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November 1, 2007updated 23 May 2013 1:45pm

Who needs sub-editors? Not me, says David Montgomery

By Dominic Ponsford

Chief executive of European newspaper giant Mecom David Montgomery has said that he sees far less need for the 'twilight world' of sub-editing in today's newspapers.

Speaking at the German embassy last night, the former Mirror Group chief executive spoke of the exciting long-term future print journalists can look forward to.

He said: 'Never before has a journalist been able to reach out to their audience without intervention.

'Reporters out in the field can call up a page on their laptop and put copy straight onto the page without intervention."

He added: 'It means journalists can be freed from humdrum roles and the sub-editing culture can break down."

Speaking of his experience as head of Mecom – which runs 200 papers across five countries in Europe with a combined turnover of £1.2bn – he said that 'resistance is breaking down'to this "new way of working."

Montgomery met with a sceptical response from journalists in an audience which mainly comprised of past and present members of the George Weidenfeld Anglo-German journalist exchange programme.

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But Montgomery used the example of TV journalists – who are not sub-edited for live reports.

He said: 'I see a situation where experienced journalists that can be trusted have no barrier to communication with their audience.

'Sub-editing is a twilight world, checking things you don't really need to check. Senior people will always monitor the content, a core group will create the product."

But he added that individual journalists need to have 'more discretion over what can be published".

He said: 'I come from a world where editor-in-chiefs are control freaks who want to control every word. We've got to let that go."

Comment: Why Monty is wrong to ditch subs

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