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August 14, 2020updated 07 Nov 2023 5:42am

Covid-19 crisis leads to more than 2,000 job cuts across UK news organisations

By Freddy Mayhew and Charlotte Tobitt

More than 2,000 jobs at UK-based news organisations have been put at risk during the Covid-19 crisis so far, with more expected to follow.

Cutbacks have fallen across the news industry as the decline in print sales has deepened and the advertising market has collapsed under lockdown.

This month alone more than 200 redundancies have been revealed, split between Mail publisher DMG Media and the Evening Standard.

[Scroll down for Covid-19 cutbacks so far]

A large proportion of editorial staff are affected by the cutbacks, even at organisations that were able to avoid furloughing staff earlier on.

In April, at the height of the pandemic, Press Gazette reported that more than 2,000 staff across the UK’s national and regional press had been furloughed. Many of these have now turned into real cuts.

At the BBC alone close to 1,000 jobs have been put at risk across news and the nations and regions, with the broadcaster facing an estimated £125m in lost income this financial year as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

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The pandemic has accelerated cutbacks at most news organisations.

The press in particular has already been struggling with a declining print readership, disruption from mobile and online, and a digital ad market dominated by the tech giants.

Covid-19 cutbacks so far:

A recent Press Gazette reader poll showed eight in ten respondents see Covid-19 as major threat to news industry.

Read all Press Gazette’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and the news industry here

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