Trinity Mirror has imposed a recruitment freeze across all of its titles and scrapped plans for its prestigious nationals training scheme this autumn, blaming the current economic climate.
The move came after Trinity Mirror posted on Monday a 12 per cent year-on-year decline in advertising revenue for the past three months. Shares in the newspaper group plunged 28 per cent on the same day after it announced profits would be 10 per cent lower than expected.
The group owns five national newspapers, including the Mirror titles, The People and the Daily Record. It also has a regional portfolio of 150 newspapers and more than 200 websites.
A Trinity Mirror spokesman told Press Gazette the recruitment freeze would remain in place for ‘the foreseeable future”.
He added: ‘In the current economic climate we must ensure our cost base is as variable as possible.”
Mirror Group Newspapers has also withdrawn the sponsorship of two places on its graduate training scheme for autumn 2008. The company cancelled a series of shortlist interviews due this week for two posts that were to make up the autumn intake.
The scheme has two intakes a year, and candidates take part in a four-month course on a Press Association training scheme in Newcastle before working on Mirror Group Newspaper titles around the country, including The Daily Mirror and The People.
Mirror Group Newspapers has yet to confirm whether next January’s scheme will go ahead.
Former graduates of the Mirror Group Newspapers training scheme include Sun defence editor Tom Newton-Dunn, former government director of communications Alastair Campbell and former Daily Mirror 3am girl turned author Jessica Callan.
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