EmailRadical proposals to cut costs at Alexander Lebedev's Independent titles and the London Evening Standard are being planned, including encouraging journalists to work from home.
In an email to staff on Friday, the Independent editor, Chris Blackhurst – who is also the group editorial director – said the changes will mean some journalists working from home as the papers' publisher considers locating all its titles on a single floor in its current base in London's Kensington.
The newspapers – the Independent, i, the Independent on Sunday and the Evening Standard – rent office space from the Daily Mail & General Trust in its Derry Street headquarters.
But managers at the titles, which are run by Alexander's son Evgeny Lebedev, are anxious to cut the expense of leasing two office spaces on different floors.
Blackhurst also explained that the papers are to focus more on their digital platforms. He began by saying that the company is "examining whether it is feasible to locate all editorial staff" on one floor, adding: "This will help us make a considerable savings on the cost of renting floor space in this building."
He continued:
"So therefore we're exploring whether some journalists can work from home. We will be testing this in the coming Olympics period.
We hope it will be welcome to the staff affected as they will be able to save on the time and cost of commuting.
We're also making a major commitment to boost our digital output and we will be devoting more resources to our web and social media efforts, and fully integrating these with our print journalism to produce a truly 24/7 operation in the months ahead."
In fact, though he refers to "exploration", it is clear that the Independent trio's commercial staff will have to quit their current office by 1 October this year.
In editorial terms, it means locating 190 Independent journalists and 130 Standard editorial staff plus other departments on one floor in a building that is bulging at the seams.
Derry Street also houses the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro, all of DMGT's advertising sales staff plus numerous commercial and support departments.
The sudden announcement immediately prompted rumours that Evgeny and his father, Alexander, might be on the verge of disposing of their papers.
My understanding is that nothing could be further from the truth. They remain passionately committed to the Independent and the Standard. They enjoy the international prestige that attaches to the titles.
However, the overall loss every year runs into millions and they cannot write ever-increasing cheques. They see the latest measure as a matter of prudence.
At the same time, Independent Print's managers and Blackhurst are keen to pioneer home-working, initially, it is thought, by specialist correspondents. There is no question of subediting from home, evidently.
There is a belief that locating all the titles on one floor will lead to further editorial integration between the Independent and the Standard.
Two key editorial departments, business and sport, have already been merged and this is regarded to have been a success.
However, news of the relocation has not been greeted well by many Standard staff. Though their newspaper is distributed free, it has proved to be commercially viable. Some weeks it returns a healthy profit and it is expected to make an annual profit by the end of next year.
Standard journalists believe the relocation of the Indy titles to their floor will be too much of a squeeze. "Why should we suffer," said one staffer. "This move sounds farcical. The Standard is thriving." By implication the source was implying that the Indy is not.
However, managers believe there is enough space to accommodate all the company's journalists and that Standard staff will eventually see the benefits of the move.
• This blog was amended on 22 June. The original referred to "the Independent trio" instead of "the Independent trio's commercial staff". This has been corrected
Comments
22 June 2012 6:29PM
"My understanding is that nothing could be further from the truth. They remain passionately committed to the Independent and the Standard". - This sounds like dictation, Roy, not journalism
22 June 2012 8:05PM
ahack, Shame on you.
'The Professor' is an experienced journalist who has become a world respected commentator on media ethics. It is impossible to believe that he would base a story like this, which raises important issues about the future of journalism (and the employment prospects for hundreds of journalists) on an' unattributable' chat with a partisan source (Mr C. Blackhurst) and a a hurried conversation with a Standard 'staffer' who, 'the Professor' reluctantly concedes, might have a point. (Note that the quote is buried at the end of the story.) The story is slanted in favour of the management because 'The Professor' sincerely believes they are right. Oh yes.
PS
Maybe my computer has erased it but it looks like 'The Professor' forgot to append, as he usually does when he writes about the Standard, that he is a (paid) columnist for the paper.
22 June 2012 9:35PM
The Standard's returned to its miserable Baby Mail incarnation - witness tonight's old crap about "Londoners defying the bus strike".
It'd be delicious if the Evening Boris got swallowed up and became an evening version of the Independent.
