Daily Mirror and Daily Express publisher Reach is axing more than 200 editorial roles as part of an ongoing cost-cutting overhaul that will also see three titles close.
In an internal email to staff, the publisher behind a raft of regional titles said it is cutting 220 editorial roles, although 60 jobs will also be created in areas it is focusing more heavily on, such as subscriptions and longer-form video.
Commercial teams at the group are also impacted, with around a further 65 roles out of about 500 in that division set to be cut.
Chief content officer David Higgerson said in the memo the firm is shutting its KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo titles amid the changes.
He told staff the group is continuing to be impacted by a decline in Google search referral traffic, as well as increasing competition from the BBC across the regions.
He said in the memo: “These headwinds, and others which also affect the whole industry, mean that we need to make these changes while also reducing our overall costs.
“I, along with the editorial senior leadership team, have reduced a range of non-people budgets in order to protect as many jobs as possible, and other teams across the business have seen or are seeing reductions this year too, but the scale of the challenge facing our wider industry is such that we have to enter next year a smaller editorial organisation.”
He added: “We are also taking the difficult decisions to close three titles: KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo.
“This is not a reflection of the work done on these titles, or the commitment of the journalists on them. The decision is based on our market position in these areas.”
The group said it will “look for opportunities to redeploy colleagues, reducing the need for compulsory redundancies, and will aim to keep everyone updated as we work through the changes”.
The group has started a 45-day minimum consultation with affected employees, with journalism roles set to be impacted across print, digital and video operations.
The latest job cuts follow a number of voluntary redundancy schemes launched by Reach among editorial workers earlier this year.
And in February it announced it was closing two of its three print sites in a move impacting nearly 240 workers.
Last September, Reach said it was axing more than 320 journalism jobs in what it said was its biggest ever restructure, which followed just months after around 40 staff were made redundant across its sports editorial team.
A recent trading update from the group – which also publishes titles such as the Daily Star, OK! Magazine, Manchester Evening News, and Liverpool Echo – revealed sales fell 9% in the first half of 2026 as page views plunged 40%.
Chief executive Piers North said at the time the group was looking to create “greater independence from referral traffic” through the growth of subscription and video operations.
In the staff email on Wednesday, Mr Higgerson said: “We are in the middle of a mammoth shift in how audiences want content and journalism.
“To ensure a sustainable future for our journalism, we must focus our investment in the areas where our audiences spend the most time and where our revenue reflects the value of our work.
“In our newsrooms, that means less emphasis on story volume and more on original journalism and distinctive brands.
“It also means that ‘active engaged time’ will become our north star metric, over and above page views, by the end of the year.”
