Under the banner Newsroom 3.1, a new editorial structure is introduced to support a digital-first publishing process in its Newcastle and Teesside newsrooms.
Content will be created to hit key digital audience spikes across the day, ensuring that users find refreshed content every time they access one of our digital platforms, says Trinity Mirror North East.
Every journalist, from the editor-in-chief to the newest editorial recruit, will have a new set of digitally-focused responsibilities.
The content created by the digital operation will be edited and packaged into the region’s newspapers - The Chronicle, Evening Gazette, The Journal and Sunday Sun - by specialist print publishing units at both centres, supported directly by title editors.
New digital roles, including social media editors, planning analyst and advance content writers, are introduced, to increase audience engagement and drive traffic. The new roles of Newcastle United editor and Middlesbrough FC editor are created, to enable the brands to capitalise fully on the huge interest in professional football.
Overall, the size of the Trinity Mirror North East editorial team will grow by 17 roles – 25 new roles are being created while eight existing roles are at risk of redundancy.
Darren Thwaites, editor-in-chief Trinity Mirror North East said: “We’re delighted to be leading the way in transforming our business for a successful digital future. The demand for local content is as great as ever and it’s our job to give the audience what they want, when they want it.
“We’ll provide a brilliant service for our rapidly-growing digital audience, while producing great newspapers by editing the best of everything into an entertaining format every day.”
According to the publishers, Newsroom 3.1 will make maximum use of content through SEO and social media as well as through digital analytics tools, such as Chartbeat and Omniture.
Neil Benson, editorial director of the regionals said: “Digitally, we have made great progress over several years but we now need to accelerate the growth and engagement level of our digital audiences.
“In an era when audiences want access to live-up-to-the-minute information across a variety of platforms, our working day will no longer be built around our print products. The new structure gives us the capability to produce more digital content all day and every day, while still producing brilliant newspapers.”
Newsroom 3.1 will be rolled out across Trinity Mirror’s regional news brands throughout the year.
