Newspapers thinking the unthinkable

Over at the FT this morning,media editor Ben Fenton looks at the implications behind the rumours of a Indy-Mail merger.

Falling circulation, a sharp cyclical decline in advertising and an even more frightening and permanent threat from the internet have combined to force UK regional and national proprietors to think the unthinkable.

That unthinkable being inter publication cooperation.It is a standard business practice,merger and consolidation to survive but will it result in unlikely bedfellows sharing?

Douglas McCabe, newspaper analyst with Enders Analysis said: “Publishers of national or local newspapers are going to turn every stone in a situation like this, considering things they wouldn’t have done in the past, so that sharing printworks is just the first step.
“Sharing editorial will be kept to the absolute last but it will be considered, too. The problems facing newspapers cannot in any way be underrated.”