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January 29, 2013updated 30 Jan 2013 2:01pm

Trinity Mirror cuts 66 regional jobs and plans closer integration with national titles

By William Turvill

Trinity Mirror is to cut approximately 40 editorial jobs as it aims to become a "digitally-focused news operation".

Trinity has begun consulting affected journalists and is hoping enough will apply for voluntary redundancies.

Some 92 editorial jobs are to be cut from Trinity's regional titles in England and Wales and 52 new jobs are to be created split between the national and regional titles.

This means a net reduction of 66 regional press journalists and an increase of 26 jobs at national level is proposed.

Trinity said it is planning to create a number of new writing, photographer/ videographer and digital roles at its national titles.

A “shared content unit” is proposed in Liverpool which will produce non-local content for regionals, and there are plans for further integration between national and regional titles.

Trinity also announced that there will be a greater emphasis on digital content with a "rapid expansation" in the rollout of e-editions.

The statement also said that there will be a “much enhanced focus in the regional titles on the curation of community content”.

Editorial director Neil Benson said: “Our newsrooms have made great progress in embracing the digital world in recent years but, essentially, our processes have remained print-led.

“This new approach is a bold, imaginative step that will enable us to become a fully-fledged, digitally-focused news operation, and brings together for the first time the best of our regional and national journalism.

“It is never easy to make these decisions when it affects our colleagues in this way but we must re-engineer the way we work if our journalism is to thrive in the future.”

Lloyd Embley, editor-in-chief of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People, said: “The new roles will significantly enhance our output while creating a closer working relationship with our regional colleagues.

“This is a huge step forward for the Mirror and the One Trinity Mirror initiative as we take a more unified approach in creating and sharing first-class content across the group.”

Trinity said the new approach will be underpinned by investment in technology, including the ContentWatch editorial system and the Escenic web publishing CMS, which are to be rolled out across Trinity Mirror’s newsrooms.

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