Senior Mirror journalists, including agenda editor Lee Harpin, are among those facing redundancy as Trinity Mirror seeks £15m in cost savings this year.
Up to 15 staff on the publisher’s national titles are understood to be at risk with nine journalism roles set to go as well as six administrative editorial support staff.
Alongside Harpin, who was arrested last year for phone-hacking but had the case against him dropped, Mirror chief reporter Matthew Drake, features editor Clemmie Moodie and northern news reporter Stephen White are also understood to be at risk of going.
A well-placed source told Press Gazette last week that some editorial insiders are blaming the latest cutbacks on the closure of The New Day in May. Trinity Mirror spent millions launching the new national daily newspaper which closed after two months.
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But a management source said this was wide of the mark and that the latest editorial cutbacks were long planned and come as a result of pressure on advertising and circulation revenue.
The consultations are understood to be being carried out by former New Day editor Alison Phillips in her new role as deputy editor-in-chief of the Mirror titles.
A Trinity Mirror spokesperson said: “Like all media companies, it is essential that we adapt to the changing industry and ensure we continue to operate efficiently and control costs.
“This has been a key part of our strategy for several years and is unrelated to the New Day or recent share price movements.
“An unfortunate but necessary part of this strategy as pressure on print revenue continues, is identifying savings in editorial budgets which include some proposed redundancies at the Mirror.
“We are now in consultation with those impacted so unable to confirm further details while that process is ongoing.”
The last major national press cutbacks at Trinity Mirror’s London-based titles came in October 2015 when 28 production roles were cut.
A further 27 editorial jobs were cut in May 2015 with the closure three national websites and cuts at the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.
Eight jobs were cut when the Sunday People and Sunday Mirror editorial teams merged in July 2014.
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