On Monday, Reach plc — which owns most of the UK’s big national newspapers including the Daily Mirror and Daily Express — unveiled a seismic restructuring. In this effort, the company plans to eliminate 321 positions to reconfigure the company’s operations. This decision comes on the heels of the company having already put more than 100 jobs in jeopardy back in July. Reach already announced a £27 million pre-tax profit for the first six months of the year. To adapt to evolving audience needs and leverage new technology, the company is changing its approach to programming.
The new restructuring plan produces 135 new jobs. This most recent move is intended to enhance their video content and related technology capabilities. As part of its goal to “reach new audiences, increase video content and accelerate tech and AI capabilities,” Reach is making substantial changes to its workforce. David Higgerson, Reach’s chief content officer, emphasized the necessity of aligning resources with the company’s ambitions.
Chris Morley, a joint National Union of Journalists’ representative, said: “The extent of change we see in the industry around us now forces us to radically reimagine our business. He was calling for a new paradigm in storytelling itself—it kind of rang a bell. He issued grave warnings about how these redundancies will erode the pillars of journalistic integrity. He discussed how AI is starting to fill roles that journalists are leaving unfilled.
Reach’s reorganization is now the largest of such moves the company has made so far. They’re making moves to increase their digital footprint. With a growing consumer demand for more visually immersive experiences, their primary expertise has always been with video content.
“For our editorial teams, we will need to adopt a different way of working from top to bottom.” – Chris Morley.
So many media companies are failing to keep up with the changing times. As an unfortunate consequence, they’ve been forced to lay off employees. Through their work, Reach has found that their unique AI tools increase engagement. These tools represent another 10% of all page views, testament to just how important technology is becoming in the practice of journalism.
“Our proprietary AI tools, which recommend content to keep our audiences with us for longer, drove an additional 10% of our page views.” – [source: news group].
Civic archetype Reach also owns a number of other major regional publications, such as the Manchester Evening News, Birmingham Mail, and Liverpool Echo. As the company continues to transform itself into a more digital organization, it’s doubling down on video content and incorporating AI, the latter of which will change the underlying way it engages with readers.
“We hear a lot from the company about the need to be ‘authoritative and authentic’ but the hole where redundant journalists were appears to be filled by the chatter from AI.” – Chris Morley.