Independent regional titles flourishing in Cleethorpes

It's not all about regional newspapers consolidating and streamlining.

A heartening piece from Hold the Front Page which reports that an independent weekly newspaper set up in 2008 by two former Northcliffe executives is celebrating having reached its 100th issue.

Celebrations are happening at the Cleethorpes chronicle where

Despite the recession, the part paid-for, part-free title has gone from strength to strength and circulation has now grown to 11,000 copies a week.
The last paid-for weekly to distribute in the North East Lincolnshire seaside resort disappeared more than 30 years ago.

Memo to community sites-put out the welcome mat

Food for thought for those of us looking to expand into community and local sites.

Dan Mason writes that

We all know how social media has changed the goalposts. We all know that good journalism harnesses the power of conversation.
So, what’s the first thing you’d expect to see when you arrive on the doorstep of a local website? A Welcome mat. Right? Come on in. Pleased to meet you. Join the conversation. We’re human.

and takes a look at some sites and how welcoming or not they are?

Ht-Andy Dickinson

Next week is local newspaper week

Via John Slattery

Next week (11th-17th May) is Local Press Week

You can find all the details here at Newspaper Society website

The theme is

Building Stronger Communities, highlighting the important role of local papers at the heart of their cities, towns and villages, working with local people and businesses through the recession to emerge fitter and better than ever.

Rather apt in the current climate

Express and Star experiments with part free

It look like Wolverhampton's Express and Star is going to test the part paid newspaper model according to the report by Hold the Front page this morning.

From next month, the Stafford edition of the Express and Star is to be delivered free to homes and business in the mid-Staffordshire area on Wednesdays only, while remaining paid-for the other five days.

The Standard-first of many?

For some it might seem a risky policy in an age when regional and local newspapers are under immense pressure but the Evening Standard's editor Geordie Greig has decided to challenge the paper's critics head on.

Responding to a survey which told the paper that Londoners considered the paper to be too negative, not celebratory enough and guilty of failing to cater for the capital's needs,he has launched a campaign aimed at saying sorry.

Public transport in the capital will now be carrying banner adverts saying sorry for losing touch, sorry for being negative, for taking you for granted, for being complacent and for being predictable.

Perhaps this is a portent for all regional and local papers who could well be accused of the same crimes that the Standard has put its hands up to?

Boost for the online Express and Star

Some good news for the local press and for my team.

Internet traffic at Wolverhampton's Express and Star has seen a big rise following Wolves' promotion last Saturday to the Premier League.

According to the paper

the website www.expressandstar.com received more than 600,000 page views – a record since the website was relaunched almost three years ago.
Internet editor Tim Walters said: “The website chronicles a great day for Wolves fans and we are amazed by the huge interest in it.
“The traffic on the website was enormous yesterday and today the levels of interest are being maintained.

Ht-Journalism.co.uk

The secret of successful local newspapers-perhaps

A story of how to run a successful local newspaper comes from David Carr at the New York Times who believes in the model of the Austin Chronicle which he says is

as funky and idiosyncratic as the town it covers, continues to thrive with a relentlessly local news agenda — state government, the school board and the City Council, along with deep coverage of the arts — and a willingness to lead, as opposed to simply criticize, in artistic matters.

The paper's secret apart from the fact that it is free is that it knits

into civic and cultural life in Austin to a degree that may make other newspapers nervous

and its editor adds

“We don’t do gotcha journalism, our coverage is very policy-oriented, and always local, local, local,”

Johnston results show the reality for local papers

This morning brings more bad news for Johnston Press.

The group heavily involved in local and regional newspapers has been hit hard by the slump in classified advertising reporting that revenues have dropped 36 per cent so far this year.

Reporting results widely predicted with operating profits down 28 per cent,it has announced that it has scrapped its final dividend for 2008.

Revenues for last year were down 12 per cent and the group has written down the value of its titles to the tune of £417m.

One bright spot was its reduction of debt which stood at £476m compared to £691m in the previous year on the back of equity releases.

The results will still raise issues about the companies ongoing viability with the group's next test in June when its borrowing covenents will once gain be tested.

The only real option for the group would be to continue to dispose of its assets but shareholders will question this approach in the current climate as they will be sold at well below their bought value

If the MEN model doesn't work-what will?

Bad news coming through at the Manchester evening news as substantial redundancies are being announced

Press Gazette have just reported that

that 150 jobs are to and all weekly editorial offices will be closed.

78 are reported as being editorial positions.

This is a sad day especially as the paper has been a leader in convergence and the business model of giving away free copies in the city centre.

