Grim times – are there any other? – at the Telegraph titles where, as Rats in a Sack reported they were planning earlier this month, the titles’ new German bosses are swinging the axe with an enormous round of editorial job cuts.
We said that German media giant Springer, which completed its purchase of the Telegraph in June, was planning between 50 and 100 editorial redundancies despite having announced it would invest in the title to make it the “leading centre-right media outlet in the English-speaking world”.
In the event the job cuts are at the top end of what was predicted. Staff were informed last Friday that the new owners were making up to 100 job cuts as it cites an ambition to transform into a “global, AI-powered” business. Journalists were told by email that the paper needs “clearer accountability, faster decision-making and a simpler, more effective organisation” in order to evolve.
An hour-and-a-half after the announcement, those hacks whose jobs were on the line received a further email from bosses informing them. The comment team is said to be merged with the broader features and lifestyle desk, while the culture, fashion and sport departments are all facing cuts to their numbers.
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But a number of the hardline Brexiteers who have led the paper’s cheerleading for the most extreme form of its pet project are also said to be departing. Sherelle Jacobs, still billed on the website as “a bold voice on geopolitics and economics”, is expected to depart, meaning her final columns include “The arrogance of Rejoiners is astounding” (“If anything the rhetoric of the ultra-Rejoin camp is getting worse.”)
Also said to be leaving is Dia Chakravarty, the paper’s former Brexit editor whose recent columns have included “The Channel migrant crisis can’t be blamed on Brexit”, “No, Brexit has not sent Britain to the back of the queue for trade deals” and “Yes, Brexit did deliver an extra £350m a week for the NHS”.
Con Coughlin, the septuagenarian executive defence and foreign affairs editor, is also said to be leaving the paper, along with Philip Johnston, the assistant editor who spent the best part of three decades in Parliament’s Lobby for the title.
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But the big rumour amongst remaining staff is the fate of Allison Pearson, the columnist and podcaster who is thought to be one of the paper’s highest earners and once styled herself as “the humble handmaiden of Brexit”.
Rumours suggest she may be on her way too – although as one former staffer says, “if she was, you’d know about it by now”. Pearson is said to like to remind executives how many people subscribe to the Telegraph purely for her and would be unlikely to go quietly.
The Telegraph’s “next chapter” will focus on building revenue from “video, audio, puzzles, events, B2B, licensing, commerce and new products”, staff were told, adding credence to reports journalists had previously been bemused by rumours the new owners wanted to set up potentially money-spinning side projects such as price comparison sites and healthcare, not normally the remit of newspapers.
Still, at least there is work out there for hardline Brexiteers finding their time at the Telegraph coming to an unexpected end. Reform is still advertising for up to 25 hacks for its new online TV channel, promising “competitive” salaries.
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