News

Cricketer magazine makes editor and staff redundant

The Cricketer magazine, one of the country’s most famous monthly sporting titles, is to be produced apparently without any staff journalists, after the magazine’s editor Andrew Miller and two editorial staff were made redundant last month.

Cricketer coverFirst published in 1921, The Cricketer’s past editors have included EW Swanton, David Frith and Richard Hutton. With a substantial subscription base, the magazine’s 2013 audited circulation was 26,607.

The present title is the result of a merger with Wisden Cricket Monthly, becoming The Wisden Cricketer for a spell. Until 2010, the title was owned by BSkyB, who sold it to Neil Davidson, the former chairman of Leicestershire County Cricket Club, and Lord Marland, a former Conservative Party treasurer.

Under Davidson and Marland, the Wisden element of the title was dropped (there had been fees payable to the Almanack publishers), and the magazine’s then editor, John Stern, left under controversial circumstances after an interview with the Tory Party leader, David Cameron, conducted by Marland, appeared in the magazine’s pages.

Davidson and Marland have had a number of forays into online publishing, including websites Test Match Extra and Test Match Sofa, which continues to be promoted on The Cricketer’s own site.

The decision on the redundancies became known during England’s Test with India at Lord’s last month. While future editions of the magazine are expected to continue to rely on freelance contributions, what remains unclear is how the magazine will be produced.

Andrew Miller did not respond to sportsjournalists.co.uk’s request for a comment.

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