Metro International is looking to increase original content in its international editions by creating a centralised "content agency". Metro will recruit up to 12 journalists to run the content hub, which will focus on global material.

Per Mikael Jensen, the company's CEO, said: "They will be looking at issues that are truly global, such as environment, health, beauty and celebrity".

The recently announced job cuts at the company's headquarters in London's Fleet Street are strictly non-editorial.

This move is controversial for the company as Metro recorded an 83 per cent fall in year-on-year quarterly operating earnings and weak advertising sales.

Per Mikael Jensen said: "When competing in the freesheet market you need to make sure you are the paper people pick up first. To accomplish this you need quality. What we are doing is adding content that it will be difficult for our competitors to get, simply because we can offer a truly global newspaper audience. If someone like Al Gore does one interview with us, he'll reach over 23 million people, and that is hard to match."

Source: Journalism.co.uk