Scottish Daily Mirror Today - But Where Next?

Staff at the Scottish Daily Mirror will today, in all probability, find out which of them will be losing their jobs.

Individual meetings have been scheduled in Glasgow with senior management from London with only one out of three news reporters being retained, while the single sports reporter will also be out of a job unless redeployment can be found.

As I posted when the cuts were announced, I think it is short-sighted in the extreme, and a complete and shameful failure from the company to protect the fundamental principles of journalism, reducing it to tokenism.

The move came after the elevation of managing director Mark Hollinshead  who now controls the strategy and purse strings for all the company's national titles.

The Scottish Daily Mirror was never accepted by the Daily Record, in particular, as it was seen very much as a cuckoo in the nest.

So there was little surprise when Hollinshead moved to axe it.

I've stated before and will argue again, that I believe his doing so is wrong. But it is wrong for reasons of journalism, not business.

The product that will come it will be inferior, the cover for its London HQ will worsen even with the cover of the Record. 

And, of course, careers will be ended.

Yet as a business argument, strictly financial, it is a no brainer.

The paper will continue to sell more or less the same number, maybe dropping a few thousand to the Scottish Sun here and there.

Advertising was never the Scottish edition's greatest asset anyway.

All of which Hollinshead will have looked at rationally, with his marketing expertise and £25m additional cuts to find, and put a red line through the title.

So when I take a pop at the company, it is as a journalist angry at seeing loyal staff thrown to the wolves, and all the hardwork of dozens before them going down the drain.

If I criticise Mark Hollinshead's decisions, it is because of the devastating implications for journalism, not of him as a person.

In the few dealings I've had with him he has been nothing but courteous and polite, and steers the company the way he sees it.

I just disagree with him. 

Not least because the same train of thought that has pared the Mirror titles to the bone, could in the New Year be unleashed on the Daily Record and Sunday Mail.

I'm sure he cares about the titles, having spent so long in charge, and the people.

He's maybe played it smart, leaving vacancies unfilled, so when cuts do come, it is numbers rather than people who go.

And while it will be all hands on deck to get the new editorial contact system up and running, it doesn't take a genius to work out what will probably follow next.

But this is where we will disagree again.

Looking at the wage bill, it will be easy to see why someone in power could think a paper such as the Record or Sunday Mail is overstaffed and overfunded.

Cuts a few jobs here, a few there, and millions of pounds can be saved over the next 10 years.

But it is by having a large staff, by having the best reporters, photographers and production staff, that these papers were made great.

Boots on the ground meant they would always get the exclusive, the best, most comprehensive coverage.

Properly funded, it meant they could launch award winning campaigns and cutting edge investigations.

It is what made them the kings of Scottish journalism.

Take that away, and you will be left with adequate products, not world beaters.

Which is why those who care have to defend journalism.

Because if it is left to the money men, we may as well all pack up and go home now.