Newcastle, and will be published earlier in the day. A spokesman for the company said that the Teeside facility had a "more up-to-date spec" than its Newcastle sister site.

In total 25 redundancies have been announced; 15 relate to the Newcastle plant, the remainder have been announced as part of an editorial reshuffle at the title.

Managing director David Simms said: "This restructure aims to help our newspapers and websites come through the recession and ensure a future for our media brands in the North East. We are committed to achieving as many of these potential redundancies as possible by voluntary means."

Elsewhere, Iliffe Newspapers has splashed out an estimated £1m on five titles in Staffordshire and South Cheshire, previously owned by Northcliffe Media - the key titles in the investment are the Leek Post and Times.

The titles will join Iliffe News and Media's Staffordshire Newspapers subsidiary; although at this stage printing will remain at Northcliffe subsidiary Harmsworth Printing's Stoke site.

Commenting on the sale, Northcliffe Media managing director Steve Auckland said: "The titles support that portfolio better than ours. They approached us and it was decided that the deal was worth making, we didn't put the titles up for sale, but any approaches for our regional titles will be considered if it makes sense."

Northcliffe Media is also switching the Torquay Herald Express to a weekly newspaper, with 16 jobs lost while 18 staff will be made redundant in Johnston Press's Yorkshire division as part of a reorganisation.

A statement from Johnston Press said eight full-time roles were currently available and redundant employees would be encouraged to apply for them.