Telegraph and Guardian restructure for digital

by Tristan O'Carroll, Media Week 09-May-08, 14:59

LONDON - Telegraph Media Group and Guardian News and Media have unveiled operational restructures aimed at boosting their digital activities.

TMG is to bring all digital operations under former AOL executive Mike Moore who takes the title general manager (digital). In what TMG said is a “significant break” from the traditional UK national newspaper model Moore will drive TMG’s bid to generate revenue around its digital content.

In addition, TMG’s CRM and Enterprises will move into the commercial department, while newspaper promotional marketing will move to the newspaper sales department.

The changes are aimed at capitalising on TMG’s recent digital successes. Its global monthly online user base now stands at over 18m unique users.

Meanwhile, Guardian News & Media has unveiled details of its plans to integrate the newsrooms of the Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk when the company moves to its new location at Kings Place, in North London, at the end of the year.

Journalists in News, Business and Sport will work across the company’s three platforms, providing text, audio and video for the Guardian, guardian.co.uk and the Observer. The Observer will also retain some dedicated news reporters as well as its own features, magazine and comment writers and editors.

Paul Johnson, Deputy Editor of the Guardian, will also assume the new role of Head of News, Business and Sport, with overall responsibility for these areas across all three platforms.

Four new roles will be created reporting into Johnson. These are:
Head of National News, Head of Business, Head of Sport and Head of International News.

In some subject areas groups of journalists will work together in more devolved ‘pods’. These specialist writers will be responsible for generating topic-related content across all platforms and products. In International News, pods will bring together reporters working in similar time zones/regions.

Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian and Editor-in-Chief of GNM, said:
“The move to a new building is the obvious moment to re-arrange the way we work in a way which more closely reflects the patterns of how people read and react to news. The Guardian, the Observer and the website will all be distinctive in their own ways – each with their own voice and identity.”