David Montgomery, former Mirror Group chief executive, has spelled out a dramatic new future for newspapers in which the sub-editor disappears, a point that he has also brought up in past talks.

"I was a subeditor...but many of those skills have been made redundant," Montgomery said. "The humdrum tasks are not necessary. We will make journalist a publishing star in their own right."

Speaking at a House of Lords select committee on communications on March 26, Montgomery said that newspapers needed to lleverage their content "more creatively and across different channels and markets."

Montgomery, currently the executive chairman of European newspaper group Mecom, described the company as "a content company, a consumer company," pointing out that the this model includes shifting printing responsibilities to a third-party printer.

"One day I hope our company will no longer own its own printing machines," Montgomery said. "We would still print newspapers but it would be on a third party press." 

Of note however is that newspapers still have a place in Montgomery's brave new world. He emphasized that the "richness and quality" of their content, and the "hundreds of years of experience" of newspaper staffs could not be replicated by the internet.

Go here for other opinions on the future of journalism from top editors around the globe.

Source: Guardian