300 jobs to be lost as Dundee newspaper publisher DC Thomson cut jobs and closes titles

Newspaper and magazine publisher DC Thomson has revealed that 300 members of staff will be made redundant.

Employees were told at an all-staff meeting on Wednesday that the Dundee-based company needs to plug a £10m gap in the business.

DC Thomson owns a number of newspapers including The Press and Journal, The Courier, the Evening Telegraph and The Sunday Post.

The company also owns dozens of magazine titles such as The People’s Friend, The Beano, Bunkered and Puzzler.

Jobs will be lost in the company’s magazine sector with several of the titles set to close including Living, Platinum, Evergreen, Shout, Animals & You and Animal Planet.

In total 26 titles will shut – 20 titles from Aceville in Colchester, a magazine publisher DC Thomson acquired in 2018, and six Dundee based titles listed.

Rebecca Miskin, chief executive of DC Thomson’s media business, previously said the company had to make “difficult decisions” and would be announcing the closure of some “well-loved titles”.

She said: “We have today announced significant changes to our company, which involve the reshaping of our media portfolio and the simplification of the underlying structure.

“These moves are vital to set us up to thrive in the future and to respond to the difficult economic environment we are in.”

She added: “Unfortunately, we have also had to make difficult decisions concerning those brands and activities which sit outside these growth areas.

“We will be announcing the closure of some well-loved titles, as well as the cessation of some commercial activities.

“This will mean losing some valued colleagues, something we deeply regret.”

A DC Thomson spokesperson said: “We are having to make the difficult decision that 300 colleagues will be made redundant across the company, with around half coming from the closure of titles acquired from Colchester-based Aceville.”

“A huge amount of work goes into the creation of our titles and despite being loved, some titles and brands are finding it harder to be profitable.

“By resetting DC Thomson’s media business we can focus on the communities which have potential for sustainable growth.

“We will be closing a number of our Dundee-based magazines including Living, Platinum, Evergreen, Shout, Animals & You and Animal Planet. All print titles acquired from Aceville in Colchester will also close.”

Nick McGowan-Lowe, organiser at the NUJ’s Scottish Office said: “These are brutal cuts, and we will robustly defend the jobs of our members.

“Our members are furious both with how the company has handled these redundancies, and because they are seeking to make £10m cuts across the business after paying out £24m in dividends to shareholders last year.

“The jobs of hard-working journalists should not be sacrificed to pay the price of extravagant shareholder profits.”