Guardian to close weekend supplements as coronavirus batters newspaper
The Guardian is planning to close its weekend supplements, after the firm yesterday announced 180 job cuts as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to hammer the newspaper’s finances.
The Guardian is considering closing its Weekend, The Guide, Review and Travel print supplements, with further shake-ups to the newspaper’s size also expected.
The newspaper is also mulling plans to roll out a new Saturday magazine incorporating all the supplements set for closure.
In a letter to staff, editor-in-chief Katherine Viner said: “In print, our proposals include making changes to paginations and some significant changes to our Saturday sections, including the closure of Weekend, Review, The Guide and travel. We will be discussing our proposals for a new Saturday package later on”.
She added that the paper will look to reduce “some aspects of sport and lifestyle journalism”, and is also planning a “reorganisation in the ways we produce our journalism so that our editorial processes are truly digital-first”.
A spokesperson for the Guardian said: “In order to ensure the Guardian is financially sustainable and delivers the journalism that best serves our readers and their interests, we are having to make some difficult decisions.”
“We look forward to sharing the plans for our new print package with readers in the coming months.”
The Guardian said it will not make changes to its free-to-read model by introducing a paywall service used by many of its rivals, and will instead concentrate on the Guardian’s online growth as part of a revenue model refocus.
It comes after the Guardian yesterday announced it will slash 180 jobs in both its editorial and commercial arms, as the newspaper reported a £25m plunge in revenue over the pandemic.
The newspaper group said the job cuts will mostly affect its advertising, Guardian Jobs, marketing and Guardian Live departments, with 70 additional redundancies in its editorial unit. The job cuts will reduce the Guardian’s overall workforce by 12 per cent.
Viner and the Guardian Media Group (GMG) chief executive Annette Thomas said in a joint statement to staff that the pandemic had created an “unsustainable financial outlook for the Guardian” with revenues expected to slump more than £25m over the year.
They added that GMG, the parent company of the Guardian and its Sunday paper the Observer, was facing “unsustainable annual losses in future years unless we take decisive action” to reduce costs.
Group earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) plummeted from a £3.7m loss last year to losses of £9.3m in the 12 months to March.
GMG reported an overall loss of £36.8m for the year, with finances expected to take a further hit in the wake of the pandemic.