The UK’s biggest news agency PA Media is proposing to cut 8% of UK editorial staff.
Staff were told on Tuesday morning that 74 members of the UK content team were being put at risk of redundancy with the aim of cutting up to 25 roles.
They were told this would equate to reducing the team by about 8% (which would mean a current UK content team headcount of about 312 people).
A PA Media spokesperson told Press Gazette: “The news media industry is changing and PA Media is proposing to adapt its editorial operation to meet customer needs.
“It is always regrettable putting roles at risk and we are working with stakeholders to minimise the impact on our people as far as possible.”
Editor-in-chief Jack Lefley, who informed staff of the proposal, succeeded PA Media editor-in-chief of ten years Pete Clifton at the start of this year, joining from the Standard where he spent more than 18 years, including as acting editor and publisher.
In February, after about a month in the job, Lefley said he was “meeting and talking to our key customers to hear from them what more they need from us now and in the years ahead” and that his “main ambition for PA is for the award-winning journalism produced by our reporters, photographers and video teams to reach an ever-growing audience.
“The best way to do that is to be agile to the changing needs of our customers and to innovate to get ahead of the game.
“Later this year, I hope to be able to share exciting developments around our products.
“Ultimately, we need to ensure that we are delivering great content in the formats our customers need and their audiences want.
“I’m focused on achieving that partly through smarter use of data in our day-to-day decision making.
“There will be ways we can better use AI to free up our journalists to do their most impactful work.
“I’ll also be looking to push forward with our brilliant fact-checking operation and accelerate the growth of our successful live video service.”
Other management changes have included the arrival this year of Ranj Begley, formerly managing director and chief content officer of newspaper and magazine bundle service Readly, who joined PA Media as chief revenue officer and managing director.
It has been one year since Emily Shelley took over as PA Media Group chief executive from Clive Marshall, who had been in post for 14 years.
Also in 2024, PA Media was told it must recognise and negotiate with the NUJ as the official union for its editorial staff. A recognition agreement and pay deal were reached in October.
Laura Davison, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said on Tuesday: “Today’s announcement by PA Media that it will place 74 editorial posts at risk of redundancy is deeply concerning and will shock journalists at the company.
“As we seek further information on this significant proposal, we urge transparent and meaningful engagement between PA’s leadership and our newly recognised chapel to ensure job losses are minimised.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
