Barnes: focusing on brands
VNU has closed its news centre set up four years ago as a pool of journalists writing across similar titles, writes Sarah Lagan .
The six journalists who worked on the news centre are involved in a 30-day consultation period in an attempt to find them positions elsewhere in the company.
Eight editorial vacancies have been created on individual titles and a website, including an editor’s position on Vnunet.com.
One journalist, Miya Knight, has already been found a reporting post on Computing.
Among the journalists being made redundant are joint editors Steven Ranger and Ian Lynch.
John Barnes, publishing director of VNU’s computing division, said: “The posts on the news centre are gone, but I think most of the people will be re-employed.
“This has nothing to do with cutting costs. It closed because we are putting a lot of our focus back on the brands.
“We have created positions on the titles at the expense of the news centre closing.”
Computing editor Mike Gubbins said: “I will have more people on my title, as will other editors. I see this as a strong, editorially led strategy.”
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