HUMZA Yousaf has condemned a publisher's decision to cut 450 jobs reducing the workforce by about a tenth across its national and regional newspapers.

The First Minister agreed with SNP MSP Rona Mackay, a former journalist, that "democracy would lose out" as a result of the massive and "deeply concerning" job losses.

"I agree with that whole-heartedly," said Mr Yousaf.

"Reports of any job losses are of course concerning for the workers involved and their families. But more than that in this particular case, we know a free, a vibrant independent press is the very bedrock of a functioning democracy."

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He added: "We want to do all we can to support the sustainability and the diversity of journalism in Scotland. I would urge media organisations to be investing in the sort of quality journalism that is so important in an open society, not making the cuts that have been reported."

Reach, which publishes the Record, the Mirror and the Express among its titles, said about 450 jobs would be lost because of a combination of a slump in advertising revenues and a drop in demand.

Jim Mullen, chief executive, said the move was also directly linked to the decision by Meta to cut support for news on Facebook.

This year, Meta scrapped Instant Articles, a mobile-friendly format for news articles that drove traffic for publishers, as well as Facebook News, the tab on the site that showed news stories. As a result, news groups such as Reach suffered a sharp drop in digital readership.

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More than 300 Reach journalists will lose their jobs in the latest round of cuts, with the remainder from other departments such as commercial. Cuts are planned across all its titles. The company said the job losses would lead to a 5 to 6% reduction in operating costs.

The group has already made 330 redundancies across its titles this year and the latest job losses take the total to close to 800 in 2023. Mullen refused to rule out further cuts, saying the group always needed to “react to the environment we are in”. Reach said it expected inflationary pressures that have forced up printing costs to continue into 2024.

The decision to cut jobs was not related to the increasing use of artificial intelligence to help write stories, Mullen insisted. “Robots are not taking journalist jobs.”

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Mullen said the number of articles Reach published would not fall and that the editorial team would make up 57% of total staff after the latest cuts, compared with 54% in 2019.

He added that the types of stories would change, however, with money being invested in formats such as short-form video designed to appeal to a younger audience led by social media influencers.

“We need to be the right size going forward. We are completely committed to journalism,” said Mullen.

Laura Davison, national organiser for the National Union of Journalists, said yesterday: “Today’s announcement comes as yet another blow to Reach journalists who have adapted at pace to company demands. Members will be understandably shocked at the scale of redundancies, particularly with previous rounds already withstood in recent months and in the run-up to Christmas.”