Now the hypocritical condolences from rival journalists are out of the way the bickering begins at the Indy. Guido hears some staff have already confronted the Indy’s management over bullying allegations against the new digital overlord Christian Broughton. Several staff say they would rather take redundancy than work for him.
The above Indy restroom artwork seems to suggest people have strong feelings about Broughton. That they want to share…
Amol Rajan, the outgoing Indy editor, will apparently have no direct role driving the digital-only Indy. Many suspect he is waiting for the editorship of the Evening Standard to become available…
Was he wrong?
Confirmed: the Indy and the Sindy are closing. Last edition of the Indy will be on 26th March and the last Independent on Sunday on 20 March. Online only after that…
UPDATE: The i’s editor tweets:
Sale of @theipaper for £24 million to Johnston Press agreed by @mrevgenylebedev, subject to JP shareholder approval (1/4)
— Oly Duff (@olyduff) February 12, 2016
Significant recruitment to new i editorial team over coming weeks. Appointments to 51 roles (2/4)
— Oly Duff (@olyduff) February 12, 2016
Top journalism from @independent to continue in i in super-syndication deal. New access to journalism of @EveningStandard +JP’s titles (3/4)
— Oly Duff (@olyduff) February 12, 2016
Delighted to continue as i Editor in this exciting next chapter. Very grateful to @evgenylebedev for daring launch + generous backing (4/4)
— Oly Duff (@olyduff) February 12, 2016
Evgeny Lebedev is expected to close the Indy and Sindy print editions as soon as tonight. Of the 150 full-time staff, just 20 or so look like they’ll moving over to the i paper. It will not be difficult for the owners to find voluntary redundancies. Many journalists at the Indy will be loathe to work for the much-derided, clickbait-obsessed online offering.
Meanwhile the Guardian is imposing 20% cuts, with staff warned in an email this morning that “As our staff costs are by far our biggest overhead, one outcome of the budgeting process may be that redundancies are proposed”. They are looking at 100 redundancies, and according to Beth Rigby they want to start with their “on leave” columnist Seumas Milne. He is in line for a £90,000 payout.
Media sources tell Guido that the Telegraph is set to announce a jobs cull next week. Print journalists there are furious at the dumbing down of content for their own ‘digital first’, Indy-style clickbait-based website. You will often find the exact same traffic-farming stories on the Telegraph site as you will on the Indy online. See the Telegraph’s “Man with two penises writes tell-all memoir” and the i100’s “The man with two penises has now written a tell-all memoir”.
The FT have some killer numbers:
“Fleet Street’s large newsroom may be unsustainable. The Times had 454 editorial staff at last count, The Sun 525, the Daily Telegraph 662 and The Guardian, following expansion overseas, 925.”
Online-only is the only option. The question now is how proprietors and executives will reconcile the trend for traffic-driving churnalism to the pay the bills with actual, old-fashioned journalism in the digital age. The future of journalism is specialism, the most profitable online media operations have focus, that generates specific audience demographics that can be packaged for advertisers at premium prices.
This week’s Estates Gazette makes interesting reading in light of today’s news about the Indy. A report in the property trade journal claims the Lebedevs are planning to move the Evening Standard from their current offices sharing with the Indy and the Mail in Kensington. Apparently they are looking for a new 40,000 square foot space in Zone 1. Will there be room for a new online-only Indy there too?
Indy editor Amol Rajan just sent staff this curt email to worried staff:
Dear All,
Further to Steve’s email just now, I am very conscious that this morning’s news about Johnston Press will prompt a lot of questions and uncertainty.
I am very sorry to say, however, that for the time being we really are bound by strict rules on what we can and can’t say about this potential deal.
For that reason we are not in a position to address all staff this morning. I will obviously do all I can to keep everyone updated as soon as possible, within the guidelines of the law.
Thank you very much indeed for your understanding in the meantime.
AMOL