22 June 2012 10:27PM
Is arch Tory Sarah Sands, going to be put in charge of the Independent’s newsroom when it is merged with the Evening Standard and make the Independent biased in favour of the Tory Party and Boris Johnson like she has done at the London Evening Standard ?
Mr. Lebedev allowed Sarah Sands to use the London Evening Standard as a party political smear machine on behalf of Boris Johnson and the Tory Party. It won’t be ‘The Independent’ for much longer under Sands hard right rule. She trashed the Sunday Telegraph – down over 10 percent – with her lightweight ‘champagne for the brain’ re-design.
So Much for the Standard's 'Sorry' Campaign a couple of years back.
Sarah Sands is direct from Tory Central office and is an obedient Boris lackey and tool.
Lebedev is fortunate that the Standard is a free rag as the appointment of Sands as Editor would drive all non Tories running for Tube.
Boris doesn't own the Evening Standard. He merely told the owner to appoint his old girlfriend and cheerleader, Sarah Sands, as Editor and his campaign only suggests what Standard hacks should write ( to make him look good). The Standard has always been a propaganda rag for the Tories for decades and this will continue under Sarah Sands.
What has the Evening Standard been promised by Boris/ the Tories in return for their obedient cheerleading and shilling ? Veronica Wadley was eventually appointed to the Arts Council despite opposition from many in the artistic Community for getting the Standard to act as a pr machine for Boris. Sarah Sands is no different from Wadley, she is in Boris’s back pocket and takes her orders from Tory central office.
22 June 2012 10:57PM
Iggy Cash:
Your theory that Ms Sands is a creature of Boris Johnson and / or Conservative Central Office has a few problems.
The Standard is enthusiastic - some would say suspiciously so - about a third runway a Heathrow. Mr Johnson hates the idea.
Conservative Central Office isn't keen on Johnson, whom they regard as an unprincipled showman. Yet you say CCO directs her to back Johnson.
How does the Standard's campaign for a third runway fit into this?
As for Ms Sands being 'hard right' - if the newspaper and her weekly column is any guide to her tastes she is keen on shopping, shopping and, er, shopping, on smart clothes, expensive holidays, large houses in nice neighbourhoods, and more shopping.
But maybe I have misunderstood your argument.
23 June 2012 2:54PM
Sarah Sands' husband, Kim Fletcher, is a director of BAA's PR firm, which would explain its other bizarre obsession, Heathrow: http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=1979 Incidentally, she's said to be a UKIP backer.
The Standard is less pro-Tory - it's dumped shit on Cameron's doorstep lately - than somewhere up Boris's rectum.
24 June 2012 9:20AM
That is a ridiculous number of journalists. They should reduce them by two-thirds, relocate to Blackpool and write the paper off the PA feed. There'd be no noticeable difference.
25 June 2012 3:14PM
The Indy is ceasing its Irish distribution from the 1st of July. It's currently printed in Belfast and despatched to shops islandwide. The 'i' will continue though.
25 June 2012 5:13PM
Come on Prof, keep up.
What about tSarah Sands' announcement today that 'belts will have to be tightened' because the Standard lost a pile of money in a libel action.
I have never heard an editor come up with such a ridiculous excuse for cutting costs.
Will Ms Sands lead by example and take a pay cut?
Er.
25 June 2012 9:29PM
I am no fan of Ms Sands but the libellous attacks on her here and on other web sites must be addressed. There is NO evidence that Ms Sands has been swayed by her husband, Mr Fletcher, who is apparently director of the pr company representing BAA. I disagree fundamentally with her position on a third runway at Heathrow and challenge her, and those at BAA and the airlines, and their cronies in Parliament and Whitehall, to live near a flight path to see if they want to export this misery to even more people by constructing another runway, which would mean many flights over London and the south east. But Ms Sands has every right to say what she thinks. Those, such as SuperClive, above, who allege she has been influenced by her husband or his clients at BAA and the airlines should put up, or shut up.
25 June 2012 11:22PM
Roy the people who respond to your column are often very exercised about the style of editorial of whichever newspaper they are commenting about but they miss the key point:
If the newspaper does not at least cover its costs there will be no editorial for them to comment on. I once spoke to a very successful editor (in terms of circulation and influence) and he said nothing undermined him more than the knowledge that he worked for a loss making newspaper which existed at the whim of the proprietors cheque book