Trinity Mirror to axe a fifth of editorial staff

LONDON (Reuters) - Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror said it will cut almost a fifth of its editorial staff as part of a plan to overhaul the newsroom behind its popular tabloids Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People.

The company said in a statement on Wednesday that up to 75 jobs would go from a total editorial staff of 400, under plans to enable its national titles to "meet the economic challenges facing the industry."

The outlook for newspaper groups is tough and many have seen advertising revenues decline in recent times in the face of online competition and declining print circulation.

Trinity Mirror said in November that advertising revenues fell at both its national and 160 regional titles, hurt by the weakness of the British economy.

The company has, however, benefited from higher Sunday circulations following the closure of News of the World, a rival paper owned by Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm News International, part of News Corp.

As part of its restructuring plan, Trinity Mirror said it would create a centralised reporting and production hub and increase the number of pages it outsources for sub-editing.

The firm also said it would recruit additional reporters to cover Britain's regional markets.

Shares in Trinity Mirror closed up 1 percent at 46.75 pence, valuing the firm at about 119 million pounds.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)