No news is old news

Much ado about nothing would be one way to describe Independent News & Media’s briefing to announce its “far-reaching” change to editorial operations.

It involves a shared news room with a centralised news desk to co-ordinate planned and breaking news coverage for print and digital.

There will be a “closely co-ordinated sports hub” and a “shared service” print production for all titles to give a “platform-neutral” approach to “better power the engine of breaking news online and mobile but also to ensure unique and exclusive content is available to print”.

Yet the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent, the Sunday World and the Herald will continue to have reporting staff dedicated to their titles.

Chief executive Robert Pitt used INM’s “closed period” to dodge some questions. But he does think printed newspapers will still be around in 10 years’ time and says his printing plants in Citywest, Newry and Belfast are all flat out each evening despite circulations continuing to fall.

The 30 redundancies being planned only got a mention in the final paragraph of the two-page release. And the word “journalism” didn’t appear once. A signal of “transformation” if ever there was one.