Archant Suffolk has defended its plan to replace sub-editors with non-editorial ad designers, saying that "the changes will not impact on newsgathering" and is only a change to seek out efficiency.

Archant will employ 10 advertising designers to lay out pages at the East Anglican Daily Times and the Ipswich Evening Star, after cutting production staff at the two papers from 26 to 18.

Martin Chambers, the NUJ representative at Archant Suffolk stated, "Soon the company could replace all their highly trained subeditors with staff who are not journalists. These cuts are not only an attack on the jobs and living standards of Archant staff, but will put the quality of the two newspapers in jeopardy."

Stuart McCreery, the managing director at Archant, responded "that the NUJ had not had any input into discussions about the new plan."

He added, "I am confident that over the next few weeks we can introduce the new structure and workflow and continue to deliver our high quality products with improved efficiency to our valued readers."

Archant believes that they will still have quality newspapers without sub-editors. Are sub-editors essential for newspapers or is it an out-dated position?

Source: Guardian.co.uk