On top of the cuts, closures and restructures pummelling regional newspapers, publishers are increasingly considering outsourcing jobs or whole departments to save money. According to HTPF, Johnston Press is considering outsourcing the subediting operations of the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post, two daily newspapers with a combined circulation of more than 100,000. HTFP quotes National Union of Journalists reps who confirm they were told that three companies, including the Press Association, pitched their services to the editors of both papers at a meeting at JP’s Edinburgh HQ. JP’s head office says the story is “pure speculation” and a spokeswoman for PA told us the company couldn’t “disclose specific details of any current contractual discussions”.

Guardian.co.uk reports that Trinity Mirror (LSE: TNI) is to spin its in-house motoring content service Driving Force, which writes car news and reviews for local papers, out in to a freelance content provider. Trinity’s regional motoring editor Chris Russon will continue to manage the service, but Trinity will save money by having one less department to directly manage. Trinity’s regional editorial director Neil Benson says (via Guardian.co.uk): “It is going from being an in-house service to an outsourced service, but with the same guy coordinating. The reason for doing this is because it will be more cost effective that way.” Without the constrains of an under-pressure PLC telling it what to do, Driving Force is now free to develop its business while keeping Trinity as its main customer, and it could be well-placed to provide the video and audio content the country’s newsrooms are after.

Outsourcing makes sense on the commercial side too: DMGT’s regional arm Northcliffe Media is considering giving over 40 jobs in its national sales division to ad agency Mediaforce, which also represented Johnston Press.

By some estimates, the regional print sector can expect as many as 10,000 job cuts in the next five years as well as 1,300 newspaper closures. But perhaps when those jobs go, a good deal will be off-shored or outsourced to agencies that claim they can do the same thing for a fraction of what those costly staff could manage. One thing is certain: print-only sub-editors, who have yet to find a way to add value to business desperately trying to grow and monetise their audiences online, are the most endangered of species in the new media jungle right now.