More jobs are cut at Scottish newspapers

The Scottish Daily Express is now outsold by the Scottish Daily Mail

Around a third of the jobs at the Scottish office of the Daily Express and the Daily Star are under threat, a union has said.

The National Union of Journalists accused owner Northern and Shell of "madness" at a time when it should be increasing Scottish coverage.

The 18 job losses in Glasgow are part of a wider plan for cuts across the newspapers.

Northern and Shell has not commented on the reports.

The Scottish Daily Express sells around 60,000 copies a day - more than either The Herald or The Scotsman but only around half the sale of its direct rival the Scottish Daily Mail.

Until the 1970s, the Scottish Daily Express was the most popular daily newspaper in Scotland. It was written and printed in Albion Street in Glasgow.

But in 1974 the Scottish operation was scaled back dramatically and became a modified edition of the paper sold south of the border.

Northern and Shell is proposing to cut 12 staff jobs in Glasgow and cut the equivalent of 6 casual jobs.

Last year nearly 100 jobs were cut at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail in Glasgow while in 2010 the bulk of staff at the Sunday Times in Glasgow lost their jobs when the paper scaled back its Scottish edition.

Nearly all mainstream newspapers in the UK have been facing up to a "triple whammy" which has continued for several years - a combination of falling sales, falling advertising revenue and rising costs.