Trinity Mirror is to introduce a radical, new way of working across its newsrooms in the Midlands as the next stage in its evolution as a regional multimedia publisher of scale.
Created by the Midlands senior editors, the pioneering plan includes the introduction of a single, integrated newsroom for Birmingham Midlands along with a streamlining of production processes and widespread multi-skilling of staff. It will enable the production of high quality content across multiple channels.
The new approach is enabled by 'ContentWatch', a state-of-the-art web-based content management system currently being installed across the region. This is part of a £7.5m investment in industry-leading IT systems along with the move to a modern working environment in a new location in Birmingham
The historic, five-step editorial process - from reporter to newsdesk to designer to sub to revise - has remained largely unchanged for decades. Trinity Mirror Midlands is replacing this with a new, three-step process (content creation, multimedia desk, page finishing), driven by simplified workflows and supported by cutting-edge technology.
A central 'multimedia desk' will oversee the creation of editorial content for the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post and Sunday Mercury. The multimedia desk will be responsible for the organisation and placement of content into pages and online platforms. A similar desk will be introduced to serve Coventry
The two multimedia desks will be supported by a regional production unit, where pages will be finished and quality-checked.
There will also be greater integration between Trinity Mirror Midlands' weekly titles. While content origination will remain local, the new multimedia desk principles will be introduced at local level and page production will be centralised.
The new Midlands newsrooms build on previous work within Trinity Mirror, in particular the regional production unit in the North West Cardiff
Once implemented, the new editorial structure will require substantially fewer journalists and the company is entering into consultation with staff and their representatives regarding this. The aim is to try to achieve this reduction by purely voluntary means.
All current editorial roles are being revised to reflect the increased multi-skilling of journalists. Staff will be given a full programme of multimedia skills training, delivered by a specially-assembled team, to match the requirements of the new multimedia roles.
Neil Benson, Editorial Director, Trinity Mirror Regionals, said: "The entire media landscape is changing at an unprecedented pace, which demands that we develop imaginative, new ways of producing content for our print titles and web sites. The changes we are implementing in Trinity Mirror Midlands represent a pioneering new approach to publishing. They will enable multimedia journalists to contribute content to a broad range of titles and across a variety of platforms. The additional skills acquired by our journalists and the benefits of the flexible new ways of working will further cement Trinity Mirror's status as a multiplatform media group."
Georgina Harvey, Managing Director, Trinity Mirror Regionals, said: "We are continually seeking new ways to innovate and become more efficient and this new approach delivers on both requirements.
"Introducing our groundbreaking editorial model, supported by state-of-the-art technology, keeps us one step ahead of the competition and represents a significant investment in our Midlands business. These changes are designed to ensure that we create a modern, relevant and genuinely multimedia business while responding assertively to the tough trading environment. This initiative will be used to inform the further development of our other businesses."
The new editorial model comes as part of a large-scale investment in editorial, advertising and production systems across the Trinity Mirror Midlands business and the move to the new, state-of-the-art building at Fort Dunlop
