Supplementary memorandum submitted by the NUJ (Glob 21a) Turning Around the Tanker: Implementing Trinity Mirror’s Online Strategy Dr. Andrew Williams and Professor Bob Franklin The School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University Executive Summary The UK local and regional newspaper industry presents a paradox. On “Why kill the goose the one hand: that laid the golden egg? [...] The goose • Profit margins are very high: almost 19% at Trinity Mirror, and has got bird flu” 38.2% at the Western Mail and Echo in 2005 Michael Hill, Trinity Mirror’s regional head of multimedia on the future of print newspapers • Newspaper advertising revenues are extremely high: £3 billion in 2005, newspapers are the second largest advertising medium in the UK But on the other hand: • Circulations have been declining steeply: 38% drop at Cardiff’s “Pay is a disgrace. Western Mail since 1993, more than half its readers lost since 1979 When you look at • Companies have implemented harsh staffing cuts: 20% cut in levels of pay […] in editorial and production staff at Trinity Mirror, and 31% at relation to other white collar Western Mail and Echo since 1999 professionals of • Journalists’ workloads are incredibly heavy while pay has comparable age remained low: 84% of staff at Western Mail and Echo think their and experience they workload has increased, and the starting wage for a trainee are appallingly journalist is only £11,113 bad”. Western Mail • Reporters rely much more on pre-packaged sources of news like and Echo journalist agencies and PR: 92% of survey respondents claimed they now use more PR copy in stories than previously, 80% said they use the wires more often The move to online Companies like Trinity Mirror will not be able to sustain high profits is like “turning based on advertising revenues because of growing competition from round an oil tanker […] some staff will the internet. Their policy to move operations online requires journalists never get it, but they to become “cross-platform content providers” using video cameras and will do what they recording podcasts as well as writing stories for print edition are told to do” newspapers. This will generate additional work although they refuse to Michael Hill, Trinity hire more editorial staff. Management know they will encounter Mirror’s regional head of multimedia resistance to the move from employees, but are bullish about pushing through the changes. Journalists in Trinity’s regional newsrooms are very concerned about “Expecting hard- the changes in their working conditions that digital journalism will pressed staff to take bring, but they do believe the internet represents the future of on yet more journalism: responsibility with hardly any training, • 86% of staff at the Cardiff newsroom believe the future of the local no increase in salary and regional press involves online news and multiplatform and no reduction in journalism the rest of their workload is simply But they have genuine concerns about how the policy will be not on.” Trinity Mirror regional journalist. implemented. • 96% believe that more staff should be hired to cover the extra work created by additional online demands, but 88% do not believe the “We don’t want to company will hire any more journalists to cover the extra work. prevent the move to new media, I think Reporters have identified five key areas of concern, and worry: it’s something we should be supporting, but we • there will be little investment in extra resources want it to be properly funded and resourced.” NUJ New Media organiser Jenny 2Lennox • their workloads will increase with the introduction of web-first editorial policies and video journalism • the quality of multimedia news will be poor and that this will reflect badly on established print products • training will be insufficient • they won’t get any additional pay for their new responsibilities Experiences of journalists at Trinity Mirror’s pilot “digital “We see the web as newsrooms” confirm that all of the concerns held by Western Mail and an opportunity to own the whole of Echo employees were well founded. Key findings from Trinity Wales with the IC newsrooms in Newcastle, Middlesbrough, and Liverpool include: brand.” Keith Dye, managing director, • Producing internet video news is very resource intensive, and Western Mail and Echo creates significant extra work for both video journalists and their colleagues • Regional newspaper editors are reluctant to fully implement the multimedia strategy because of tight resources “badly made, • The quality of original video content is poor, and journalists are badly produced, relying heavily on pre-packaged sources of video such as the and they don’t do police, PR firms, and even clip sites like You Tube anything