Two of the UK’s leading regional daily titles are to have their editorships combined – the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post.
The move means that Post editor Peter Charlton and Evening Post editor Paul Napier have both been placed under risk of redundancy.
It is the latest in a wave of cutbacks across the UK regional press which have seen a generation of editors either lose their jobs or have their roles combined with those of other senior staff.
Many editors have become group editors of a series of titles or had their role combined with that of the managing director or publisher.
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Helen Oldham, managing director of Johnston Press West Yorkshire said: “As part of the overall objective of creating a more efficient management structure, we are proposing to make the following change: the roles of editor of the Yorkshire Post and editor of the Yorkshire Evening Post will be combined into a single role with responsibility for both titles. We are in consultation with both Peter Charlton and Paul Napier and further announcements will be made in due course.”
In the second half of 2011 both of the Leeds-based titles lost sales. The Yorkshire Evening Post fell 10.9 per cent year on year to 34,851 sales and the Yorkshire Post fell 4.4 per cent to 38,411
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that the editor of the Lancashire Evening Post, Simon Reynolds, has left the company.
Johnston also announced that the deputy editor position at the Lancashire Evening Post, the Gazette and the Wigan Evening Post are being scrapped as part of a wide-ranging restructure in the region.
Gary Fearon, who previously headed the company’s southern newspaper operation but has taken over responsibility for the North West, said in a statement issued to staff yesterday: ‘As part of the overall objective of creating a more efficient managerial structure we are proposing to make a number of changes to the editorial department.
‘Simon Reynolds, editor of the Lancashire Evening Post, has been placed on leave and is in consultation with the company.
‘Further announcements on the editorship of the Lancashire Evening Post will be made in due course.
‘Additionally, the following editorial roles will be combined to create a single role with responsibility for all relevant titles: editor Burnley with editor Nelson and Clitheroe; editor Blackpool Gazette with editor Lytham St Annes/Fleetwood; editor Lancaster & Morecambe with editor Garstang; and editor Lancashire Evening Post with editor Chorley.
‘The deputy editor roles at the Lancashire Evening Post, Blackpool and Wigan will also cease to exist. We are currently in consultation with the affected staff and further announcements will be made in due course.”
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