I wrote yesterday about a London Assembly motion that attacked the regional newspaper publisher Newsquest/Gannett for its cutbacks and restructuring.
That motion was passed by the assembly unanimously today (Wednesday). It calls on the mayor, Boris Johnson, to write to Newsquest’s chief executive, Henry Faure Walker, to express concern over the relocation of local media jobs outside London.
The demand by Newsquest that staff move to a production hub affects journalists in several south London titles, including the Guardian series in Croydon, Sutton, Epsom, Wimbledon, Wandsworth, Balham and Tooting, Mitcham and Morden, and Kingston.
Other titles involved are the Surrey Comet, Richmond & Twickenham Times, and the News Shopper series in Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley.
Johnson was supportive of a previous motion that decried staffing changes and restructuring at Newsquest. In June, he and five other Conservative MPs backed striking Newsquest journalists over their demands for higher wages and proper working conditions.
The motion was proposed by Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the assembly’s Liberal Democrats, and seconded by a Labour member, Val Shawcross.
Newsquest’s parent company is the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, Gannett.
The webcast of the assembly vote will soon be available on its website.