to assist • Web-first editorial policies result in increased workloads for the story.” Senior academic expert on journalists and sub-editors Trinity Mirror video • Employees in the Merseyside newsroom have initiated industrial clips produced so far action over the increased workload created by the multimedia strategy and won significant concessions from management over working hours and pay “There’s not a Trinity Mirror faces a stark choice as it moves online. It can continue contradiction to make cuts with an eye on maintaining short-term profit margins and between investing in watch the quality of its news decline over time, or it can “invest in journalism and journalism” with the aim of producing quality print and digital news investing in the web. I think they should products with a view to creating sustainable long-term profits. In the put money into words of one senior academic expert: journalism but that journalists should “I think people are less concerned about whether not be platform- the stories on the website are in audio, video, or specific.” Senior text, provided there are good stories there. If you academic commentator keep cutting, you get profits, but after a while on new media you’ll pay for it.” Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 4 3 List of Tables and Charts 6 Introduction 7 1 Local and Regional Newspapers in the UK 10 1.1 Broad Managerial Strategy 10 1.2 Titles and Circulations 11 1.3 Ownership 12 1.4 Advertising and Revenues 13 1.5 Salaries and Staffing 15 1.6 Editorial Content and Non Journalistic Sources 16 1.7 The Free Metro Daily Press 18 2 Trinity Mirror Plc 20 2.1 Current and Future Business Plans 22 3 Trinity Mirror in Wales 24 3.1 Managerial Strategy 24 3.2 Titles and Circulations 25 3.3 Advertising and Revenues 29 3.4 Staffing 32 3.5 Salaries 36 3.6 Editorial Content and Non Journalistic Sources 38 3.7 The Free Metro Daily Press 41 4 Previous Online Strategies at Trinity Mirror 45 4.1 Context 45 4.2 The 2000 Digital Media Strategy in Outline 46 4.3 The Failure of the Strategy 46 4.4 The Cost of the 2000 Online Strategy in the Newsroom 47 4.5 The Post-2001 Strategy 48 5 The Move to Local and Regional Online Journalism, 50 2006-2007 5.1 UK Regional and Local Online News 51 5.2 Case Study: The Johnston Press digital strategy 52 5.3 Johnston’s Lancashire Evening Post: The newsroom of 53 the future? 6 The 2006 Multimedia Strategy at Trinity Mirror 59 6.1 The 2006 Multimedia Strategy at Western Mail and Echo 61 6.2 The Future of Online News at Western Mail and Echo 62 6.3 The Web-First Editorial Policy at Western Mail and Echo 63 6.4 Video Journalism at Western Mail and Echo 65 7 Western Mail and Echo Editorial Staff Responses to the 68 2006 Multimedia Strategy 7.1 The Current NUJ Position on the Western Mail and 76 Echo Multimedia Policy 4 8 Case studies: Trinity Mirror multimedia pilot projects 79 8.1 Case Study One: The Newcastle newsroom 79 8.2 Case Study Two: The Middlesbrough newsroom 86 8.3 Case Study Three: The Liverpool newsroom 87 9 The Move to Multiplatform Journalism Assessed 92 9.1 The NUJ Position on Multimedia 92 9.2 Expert Commentary: Core concerns over the move to 93 multimedia news 9.3 Expert Commentary: Further concerns over the move to 98 multimedia 9.8 The Future of British Regional and Local Journalism: 104 Invest or decline References 107 List of Appendices 112 Appendix A 113 Appendix B 115 Appendix C 119 Appendix D 120 Appendix E 122 List of Tables Table 1.1: Local Newspapers: Declining number of titles 11 1985-2005 Table 1.2: Circulation of Selected Evening and Morning Titles 12 1995-2005 5 Table 1.3: Entry level Salaries for Trainee Journalists at 15 Selected Titles Table 2.1: Trinity Mirror Plc Financial Performance and Staff 20 Numbers, 1999-2006 Table 2.2: Circulation at Trinity Mirror’s Flagship Titles, 21 1999-2006 Table 2.3: Trinity Mirror Revenue Breakdown, 1999-2006 22 Table 3.1: Trinity Mirror’s Titles in Wales 25 Table 3.2: Falling Circulation at Trinity’s Key Welsh Daily Titles 26 Since 1979 Table 3.3: Profitability at the Western Mail and Echo 29 Table 3.4: Staffing Levels at Western Mail and Echo Ltd. 32 Table 3.5: Editorial staff Pay Scales at the Western Mail, the 36 South Wales Echo, and the Wales on Sunday Table 3.6: Editorial staff pay scales at Western Mail and 36 Echo’s magazines and weekly newspapers Table 3.7: Revenue and Profit from Trinity Mirror’s Free Metro 41 regional titles Table 4.1: Performance of Trinity Mirror Digital, 1999-2005 48 List of Charts Chart 3.1: Circulation at Western Mail and Echo Flagship Titles, 27 1993-2006 Chart 3.2: Circulation at Western Mail and Echo’s Weekly Titles, 28 1993-2006 Chart 3.3: Breakdown of Revenue Types at Trinity Mirror’s 30 Regional Division Chart 3.4: Breakdown of Advertising