Specialist reporters targeted in latest round of cuts at the Scotsman
NUJ members at the Scotsman have passed a motion of “anger and dismay” and are seeking an urgent meeting with their editor to discuss the latest round of cuts in which one out of four in the newsroom has been placed at risk of redundancy.
The cuts, which were announced on Wednesday, are across specialist reporters, business and features, with a proposal to cut five roles. They follow the axing of two football writers in January, leaving just one dedicated football reporter. At the same time, their Glasgow-based rival has been recruiting football writers and last year launched two new football websites covering Edinburgh teams Hibs and Hearts.
The NUJ chapel at the National World flagship title has called upon editor Neil McIntosh to hold a meeting with staff to explain why such severe cuts were needed only three weeks after he told journalists they had achieved year-on-year growth and congratulated them for their performance, effort and hard work.
The decision on the cuts was made by National World’s senior executives based in England following what has been described as a failure to hit targets for subscriptions. The page view target for scotsman.com was to double traffic by the end of 2024, and the first half of the year had been described as a “good start” by the editor in an email to staff.
National World boasted in their half-yearly results that their websites and apps had increased by 8 per cent since year end, and The Scotsman, Yorkshire Post, News Letter, Express and Star and Shropshire Star had grown their subscriber base by 17 per cent since December 2023.
The Scotsman, like many newspaper groups, has been unable to capitalise on switching revenues from print to digital at a time when the traditional newspaper model is in decline. The latest ABC figures available show The Scotsman sold 7,710 daily copies on average for the last half of 2023, around a tenth of what it sold 25 years ago. It has recently ranked poorly and below rivals in Google News’s organic search for Scottish news stories.
Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ national organiser for Scotland, said:
“Our members at The Scotsman shouldn’t have to pay the price for the muddled mess of a business strategy from National World. They have achieved what they have been asked to do, and their editor has congratulated them for it.
“National World management claim they are trying to turn the company into a ‘premium content business’, but these job cuts fall on those same talented, award-winning journalists who consistently produce excellent Scottish journalism.
“National World CEO David Montgomery needs to be supporting the editor of The Scotsman and its journalists so they can continue to produce quality, informed journalism. You don’t attract more subscribers by offering them less content.”