Words Dept.: entry

When Guardian Media Group’s MEN Media announced last month that it was cutting a load of jobs at the Manchester Evening News and closing several local newspaper offices, there was a feeling from the NUJ and some staff that one of the reasons for the severity of the cuts was to protect Channel M. As the local television channel geared up for a move on to Freeview later this year, it appeared as though the company saw some kind of future for local TV at the expense of local papers.

Not so. Instead, the company was simply biding its time before disclosing that it would be making even more drastic cuts at Channel M, which it has done today. From a total of 74 staff, some 41 will be given the boot.

Reading the latest statement from GMG regional boss Mark Dodson, one cannot escape an apalling feeling of deja-vu:

These further redundancies at MEN Media are deeply regrettable but, in the current climate and in the context of wider changes in our industry, they are unavoidable.

Clearly, the product isn’t making any money. In fact, the channel is said to be losing £200,000 a week month [error based on Press Gazette story, amended 1pm, 28 April]. To alleviate the problem, its live broadcast output will be cut to three hours a day.

As was the case with the local weeklies, there is little explanation about how these cuts will prove sustainable in the long term. It’s obviously a good idea to cut costs if losses are being suffered. But if the cuts are so drastic that an already struggling product is suffocated to within an inch of its life, the outcome can’t possibly be good.