The Independent and its Sunday sister title will cut a quarter of their editorial staff as management attempts to save ten million pounds in what many are calling one of the most brutal cuts to hit the United Kingdom newspaper industry in recent years. By early 2009, a total of 90 employees out of 424 in its London office will be made redundant.

The majority of the cuts – approximately 60 jobs – will come from the 250 editorial staff. Simon Kelner, managing editor of Independent News and Media UK, said that there was no other way to safeguard the future of the newspapers. According to Kelner, the business had been struggling with the decline in advertising and circulation as the effects of the recession hit.

There is also structural pressure from the migration of revenues and readers onto the Internet. Analysts believe that the titles are losing up to ten million pounds a year. Most of the redundancies will probably be in its production processes, in particular sub-editors. The Independent and Independent on Sunday have the smallest circulations of any quality UK newspaper and lose less than The Guardian, Observer, and The Times.

Tags: newspaper, print industry, united kingdom

Trackback from your own site.