Reach chief executive Jim Mullen has written to staff saying “I have kept my word” on job cuts at the group as parts of the business enact redundancies.

Mullen previously wrote to staff at the start of 2024 to say that, after making more than 700 job cuts in 2023, the business planned to end 2024 with “the teams that we have starting the year”.

However recent weeks have seen team restructures and consequent redundancies at titles including the Sunday Express, Scotland’s Sunday Mail and the Irish Sunday Mirror.

In each case the Sunday titles have been moved into a seven-day merged print and digital operation, with a resulting loss of jobs.

Sunday Express editor David Wooding has left Reach as part of the changes, The Guardian has reported, and Sunday Mail editor Lorna Hughes has also elected to leave according to an email seen by Hold the Front Page.

The NUJ Reach group chapel said the recent redundancies “concern more than two dozen talented journalists leaving the company”.

“Our members are mindful of Jim Mullen’s words as we entered 2024 about staff not having ‘one eye over their shoulder’ after a corrosive year of hundreds of lost journalists’ jobs.

“Yet that is exactly what is happening currently, particularly if you are in a print-facing role…

“The constant threat of cutbacks, particularly among the national titles, is a major source of demotivation and drain on morale. This group chapel calls on the company to make 2025 a redundancy-free, growth year at Reach.”

Separately on Friday, Daily Mirror editor-in-chief Caroline Waterston emailed staff saying the staff of the daily newspaper will be merged with that of celebrity magazine OK!. Waterston, who was previously editor of OK!, added the brands “will remain completely distinct” and that she did “not expect this change to result in any reduction in roles”.

Reach CEO says company will end 2024 with more staff than at conclusion of 2023 restructure

On Friday November 22 Mullen emailed staff saying “external commentary” on the company was “noisy, distracting and, to be honest, a bit lazy at times”.

His commitment for 2024, he said, “was about growth, that there would be no more large-scale cuts and that the size of the overall business was about right for the year ahead.

“I have kept my word and have not changed this commitment.

“And I’ve kept my commitment to being upfront with you all about the fact that our business will have to evolve, adapt and continue to change to better suit the changing preferences of our audiences, their chosen channels and our advertisers.”

Last month Reach announced it would be hiring 60 new editorial staff with a focus on “audience writers” and “general assignment journalists” who will cover breaking stories and trending topics. Mullen said this meant the company will conclude 2024 “with more jobs than we had at the conclusion of the 2023 restructure programme”.

“This is not to disparage or dismiss the feelings of colleagues whose roles have been impacted by changes that are part of the running of our business…

“As CEO, I understand that it is my role to make decisions that are not always popular but that I believe are right for the business. I recognise that, at times, it means I won’t win any popularity contests, but I will never shirk from being up front and honest with you.”

In its statement earlier in the week, the NUJ Reach group chapel said the 60 new roles were “of course welcomed.

“But our members cannot avoid the feeling that in some way sacrifices are being made in print – where three quarters of Reach’s revenue still comes from – to fund changes the company wants elsewhere. This is no reflection on anyone being recruited to Reach, but does lead to speculation on the wisdom of the actions being taken.”

There has been a move away from standalone Sunday editorial teams across the news industry. Last year News UK proposed a merger of the Scottish Times and Scottish Sunday Times and Mail Newspapers brought the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday “much closer together”.

Several dedicated Sunday operations continue, however, including The Sunday Times, The Observer and The Sunday Telegraph, as well as FT Weekend and i weekend.

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Irish Mirror editor-in-chief John “Jumbo” Kierans is stepping down as publisher Reach undergoes a significant restructure putting some 550 jobs at risk of redundancy across the group.

Reach’s operation in Ireland is not exempt from the restructure, which the company has said it is undertaking to “protect our businesses and newsbrands for the long term” following the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on its finances – as well as those of the wider news industry.

Kierans has worked at the Mirror group for 25 years. In a parting message, he said the sudden death of his father a few weeks ago had “led me to reconsider many things in my life”.

“Consequently I have had a long hard think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my day career. I have now decided to step down as Editor of the Mirror in Ireland, with immediate effect,” he said.

“I am and always will be a Mirror man. I love the paper, our websites and the many wonderful colleagues I have had the privilege of working with over the last 25 years.

“I leave the business in great shape with 87% of Irish people reading our stories in print or on our websites every single day.”

Kierans will write a weekly column for the paper, promising that he still has “plenty to say”.

Reach group editor-in-chief Lloyd Embley said: “I have had the pleasure of working with Jumbo for his entire Mirror career. His contribution to the Irish Mirror, the Irish arm of the business and the wider group has been immense.”

Chris Sherrard, who has worked on the expansion of Reach’s “Live” local news websites network, has been appointed to the new role of audience and content director for Ireland, leading the editorial operation across digital and print. He will report to chief audience officer David Higgerson.

Joanne McGreevy continues to lead the commercial side of the business, reporting to Reach managing director Alan Edmunds.

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Axegrinder’s Irish mole could not believe his ears as he was driving past Croke Park Stadium in Dublin earlier this morning.

Listening to the Breakfast Show on Newstalk Radio, the normally combative editor of the Irish Daily Mirror John ‘Jumbo’ Kierans was on to talk about several pap shots of the normally glamorous Irish news reader Sharon ni Bheolain wearing a rather unflattering ensemble whilst taking the dog for a walk.

The popular news reader had recently been targeted by a stalker and a freelance photographer shot a few apparently covertly images of her over the weekend – walking a dog in he pyjamas. He passed them on to the Irish Daily Star, Irish Daily Mirror and the Irish Sun.

Ni Bheolain took to the airwaves yesterday on the Irish national broadcaster RTE to complain about the intrusion into her privacy as she walked along a public street, claiming that the photographs were worse than being stalked.

Normally, Jumbo is known to be unflappable and the mole expected to hear a strong defence of the tabloid media.

But instead Jumbo began humbly: “I am not going to start a justification for it first and foremost.”

He continued: “The pictures were sent to me but I’m not a genius on the phone so I couldn’t actually open them up.”

Passing the buck, Jumbo said the picture desk had described the set as “harmless enough”.

“We deliberately didn’t use them on page one because I thought of felt that she had been through enough. But in hindsight and having listened to her yesterday, I feel that certainly on my part we made a mistake and I would like to apologise to Sharon for that.”

“There was a massive row in this newsroom yesterday morning about it because we wrongly did a leader on it, saying on a joke that she looked a bit rough. Both myself and the news editor felt very strongly about that, but it was a leader written late on Sunday night and some of the girls in the office felt that she didn’t look great – but it was done, and we made a mistake.”

Jumbo admitted that he paid the snapper “a three-figure sum”.

Ni Bheolain has threatened to complain to the Press Council about the photographs.

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