The Mail on Sunday and Metro titles have lost dozens of journalists as part of a cost-cutting exercise implemented by their publisher.
High-profile Mail on Sunday departures include news editor Ben Felsenburg, business editor Neil Craven, consumer affairs and technology editor Dan Jones and medical editor Stephen Adams. Acting features editor Paul Clements tweeted that he was leaving The Mail on Sunday on 22 April, adding that the newspaper’s features team was no more. Separately, Mail on Sunday deputy editor Maggie O’Riordan left the business shortly before the cuts began.
Several members of staff worked their final shifts on the newspaper in late April. City PR firm Monfort announced on Wednesday this week that it had appointed Craven as a senior consultant.
Metro’s cutbacks were completed earlier in the year. Senior journalists to have left the freesheet included editor Ted Young, who announced he was stepping down in January, deputy news editor Joel Taylor, news editor Sarah Getty, production boss Paul Hudson and head of features Sharon Lougher.
Related
DMGT, which was taken private by Lord Rothermere in 2021, has not divulged any total figures internally or externally, and it is therefore unclear exactly how many roles have disappeared. Redundancies were certainly in double figures at both, with dozens of staff and regular freelances having left.
Some departing staff have estimated that as many as 30 roles may have disappeared from each title, but a well-placed source said these figures were inaccurate and too high. The Mail on Sunday previously had a workforce of around 90. A further unspecified number of jobs have been cut from the commercial side of the business.
In March, Ted Verity, the editor-in-chief of Mail Newspapers, told staff that the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday would be brought “much closer together” and that this would result in redundancies, “while other staff may see a change in working pattern, job title, line manager or duties”.
Journalists at the group now often write for both the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Previously the titles operated as distinct editorial entities. Notably, in 2016, the Daily Mail (then led by Paul Dacre) backed Brexit, while The Mail on Sunday (then edited by Geordie Greig) supported Remain.
The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Metro have by far the largest audited print circulations on Fleet Street. The Sun, which previously held the top spot, no longer submits its figures to ABC. In March, the freesheet Metro had an average circulation of 952,424. The Daily Mail’s average circulation was 777,586, down 11% on March 2022, and The Mail on Sunday’s was 659,454, down 12%.
Alongside the daily and Sunday newspapers, the Mail also operates Mail Online, one of the world’s largest free English-language news websites, and Mail Plus, a multimedia service that claims more than 150,000 paid subscribers.
DMGT declined to comment.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
