Consultants are being brought in at the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News to measure journalists' output.

Managers have told staff there are no specific plans for cost-cutting or job losses, but union representatives say staff remain anxious about the potential implications.

The results of the review are expected to be published around the end of January.

Peter Kelley, a committee member for the National Union of Journalists' chapel at the paper, said: "We don't yet know whether there are job implications but clearly it's created a lot of anxiety at what is an unfortunate time of the year.

"When we asked questions about it they told us there is no particular target of savings, they are just looking at it."

There is mounting speculation among editorial staff that among the outcomes of the review will be a merger of the EDP and Norwich Evening News newsrooms.

The two titles' sister papers in Ipswich, the East Anglian Daily Times and Evening Star, recently introduced a similar move with the loss of five editorial jobs.

Said Peter: "Clearly there is speculation about it in the office but there is no way of knowing whether that is part of the plan. They weren't able to give us any information about that."

Archant Norfolk was approached about the proposed review but has so far declined to comment.