Editorial staff at The Scotsman have said in a letter to National World’s HR that the loss of five more posts means readers will lose out on quality, in-depth coverage of important issues, such as health.
Journalists have told senior management that they have no confidence in the publisher’s business strategy, following the latest round of cuts at the Edinburgh-based title.
In a letter to Claire Jackson, head of HR at National World, the chapel warned: “This title has so far outlived all its former owners. It cannot die a death of a thousand cuts under its current custodians.”
When the latest round of five redundancies was announced two weeks ago, the NUJ chapel passed a motion expressing anger and dismay, calling upon editor Neil McIntosh to meet with editorial staff to explain the need for the cuts. In his reply he McIntosh reportedly refused to do so, saying he was focussing on the redundancy process and the restructuring.
In the latest letter, the chapel said to Jackson: “If he cannot take responsibility for these cuts and look his staff in the eye, someone must. We ask that it be you.”
A quarter of the newsroom has been put at risk of redundancy, with five roles to be cut. These are a halving of the business desk, from two reporters to one – by contrast Glasgow’s Herald has four business reporters – cutting the features writers from three roles to two, and axing the health, environment and property correspondents.
The paper’s respected health reporter Joseph Anderson announced the cutting of his own “dream job” on X (Twitter) last week:
It is believed this is the first time in The Scotsman’s 207-year history that it will need to rely on agency copy for coverage of health issues. Health is a devolved to the Scottish Parliament and of key importance to voters. It is consistently listed as one of the two most important priorities for Scots.
The letter adds: “At a time when 94 per cent of Scots have indicated they see Scotland’s natural environment as ‘very important’ or ‘quite important’ to both Scotland’s economy and its national identity, it makes no sense to cut that coverage, nor our award-winning features department.”
It is understood that there will be a restructuring of remaining staff in the newsroom in the months to come.
The current cuts come amid a new marketing campaign for the newspaper, which emphasises the importance of specialist reporters to its coverage.
The NUJ’s chapel letter draws attention to this: “The new advertising campaign for The Scotsman – launched a matter of weeks ago – quotes Robert Burns in boasting that our journalists “dare to be honest”. So, we will be honest with you now. These proposed job cuts – imposed from England, with no consultation with Scottish staff – threaten the future of this 207-year-old newspaper we are proud to work for.”
Nick McGowan-Lowe, the NUJ’s national organiser Scotland, said: “National World under the leadership of David Montgomery is acting like a company incapable of forming a coherent business strategy, making short-term and short-sighted decisions about the careers of hard-working journalists from their comfortable boardroom in London.
“Staff at the Scotsman have been set targets and have repeatedly been told by their editor that they have achieved them. Despite this, many talented, experienced and dedicated journalists are set to lose their jobs – and the real losers are the Scottish public, who look set to lose the quality, in-depth coverage and exclusives that keep readers entertained, voters informed, and holds politicians of all parties to account.”
Prolific North has approached National World for comment.
