Journalists made re-apply for jobs with the Sunday Times due to cutbacks

Yesterday afternoon, media mogul Rupert Murdoch's company News Ireland told journalists working at the Times and Sunday Times in Ireland that some of their jobs would be scrapped as part of a new restructuring plan.

The publication is in the process of getting rid of its daily digital offering, putting a reported 15 journalism jobs in jeopardy.

“News Ireland will in the future focus on the strength of The Sunday Times brand via the weekly publication of powerful digital and print editions. The strategic move is a natural evolution in this digital era, and will work to maintain the leading position of the publication in the Irish marketplace.

To facilitate this strategic move, daily output from thetimes.ie will cease,” the company said.

The journalists were told they would have just over 10 roles to re-apply for with the newspaper, some of these will be different from what they were doing before due to the scrapping of the digital service.

As part of this plan, the Sunday Times and The Irish Sun, along with sister company Harper Collins Ireland, will move into shared office space with Wireless Radio Group (Dublin’s Q102, FM104, Cork’s 96FM, C103, Live95FM, and LMFM) later this year.

“This contemporary space will facilitate hybrid working and allow for closer collaboration across the entire News Ireland team,” the company said.

After the cost-reduction plan was announced, editor of the Irish publications Noirín Hegarty invited staff to have an individual meeting with her. The staff are allowed to bring a representative or a colleague to these meetings.

Ms Hegarty succeeded Frank Fitzgibbon as editor of the Sunday Times last October. Mr Fitzgibbon was in the role for 15 years.