After the cuts: has Trinity given up on catching The Sun, or has the

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Mar 1, 2009 | by PETER JOHN MEIKLEM

ALTHOUGH the subject of two years of rumour and peculation, details of Trinity Mirror's restructuring of its Scottish national newspapers retained the capacity to shock when announced early last week.

Although the figure is now thought to be smaller, the initial revelation that management was looking to slash 70 posts - and fold the Daily Record and Sunday Mail into a seven-day operation - left staff "shocked and angered", and outsiders pondering the inevitable knock-on effects on Scotland's biggestselling Sunday paper and leading home-grown tabloid title.

Staff have long been braced for an announcement, with a new content management system in development for the past couple of years, but the scale of the change, and depth of the cuts, left many aghast. A consultation period with staff has begun, due to end in early April.

News of Daily Record editor Bruce Waddell's promotion to editor- in-chief had already leaked out when a statement from Trinity Mirror confirmed the changes last Monday. It said the Daily Record, Sunday Mail, freesheet the Glaswegian and industry title Business7 were "to be integrated into a single editorial production system".

Sunday Mail editor Allan Rennie was immediately promoted to editorial development director of all Trinity Mirror's national titles.

In the press release, managing director for nationals Mark Hollinshead, who declined to speak to the Sunday Herald, commented: "These are extraordinary days in our industry."

Widespread staff anger subsided slightly after it emerged the number of redundancies would be reduced to around 50, after negotiations between management and the National Union of Journalists. However, the number is still in excess of the 36 posts originally sought by Newsquest (Herald and Times) in a similar restructure of the Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times, and far more than the 11 anticipated in the pooling of production and pictures at the Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and Evening News titles. At the same time, The Sunday Times Scotland has lost four key members of staff.

The Trinity redundancies are a further blow to staff, who only last year conducted a work-to-rule in protest at the management decision to leave vacancies unfi lled and at increasing stress levels created by heavy workloads. For the Daily Record in particular, a title that, according to one former staff member, prided itself on its ability to "flood a story" and deliver the best possible news line, the cuts will dent pride already diminished by losing the market-leader crown to the Scottish Sun in 2006.

The consultation period for Newsquest's restructuring draws to a close this week. The group will implement its new seven-day structure early next week. Last week, a consultation process on merging production and pictures at the Scotsman titles began. For good or ill, the indigenous Scottish titles all seem headed in the same direction.

Parent company Trinity Mirror also published its preliminary financial results last week. The company - which also publishes the Daily Mirror and the Sunday People, alongside a range of regional titles, announced pre-tax profits had fallen 22per cent, from GBP186.4 million in 2007 to GBP145.2m in 2008. More ominous for the industry was the additional announcement that advertising revenue had fallen by 30per cent over the fi rst two months of this year.

The company announced it was looking for further cost savings of GBP25m over 2009, although the new Scottish cuts are thought to count towards that fi gure.

A company statement on the preliminary results read: "Our proven track record of delivering substantial cost savings provides the board with comfort that management actions will help to support the profitability in a challenging outlook for the economy."

Although the Sunday Mail easily outsells its nearest rival, The News of the World (415,509 to 269,709 actively purchased sales, according to last month's ABCs), the Daily Record has spent years locked in a circulation battle with the Scottish Sun to retain, and then to regain, the title of Scotland's biggestselling daily tabloid.

The severity of the cutbacks and the creation of a seven-day operation has led to speculation the paper's management has given up on ever catching its greatest rival.

Scottish Sun editor David Dinsmore's 75-strong editorial team escaped the recent cuts at News International, leaving the tabloid's team brimming with confidence. The latest sales gap between the titles was 43,446 copies, the second largest ever. As recently as January 2004, the Record was selling almost 120,000 more copies than The Sun. News International sources tip the gap will increase again when February's ABCs are published next week. The average gap between the titles over the past year was 33,000 copies.

But focusing solely on newspaper sales is misleading. Hollinshead, promoted from Scottish managing director to his UK position in September last year, impressed chief executive Sly Bailey with freesheets Record PM and Business7. He is equally keen in developing and boosting revenue from the group's online operation, and it is in this context management has sought to sell the restructuring plan.