More bad news for print. The Daily Express and Sunday Express are preparing to lay off more than 80 journalists by the end of the year in an effort to cut costs, reports the Guardian.co.uk. Part of the retrenchment could see reporters writing directly to page, bypassing the subeditor desk, where the bulk of the cuts are being made. The newspapers may also be introducing a five-day working pattern, much like the Telegraph and the Guardian, which have both consolidated their newsrooms.

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Express Newspapers group managing editor Ian Parrott told staff via email that the cost cutting was “the only way we can maintain a viable business able to cope with the problems of the national economy and the credit crunch and its continuing effect on us, the substantial drop in our advertising revenues and the continuing drop in our circulation figures.” The latest Audit Bureau of Circulations sales figures show The Daily Express circulation figures for August 2008 dropped 9.53 percent year-on-year.