Reach to cut 220 editorial jobs as AI summaries reshape news reading
Reach, publisher of the Mirror and Express, is cutting 220 editorial roles and closing three regional titles as online traffic falls and audiences turn to AI-generated summaries.
Reach, the UK media group behind the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, is to cut 220 editorial jobs and close three regional titles as it responds to a steep decline in online traffic and a shift in how audiences consume news.
The company, which also owns the Manchester Evening News, the Birmingham Mail and the Liverpool Echo, said the cuts were necessary to adapt to what it described as a «mammoth shift» in how readers seek out content. The publisher pointed to the growing use of summaries generated by artificial intelligence, which is reducing the number of clicks reaching its websites.
Alongside the editorial redundancies, Reach is shutting its KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo titles. The closures add to a pattern of consolidation across the group's regional and national portfolio, which spans scores of online brands and local newspapers.
The decision reflects a wider challenge facing news organisations that depend on search and social media referrals. As AI tools increasingly answer user queries directly, publishers are seeing fewer visitors arrive at their pages, undermining the advertising revenue that funds editorial operations.
Reach's move is one of the largest single rounds of editorial job losses announced by a UK publisher in recent years. It follows previous cost-cutting programmes at the company, which has been restructuring its operations to reduce reliance on volatile digital traffic.
The affected roles are expected to span newsrooms across the group's national and regional operations. The company has not specified a timeline for the cuts, but the closures of KentLive, AberdeenLive and GalwayBeo signal that local coverage will be particularly hard hit.
For readers in Kent, Aberdeen and Galway, the loss of dedicated local titles means fewer stories about their communities, councils and local services. For the wider industry, the cuts underline how quickly the economics of digital publishing are changing as AI intermediaries insert themselves between news producers and their audiences.
Reach's announcement comes amid broader uncertainty for UK news media, where falling print circulations and unpredictable online traffic have already led to thousands of job losses over the past decade. Publishers are now grappling with the prospect that AI-generated summaries could permanently reduce the volume of readers arriving from search engines.
The company said the restructuring was essential to secure its future, though it did not detail how the savings would be reinvested. The job cuts are expected to take effect over the coming months, subject to consultation with staff.
