More jobs axed as Trinity Mirror effectively folds digital arm

The cuts are the latest in a long series of job losses and website closures for Trinity Mirror as it focuses its activity on its core newspaper business.

Trinity Mirror operates 13 regional websites under the 'ic' brand including icWales, the website of the Western Mail and Wales on Sunday; icLiverpool, the site of the Liverpool Post & Echo; and icNewcastle, the site of the Newcastle Chronicle & Journal.

Trinity Mirror Digital employs around 240 people working on the ic websites. They are based at the offices of their respective newspapers and include both technical and editorial staff.

The cuts will see the standalone internet teams integrated back into the individual newspapers and reduced to a bare minimum to maintain the sites both editorially and technically.

A spokesman for Trinity Mirror said, "Given the reduced need for short-term development into wider digital media services, we are concentrating on our core business. Responsibility for digital media will move to the regional newspaper division and the division will reintegrate as soon as possible."

He added, "We are working to identity precisely what needs to be achieved and what resources this will require. This will involve a bottom-up exercise to assess the number of people we need."

Earlier this year Trinity Mirror closed most of its consumer-based ic brand. July saw the sale of its ISP ic24.net to internet investment company Brightview for £4.5m. Prior to that it closed its icShowbiz and icSports websites.

The other sites in the Trinity ic regional newspaper network are icBerkshire, icBirmingham, icCheshireOnline, icCoventry, IcHuddersfield, icSouthLondon, icSurreyOnline, icScotland and icTeesside.

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