Wednesday 18th June 2014 will be burned into the brains of the Daily Telegraph’s journalists and management for some time. Today it is being reported that both Blogs Editor Damian Thompson and Deputy Editor Benedict Brogan have parted ways with the company.
The Guido Fawkes blog reports that the newspaper’s film critic and Sunday Telegraph columnist Jenny McCartney has been fired, Business editor Tim Jotischky is also sacked. Cole Moreton, a feature writer for the Sunday Telegraph is out, and news reporter Lucy Kinder has also been cut.
Editor of the Telegraph blogs Damian Thompson tweeted that he is leaving the company in an “amicable” split. Whilst it is unclear how many journalists have been culled today the Telegraph Media Group has advertised 40 jobs at the newspaper on their website.
Whilst none of the jobs give precise details on the salary levels most of them are also vague on how much experience is needed to apply. This will fuel rumours that the Telegraph is dumbing down and hiring cheaper inexperienced staff. The quality of the content has already been hit by the removal of large numbers of sub-editors last year.
The news comes several months after leading Telegraph blogger James Delingpole left to becoming the executive editor at Breitbart London, and is being regarded as symptomatic of a new and difficult regime at the newspaper.
Thompson, who made a name for himself as a fiery and effective editor of the paper’s comment pages tweeted earlier: “Announcement: I’ve left the Telegraph in an entirely amicable parting of the ways. That’s all for now, but watch this space, dudes :)”.
Him departure also follows that of the paper’s editor Tony Gallagher in January, a move that was perceived to be less than amicable.
The loss of major figures since the appointment of American editor-in-chief Jason “psycho” Seiken is likely to come as a blow for the Telegraph’s major stakeholders and the paper’s readers.
Brogan was not available for comment, reported the Guido Fawkes blog.
The newspaper has not yet commented on the departures.
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