'It's not radical': The case for 'central content hubs' in news

Johnston Press employs around 1000 journalists across its 250 titles, and they are the "lifeblood of the organisation" says chief executive Ashley Highfield.

But the regional papers also include stories written at a "central content hub", as well as submissions from contributors, Highfield explained at the Digital Media Strategies conference in London yesterday.

So how do stories written by a central unit then fit with each local outlet's offering?

"What we are doing is creating areas that provide common content, features for example," he said.

The model has always been an army of volunteers and contributorsAshley Highfield, Johnston Press

He highlighted the media outlet's marking of the World War One centenary last year as a situation where a central hub could help create content which will then be made available to outlets through a database.

"We have 250 titles across the portfolio, we do not need to create 250 different versions," he said.

Although using syndicated features is not a new approach for local outlets, Highfield argued that regional publishers could create "mini in-house PAs" as internal agencies providing copy to the broader network.

"It's not radical, it's sensible," he added.

And as the number of staff journalists working on some weekly titles is now as low as four, a higher percentage of stories are likely to come from contributors in the future.

"We now have an army of contributors", said Highfield, explaining that around half of stories published in the Harrogate Advertiser, for example, are written by contributors and not full-time Johnston Press journalists.

"But the product that comes at the end of the week… the appetite for that in the community – whether print or digital – is still very significant and growing.

"In most of the towns the reach is around 70 per cent or 80 per cent of the population of that town," he claimed.

So Highfield looks to a more "fluid" model and a "mixed economy of journalists and contributors".

"The economics of this business means that we will end up with fewer full-time journalists on our books."

In 2012, Johnston announced its "Vision 2020" plan to manage the publisher's crippling £350m debt bill and move towards a more profitable, mobile-focussed editorial product.

And last November, Highfield told staff the plan was being brought forward to 2015, alongside editorial budget cuts and redundancies. Last week Hold The Front Page reported further editor roles were at risk as Johnston restructured towards their "newsroom of the future".

Yesterday he explained that in order to not just survive but grow the business, Johnston Press needs a different approach, and part of that is using "a network of much more, not random bloggers, but quality contributors".

"The model has always been an army of volunteers and contributors," he said.

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