Axe falls in SCMP editorial department

SCMP   NEWSPAPER   REDUNDANCY

Hong Kong - Following the senior departures of its marketing and digital directors, SCMP has undergone a major restructuring of its editorial teams.

It is understood up to 30 staff have been made redundant.

Marketing has obtained an internal memo from Reginald Chua (pictured), editor-in-chief of SCMP, outlining its new approach.

The company has centralised its editorial operations and introduced a new structure which will see core reporting teams extend their work to new online and print publications and products.

"In an age where the print newspaper is simply one method of delivering news, we need to ensure that we're thinking about all the ways we can serve our audience," Chua said.

The restructure seems to reflect the publishing company's aim to move from a traditional newspaper to an integrated print and online business, which outgoing director of marketing and communications Michael McComb spoke about when he tendered his resignation last November. 

SCMP will also restructure the Special Reports and Classified Post teams with the creation of a new Post Reports team and a Custom Publishing team headed by editor, Winnie Chung.

According to the memo, SCMP is forming a new recruitment business that will impact the Classified Post team. 

With the restructure underway, industry sources said up to 30 of its staff have been laid off including Ben Kwok who writes the regular Laisee column. 

It is also understood that SCMP's Bangkok office has ceased operations.

In November last year, SCMP was rocked with the senior departures of Michael McComb, director of marketing and communications and Ross Settles director of digital business for SCMP.com. 

In September 2009, the SCMP Group suffered a 50% drop in newspaper revenue and a net loss of $15 million for the first half of last year due to a significant decline in ad sales.

Marketing is awaiting reply from senior SCMP executives.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

More quality Lighthouse titles 

Managing people? For HR and leadership strategy, Human Resources has it covered. 

Want to get on the right side of the procurement department? 
Direct them to Procurement Asia.