Publisher of Times begins inquiry into suicides of advertising staff
NEWS UK, the publisher of The Times and The Sun, has started an internal investigation after two members of its commercial department took their own lives within weeks of one another, amid fears that staff are being put under unreasonable pressure to hit targets.
In addition to the deaths, at least nine other staff members from the company’s advertising arm have been signed off recently with stress-related complaints.
Details of the internal investigation were made public as it emerged that one of the company’s senior executives had boasted about how its commercial and editorial departments were now working closely with one another, despite public assurances from the firm that they remained entirely separate.
In a recent interview to mark the launch of News UK’s new commercial arm, The Newsroom, Tiffanie Darke, the company’s creative content director, said journalists realised they had to get their “hands dirty” in order to please advertisers.
She said News UK had insisted on closer collaboration between its journalists and advertising staff, adding that this had been a big factor in the new department’s success. She also disclosed that members of the commercial department were now attending the newspapers’ daily editorial news conferences, when the stories of the day are discussed by senior journalists.
Ms Darke, a former editor of the Sunday Times Style Magazine, said journalists were increasingly asked to write content for advertising campaigns. She said: “There is definitely a
realisation amongst all the editorial staff here that if we want to produce really good commercial content both for our readers and for our advertising clients, we’ve all got to get our hands dirty with it to make sure it’s the best it can possibly be.”
She added: “There’s no point in selling commercial content to a client and say- ing, ‘ We can do the content better than anyone else because we understand our audience’ if it’s not the actual journalists themselves doing the content.
“Otherwise, you might as well hire an outside agency. It has to be the people who write for the readers every day who produce this stuff, guide it and inspire it.”
The disclosure that the two depart- ments are now working in tandem has been made despite The Times insisting that they remained entirely separate.
In a leading article, published on Thursday, it stated: “The proper degree of influence that advertisers should be able to exert on the editorial coverage of the newspaper is zero.
“The wall between the commercial side of the newspaper business and what its journalists write must be absolute and inviolable.”
Confirming that the company had launched an internal investigation into the suicides, a spokesman for News UK said: “We would never comment on the details around an employee’s death but very sadly we lost two members of staff in unconnected circumstances in recent months from our London and Manchester offices. The company’s HR procedures are second to none… In keeping with our high standards we are currently conducting an internal investigation”.
Addressing concerns over the potential blurring of lines between its commercial and editorial operations, the spokesman added: “The editorial integrity of our papers is paramount, and uniquely protected by structures and practices related to the formal undertakings agreed with government over 33 years ago when the titles were purchased.
“Our ‘Newsroom’ team operates as a bespoke and separate unit, and while it is focused on collaboration with the editorial teams there is no influence exerted over our journalists in relation to the work they produce for the editorial pages.”