As reported by the National Union of Journalists: The newspaper has a team of seven which serves a borough with a population of 125,000. Trinity Mirror announced the decision to change it to a weekly with two remaining staff, a reporter and sports editor/sub editor, to be based at Tamworth in the neighbouring county of Staffordshire, with an additional Nuneaton reporter to be based at the Coventry Telegraph in Coventry. The newspaper's base in the town will be vacated and it is thought the final publication would be on Saturday 4 June.
The News was founded 24 years ago as an independent. It was bought by the Iliffe Group and then passed into Local World ownership before Trinity Mirror took over the group last year. The proposal was raised directly by the union with the Trinity Mirror board during its AGM on Thursday 4 May. No public announcement had been made by the company and shareholders were unaware of the situation until the NUJ’s intervention.
Chris Morley, Northern & Midlands organiser, said: “A small but extremely dedicated and motivated editorial team at the Nuneaton News has served the borough faithfully for many years. But within less than a year of Trinity Mirror’s takeover of Local World, this great asset to the community, with its distinctive and original coverage will be broken up and yet one more of the UK’s daily publications will be no more.
“Staff have been left heartbroken and distraught by the announcement and say it felt like a bereavement. They live in the town and have worked on the News for more than a decade, some having secured their first jobs in journalism there. I shall be meeting members next week to decide how we proceed. But given the close-knit nature of the community, I do feel Trinity Mirror needs to consult closely with its citizens and take stock of whether this is indeed the best way forward for all concerned.”
