Twenty jobs at risk as Bristol Evening Post axes Saturday editon

Twenty positions are under threat after Northcliffe Media announced the Bristol Evening Post will stop publishing on a Saturday from next month, renaming the newspaper 'the Post' from Thursday 19 April. The paper switched to publishing in the morning in 2009 and the renaming is said to better reflect this situation. The switch to publishing five days a week will allow the Evening Post's sister title, the Western Daily Press, to stand out more on a Saturday, according to a release from Northcliffe. Bristol News and Media publisher Alan Renwick said in a statement: "These planned changes give us a more focused and flexible set of publications which are much more closely aligned to our customers and give us a better platform for future growth." It is currently not known how many of the 20 potential redundancies are journalists. As part of the changes, arts and culture-focused Venue magazine will go online only. Current Venue publishing director Dave Higgins will leave the company at the end of this month, according to the Northcliffe statement. However, the lifestyle publication Folio, which is jointly produced with Venue, will continue as a stand-alone monthly magazine. The Bristol Evening Post's circulation was 36,262 in January, the most recently reported ABC-audited figures. UPDATE: Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, has issued a statement condemning the "shock announcement". "We call on the paper’s management to take steps to avoid job losses and enter into meaningful consultation with staff and their union representatives."