Shock as Scottish newspaper company lays off all of its staff

One of Scotland's national institutions was reeling last night after the entire staff of the Glasgow-based Herald newspaper group was made redundant and told to re-apply for a severely reduced number of jobs.

The shock move, which many fear could sound the death knell for Scotland's beleaguered newspaper industry, saw 235 journalists at The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times being issued with redundancy notices by the Herald and Times Group, a subsidiary of the regional media giant Newsquest.

The editorial departments on the three papers, two of which have histories going back hundreds of years, will be merged, resulting in about 30 or 40 job losses. About 200 are likely to be rehired, but only if they agree to new terms and conditions.

The cutbacks, announced yesterday afternoon at an emotional meeting at which several members of staff broke down in tears, are the latest in a string of desperate decisions the newspaper group has taken to try to revive the titles' plunging circulations.

On Tuesday, Evening Times editor Donald Martin was made editor-in-chief of both The Herald and Sunday Herald, despite having no previous national newspaper experience.

Yesterday's redundancies were announced on his first day in his new job. Only six people escaped the cull, including Mr Martin himself.

The Herald dates back to 1783 and is reputedly the world's oldest English language newspaper. It was bought by Newsquest in 2003. The Evening Times was established in 1876, and the Sunday Herald was set up in 1999.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) described the redundancies as a "brutal attempt at forcing changes" which would cause "major problems" at the three titles. The union's Scottish organiser, Paul Holleran, said that the US media company Gannett, which owns Newsquest, had "lied through their teeth" when they bought the three titles in 2003. He told The Independent: "They said they recognised the standing that the newspapers had and how important they were to the Scottish people, but their actions totally belie that. I think it's a brutal way of doing things. If they wanted to make redundancies, why didn't they do what other newspapers have done? They should be looking at retraining and redeployment.

"There are changes taking place across the media industry, with redundancies and new technology being introduced..

Every other media employer in Scotland is working with the union to try to handle these changes in a civilised manner. No one in the workforce will be surprised that this is the first action of the new editor-in-chief, Donald Martin.

To say he's getting off on the wrong foot is the understatement of the year." All three papers have had a torrid time since being bought by Newsquest five years ago, with falling readerships despite intense public interest in the the newly formed Scottish Parliament.

A similar malaise has hit other media, with BBC Scotland also announcing a series of job cuts this week.

Pete Wishart, the SNP's culture spokesman, said: "This is an extremely serious development both for staff across the group, and also a sad day for three of Scotland's great titles. Any decision that threatens news coverage and quality is clearly troubling, and these cutbacks are a backward step by the group's owners.

"When Newsquest acquired these newspapers they made a commitment to develop, and invest in them. Regrettably those words do not seem to have been backed up by investment." The group said the move was intended to increase efficiency and make full use of state-of-the-art news production technology.

"We are creating an efficient operation fit for the 21st century which will provide even more compelling and unique content for readers of all three titles and our websites," said the managing director, Tim Blott.

"We are committed to producing vibrant and relevant newspapers and websites and see a bright future for The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times and their digital versions."