Daily Mirror publisher Reach cutting 220 jobs in editorial overhaul

Daily Mirror and Daily Express publisher Reach is axing more than 200 editorial roles as part of an ongoing cost-cutting overhaul that will also see three titles close.

In an internal email to staff, the publisher behind a raft of regional titles said it is cutting 220 editorial roles, although 60 jobs will also be created in areas it is focusing more heavily on, such as subscriptions and longer-form video.

Chief content officer David Higgerson said in the memo that the firm is shutting its KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo titles.

He told staff the group is continuing to be impacted by a decline in Google search referral traffic, as well as increasing competition from the BBC across the regions.

He said in the memo: “These headwinds, and others which also affect the whole industry, mean that we need to make these changes while also reducing our overall costs.

“I, along with the editorial senior leadership team, have reduced a range of non-people budgets in order to protect as many jobs as possible, and other teams across the business have seen or are seeing reductions this year too, but the scale of the challenge facing our wider industry is such that we have to enter next year a smaller editorial organisation.”

He added: “We are also taking the difficult decisions to close three titles: KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo.

“This is not a reflection of the work done on these titles, or the commitment of the journalists on them. The decision is based on our market position in these areas.”

The group said it will “look for opportunities to redeploy colleagues, reducing the need for compulsory redundancies, and will aim to keep everyone updated as we work through the changes”.