Reach has told staff of plans to “radically reorganise” the editorial structure of its newsrooms around the UK and beyond.
The plans, which are expected to involve redundancies, will include the creation of a live news network with journalists spread around the country reporting to one leader co-ordinating their day-to-day reporting.
Journalists working for the live news network will “work hand-in-hand” with staff at brands in their area like the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo to produce the biggest news stories in any format.
Their content will go into a hub to also be used by national brands the Mirror, Express and Daily Star.
The intention is that there will be less duplication, which can happen when staff from many of Reach’s biggest brands attend the same events of national interest without co-ordination happening between them.
Staff were told this will harness Reach’s USP: having more journalists across the UK and Ireland than any other commercial publisher.
Staff were also told at a townhall meeting on Thursday afternoon of the need to produce more video and less text-only content.
Reach has a 120-strong Studio team producing video and audio content and making use of studio spaces in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle.
But the new plan will see the creation of “everyday journalism video teams” creating day-to-day content with less editing. The Studio team produces more planned and distinct products, such as the Mirror and Express political podcast The Division Bell and sponsored content.
Alongside these changes, staff were told there will be focus put on making sure the individual Reach newsbrands are doing enough of what makes them distinct – and what people might pay for – including campaigning journalism, investigations and local news that is of particular interest to loyal readers on their patch.
Manchester Evening News to get first Reach subscription offering
This follows the plan set out by chief executive Piers North in July that Reach will put “serious focus” on subscriptions for the first time.
Currently all Reach content is free to read except for some apps that have metered paywalls and some paid-for newsletters.
But an email to staff from Paul Rowland, editorial director for Reach’s regional website network, first published by Hold The Front Page, revealed that Manchester Evening News will soon launch the publisher’s “first subscriptions offering to readers” with other brands to follow “soon afterwards”.
Chief content officer David Higgerson said in a statement: “Alongside the business’s new strategic priorities, as announced in July, we will be radically reorganising our editorial structure for today’s media landscape.
“One of the biggest changes teams will see will be a patch-led approach to news gathering. We will run our news via a dispersed Live News Network, with reporters spread out across the UK, Ireland and beyond.
“Stories will be told on the ground where they happen, and we will be appointing a new leader in this area who will coordinate our efforts.
“We will also significantly increase our video output while producing less text-only content. We’ll be bringing in new talent to deliver this, while creating ‘everyday journalism video teams’ woven into all of our newsrooms.
“All of this will enable our brand editors to put a greater level of focus on the work that makes their brand special. This means more focus on the campaigning, investigating, or personality led journalism that speaks to audiences of the Mirror, Express or the Manchester Evening News, for example, and will support loyal audience growth at a time of turbulent referrer traffic.”
Higgerson told staff that the proposal will result in a smaller editorial team overall but that new roles will be created in key areas like video.
Reach is also currently hiring in Australia for the first time so it can keep publishing on a 24/7 basis.
Live news network to ‘harness Reach’s USP’
A note to Mirror staff from editor-in-chief Caroline Waterston, seen by Press Gazette, said: “I see this as a good opportunity for our team to focus on our key pillars – continuing the work we’ve been doing over the last 18 months – to strengthen our brand by focusing on the award-winning campaigning we do, our fantastic political coverage, and championing the great quality original and exclusive news, features, showbiz and picture stories we bring our readers across our titles.”
Rowland told staff that key themes he heard from staff as he toured the newsrooms earlier this year were that “we needed to up our game on video, be more active on emerging social platforms, consider dipping back into subscriptions, and make better use of the fantastic journalism that exists around our network”.
In the note, Rowland continued: “What you’ve heard today is a clear intention to move into those spaces, and that will bring some exciting opportunities: telling stories in different ways, engaging new audiences and finding new ways to make our content pay.
“We’ll put dedicated video teams into our brands, allowing us to tell our stories in different ways and reach new audiences. These ‘everyday journalism’ video teams will help us significantly increase our video output, with the balance of what we produce shifting so that we have less text-only content.
“We’ll also set up the Live News Network, creating a structure which, for the first time, allows us to fully harness the benefit of our biggest USP – having more journalists situated across the UK and Ireland than any other commercial publisher.
“As part of this plan, our dedicated live news teams based across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will work hand-in-hand with the brand teams in those areas, but their content will also flow into a live news hub containing dedicated teams to serve our national brands.
“We want that hub to include a visual journalism unit, allowing us to produce maps, infographics and interactive elements that will help our coverage to stand out from the crowd.”
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