Guardian editor to announce further cuts to stem losses
GUARDIAN editor Alan Rusbridger will today announce to staff a “simplified production process” to further cut costs at the loss-making paper.
The cuts will be implemented in mid-January, when the sports supplement will be integrated into the back of the main paper between Tuesday and Friday. The Guardian will publish “one or two” fewer pages of sport each day than the current 10, and the comment and obituaries sections will each lose one page of editorial.
The number of sections will reduce to two, with Friday’s film and music supplement merged with features. Casual sub-editors will also be dropped, under an “editorial reorganisation” that aims to save £1m a year.
The changes – which do not affect the Saturday Guardian or the Observer – are a continuation of Rusbridger’s “digital first” strategy for Guardian News & Media (GNM), which in August announced an operating loss of £38.3m for 2010-11.
Today’s announcement is one of a number of planned briefings for staff, which started last Friday.
A GNM spokesperson said: “Over the next few days, we will be telling staff about our plans for a new, simplified production process. This will be introduced in January, along with some changes to the printed Monday to Friday Guardian.”