THE largest independent paper in Britain has announced swingeing cuts across its commercial and editorial departments. 

The Guardian Media Group, which owns the Guardian and the Observer newspapers, has told employees it plans to cut 180 jobs at the company amid an "unsustainable financial outlook" for the group. 

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The Guardian reported today that 110 jobs are expected to be lost in its commercial departments such as advertising, jobs listings, marketing, and its events programme, Guardian Live. Additionally, there are expected losses of 70 editorial jobs. 

The paper's editor-in-chief, Katherine Viner said in a joint statement with the group's chief executive Annette Thomas that the pandemic had created an "unsustainable financial outlook for the Guardian," the paper reported. 

They said: "Despite the pressures that coronavirus has placed on our business, our unique reader relationship model has proved successful, and the strategy of the past few years has been the right one."

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A spokesperson told the paper: “We will discuss all our proposals, including redundancy terms, during collective consultation with our employee and trade union representatives.”