Newspapers reduce job cuts by 20

Archant Norfolk publishes the Norwich-based EDP and Evening News

The number of job cuts at local newspaper group Archant in Norfolk, which owns the Eastern Daily Press (EDP), have been reduced from 54 to 34.

Earlier this month Archant announced the cuts at the Norwich-based EDP and Evening News and other weekly titles in the county.

The decision was criticised by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) for damaging local journalism.

But Archant said the cuts were needed due to the economic downturn.

Peter Kelley, NUJ spokesman, said the pressure from the union and the support of councillors had helped see a reduction in the number of redundancies.

'Made a difference'

"We have had a huge response from ordinary readers, councillors, MPs, writing in to the management. Clearly we have made a difference," he said.

"But 34 (job cuts) is still a huge number and we will be fighting for every job."

Archant, which recently announced a number of staff cuts at its Ipswich-based newspapers the East Anglian Daily Times and Evening Star, said it would be issuing a statement later.

At the time of the original announcement, Stephan Phillips, managing director of Archant Norfolk, said the newspaper sector was "not immune to the general downturn in the economy".

"We have to make tough decisions about staffing levels like many other businesses," he said.

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