Thirty jobs have been cut at the Press Association as part of cost-reduction measures by the UK news agency, according to journalism.co.uk. Twenty of those jobs are reported to have already been cut in what a company spokesperson called a combination of "natural wastage and voluntary redundancy".
A further nine posts are under consultation for "possible" compulsory redundancy. The company says content will not suffer.
Some details: [Link]
"In common with most media companies we have been affected by recent structural and cyclical changes within the sector and we are taking sensible steps to ensure our businesses are operating as efficiently as possible while retaining the quality of our services," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"We are confident that the quality and breadth of our editorial coverage will be unaffected. With more than 200 journalists across the UK and Ireland, the agency's wire service is well-resourced and, as our most recent survey confirmed, highly regarded by our customers.
"Although there has been a small reduction in the number of dedicated video journalists, in line with our long-term strategy we are continuing to equip our reporters and photographers with the skills and technology to file video where appropriate, in addition to text and photos," she added.
These staff cutbacks have not stopped the agency from investing in new talent, just this week the company called for applications for their summer intake of production journalist trainees. Advertised on their careers page, the traineeship will include attachments to all production desks within the PA newsroom, including "the Teletext news desk, business news desk, and video news-gathering and editing".
