Brighton Argus union members to ballot on strike action

NUJ members at the Brighton Argus have voted to ballot on industrial action, following plans by parent company Newsquest to move its news sub-editing operation to Southampton.

Journalism.co.uk understands that a meeting of the union's chapel was held earlier today to discuss its next move following the news that seven posts are to be cut from the paper.

These redundancies are "part of a cost-cutting move" of news sub-editing to Southampton, according to a release from the NUJ.

The decision taken today to go to a ballot on industrial action was also prompted by the issues surrounding the ongoing pay freeze within Newsquest. Yesterday members of the NUJ who work for Newsquest in Hampshire voted in favour of strike action in response to the pay freeze.

When news broke of the Brighton Argus redundancies earlier this week, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said the move was "short-sighted".

"Sub-editing a local newspaper from Southampton does make sense - but only if that paper serves Southampton," he said.

"This move is a continuation of Newsquest's short-sighted policy of spreading resources thinly, ensuring local newspapers are local only in name.

"We've seen local newspapers operations fully or partially moved to regional hubs before and the result is always the same - newspapers that are increasingly less well informed and more remote from the communities they serve, leading to falling circulation and ultimately closure. To suggest that The Brighton Argus could be produced outside of the community it serves and reports to, and upon which it relies for revenue, shows a disregard for the quality of the paper and the intelligence of its readership.

"Local knowledge and expertise is crucial to an accurate and effectively edited paper and to throw this invaluable resource away simply in order to cut a few more jobs is a desperately false economy."

Newquest were approached but declined to comment.

Image: Jem/Every Stock Photo. Some rights reserved.

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