Trinity Mirror has announced a restructure across a number of its regional centres, including Merseyside and North Wales.
This will include some redundancies, but also job creation in both areas.
There will be a total of 9 new journalist jobs, but 6 positions will be cut in North Wales and 10 in Merseyside. In Merseyside, this will be a net loss of 2, due to new job creation and filled vacancies.
In a statement, Trinity said that the move was part of “ongoing work to have the right resource in place to deliver news our audiences want, when they want it, and to ensure we are continuing to operate efficiently.”
The move has been met with anger from the National Union of Journalists.
“We deplore these latest announcements, which confirm our fear that the group is moving away from journalism that challenges the locally powerful and holds to account public bodies,” said Martin Shipton, NUJ Trinity Mirror group chapel chair.
“We have been at the forefront of arguing that an increasing democratic deficit exists, where people are not informed about many vital issues that affect their everyday lives. It is bitterly ironic that at a time when the National Assembly for Wales is on course to acquire tax-levying powers, the Daily Post in North Wales has decided that it no longer needs a Welsh affairs correspondent covering the Senedd in Cardiff. Diminishing quality news coverage is a risky strategy that endangers the very existence of journalism that adds value. We call on Trinity Mirror’s senior management to consider very carefully the implications of what they are proposing.”