Massive Changes to Print Media in Birmingham

Trinity Mirror has today announced sweeping changes to their Birmingham newspaper empire.

As had already been discussed, the Birmingham Post is to become a weekly publication from next month. But in addition to this, the Birmingham Mail will become an overnight/morning title. The editors of both papers are leaving and there will be at least 40 redundancies across the group.

It comes as a massive blow to journalists across the city but was surely inevitable with the changes to the way people consume news nowadays?

I enjoy the Birmingham Post with its business and political coverage, but I nearly always browse it online. Ironically I bought a printed copy today for the first time in months.

UPDATE: The Editor of the Bimingham Post Marc Reeves has blogged about the changes, saying an electronic version of the Post will still be produced daily:

"Alongside the relaunch of the print title, a brand new version of the Post will be delivered by email directly to your inbox every morning for you to scan at your screen, on your phone, your PDA - or even to print off and read in the old-fashioned way.

Together, the print and digital formats will deliver an unrivalled service. The stresses of the current economic downturn may well have hastened our move to become a genuinely multi-media title, but the result will be a paper that's better placed than almost any other to meet the challenges of the digital age by fusing innovation with its traditional values."