Trinity Mirror (LSE: TNI) has revealed plans to shut 12 newspapers in the Midlands, axe “approximately” 94 jobs and shut two offices as part of the company’s plans to save £25 million this year. It’s been some time since we’ve seen newspaper cuts on this scale; the company made 1,200 redundancies in the 2008, shedding nine percent of its workforce and saving £30 million annually — but it now seems was just the start. And Bailey admits that redundancies alone aren’t enough to reposition regional newspapers as modern publishing buinesses — a feat Bailey herself likened to repairing a jumbo jet while in mid-flight.
— The victims: The papers getting the axe, all weeklies, are a mixture of paid-for and free and include the Lichfield Post, the Tamworth Times and the Bedworth Echo, while the Solihull News and Solihull Times are to be merged. Offices in Burton and Walsall will close and Trinity has identified “a number” of potential job cuts at its Midlands printing plant — Mediaweek puts that number at 24, which would make the total number of redundancies 118. Trinity wants volunteers for redundancy at first and is offering the same severance package offer to everyone in its Midlands division.
— Reaction: Having already warned of these cuts last week, the National Union of Journalists, general secretary Jeremy Dear says: “After accusing us of scare mongering they

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