The National Union of Journalists has unveiled a series of counter-proposals to Johnston Press‘s centralised sub-editing plans – in a bid to save subs’ jobs moving up to 70 miles from the towns they serve.
This month, Johnston Press announced plans to centralise sub-editing in its Midlands division.
It would mean sub-editing in Leamington, Banbury, Rugby and Daventry moving to Northampton; sub-editing at Lincolnshire Newspapers and Anglia Newspapers moving to Peterborough; and sub-editing at Buckingham, Aylesbury and Hemel Hempstead moving to Milton Keynes.
But the NUJ has opposed moving sub-editing from Bury St Edmunds – where Anglia Newspapers is based – to Peterborough, 71 miles away.
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The union has suggested centralising subbing for the group – which includes the Suffolk Free Press, Diss Express, and Newmarket Journal – in Bury St Edmunds.
Johnston Press – which this week also announced plans to centralise subbing in Northern Ireland – is considering the proposals.
Journalists from other affected divisions, including Spalding in Lincolnshire, and Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, will submit their alternative plans shortly, the union said.
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NUJ head of publishing Barry Fitzpatrick told Press Gazette: “If these papers are to survive and prosper they need to do be what they say on the packet – and that’s local.
“They all claim they’re serving the local community – they have mastheads that claim that.
“What we’re saying is if they have a future, they have to be what they say they are.”
When asked what problems centralised subbing would cause, Fitzpatrick said: “Even if there are jobs, it’s quite unlikely that someone will travel all that way – it’s not just remote, it’s inconceivable.
“Secondly, these people have the local knowledge and local interest, and pick up anything that slips through and is wrong.
“I want to be optimistic [that the NUJ’s proposals will be adopted] but I’m not naïve. We’ve had a favourable response, and what we’ve said can’t be dismissed as unworkable.
“We’re expecting to have a mature dialogue, not be dismissed out of hand.”
When the centralising plans were announced, Johnston Press’s chief operating officer Danny Cammiade told Press Gazette: “Johnston Press is a newspaper group that bases itself on its localness.”
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