Reach is cutting around 160 editorial jobs and closing three local titles. Behind the numbers are journalists like Jess Flaherty and Hedi Mehrez, living through a second round of cuts and a masthead's final months
Reach confirmed around 160 net editorial job losses yesterday, with KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo closing entirely. The reason is mainly the shift away from page views and towards deeper, more engaged audiences, as referral traffic from Google keeps drying up and ad money is disappearing with it.
But the numbers and strategy documents can only tell so much about the impact this announcement has on the journalists, both at Reach and the wider industry. On LinkedIn, those living through this are filling in the rest.
Jess Flaherty, a senior reporter on Reach's Social Newsdesk, has been through the threat of redundancy before. Last year brought a similar round of cuts, and yesterday’s announcement leaves her and much of her team at risk again, with only one reporter set to remain on a desk she describes as full of talented, hardworking people.
Jacob Granger