Where will all this end,one wonders

The journalism brain drain to local councils

The continued cutbacks in local and regional titles and its implications for the reporting of local government is examined by John Slattery in an article in the journalist

It is according to John accelerating the ongoing trend of journalists moving to the relative safety of working in PR in the public sector

There is a danger he says

this editorial brain drain to the public sector will tip the balance, with professional publicly financed PR material filling the vacuum left by under-staffed and poorly paid journalists.

Of course if journalists are writing the stuff then there is much evidence that it is going in to the local press unedited.

But also with all this professional expertise

Councils are not just sending out press releases; they are producing their own papers, which newspaper companies regard as unfair competition and journalists fear will further drive down the standard of reporting.

Stewart Kirkpatrick on why Scotland needs its local press

I missed the comments yesterday of ,Stewart Kirkpatrick former editor of the scotsman.com website in the Independent.

Wherever you take your starting point, it is impossible to identify a society in which the scrutiny of a free and diverse newspaper press has not been vital to the development and success of representative democracy. They are so inextricably linked it is alarming to contemplate the possibility of one trying to function without the other.

Scotland he claims is unique in the UK having a relatively new devolved administration

Devolved Scotland is a new and fragile polity in which debate takes place within a narrow consensus. Its electoral system privileges party over electorate and the ruling elite is self-selecting and jealous of its privileges. The country's broadcasters are ill equipped to fill the vacuum left by its failing newspapers. Broadcasters can never do the job of a free press. At their best they provide balanced, informative news. It is to newspapers that citizens must turn for investigation, exposure and crusading zeal.

A paper charts its own demise.

Thanks to Tom Watson for this link.

The Rocky Mountain news charts its own demise on its weblog

Staffers at the Rocky Mountain News gathered in the newsroom at noon for an announcement on its future. Tomorrow will be the final edition,

And the final goodbye?

Temple outlines Friday’s paper; small business section, very small sports section. Big front section.
All the columnists will write, he said.
We’ll bring in food tonight. Really try to put the polish on this paper so last edition will be something you’re really proud of.

The end for the dinosaur newspapers?

I like the term that Roger Parry uses in the FT this morning for the decline of the local newspaper.

Local newspapers are nearing the end of their Cretaceous era. The asteroids – recession and the internet – have landed and the K-T extinction horizon is imminent.

He makes three predictions for the industry in 5 years

1.total local advertising income will be less than it is today;
2.many local daily titles will have been converted into weeklies;
3.the number of journalists and sales people will be down 50 per cent.

But maybe his biggest critique is for the journalists

Journalists are often busy doing things the audience no longer want. The traditional professional output is no longer valued by readers. Much, but not all, of local news gathering, feature production and photography are better done by enthusiastic amateurs for next to nothing. Want a critique of local rubbish collection policies? Ask a local resident for 500 words. It matters to them and they are more connected than a journalist sent over in a taxi. Want passionate reporting of local sports? Ask the fans. There will remain a vital role for trained journalists in investigations, analysis and quality control. But it will need fewer of them. They will need new skills of assembling user-generated content including video, digital pictures and audio.

Regional newspapers must be run locally to survive

After another day of decimation in the regional media with Scottish journalists having to reapply for their jobs on mass,I have to agree with the sentiments of Jeremy Dear general secretary of the National Union of Journalists.

Writing on the Guardian's Organ grinder blog he says that

If regional newspapers are to survive and prosper, they must be locally owned, involved in their communities and more accountable - not run by faceless, remote corporations

and he reminds us that

Times are tough and it's an incredibly difficult advertising environment. Yet, not major local newspaper group currently axing jobs made a loss last year. None expect to do so this year.

Ht-Dave Lee

Evening Standard cuts back on editions

Interesting news via Press Gazette that the London Evening Standard is cutting back on its printed editions and withdrawing from some outlying newsagents.

Managing editor Doug Wills told Press Gazette that the changes were part of a "complete review of the distribution operation". The Standard dropped from four to three editions in 2006.
The Standard told readers last night: "With the changes to printing times and distribution, it may be that your usual outlet no longer receives the Evening Standard."

The paper is axing its middle edition and will also be axing some delivery drivers in a bid to cut costs

Post's move to a brave new future

The Birmingham Post is another of the newspapers that is upending its production and moving to new integrated offices,in this case the Old Fort Dunlop buildings overlooking the M6.

Journlism.co.uk have interviewed its editor Steve Dyson, who provides some insight into the paper's move

We've gone through harsh changes here in terms of how we're restructuring things. We've taken a lot on the chin about the redundancy progamme and the new building has made a tremendous difference

he tells the site

The timing of the move is a classic management tool for the new brush style,move to a new office as redundancies take effect and Dyson agrees

We deliberately tweaked the timing of the move to coincide with the end of the consultation period for the voluntary redundancies. When we moved we chose to move without the people who had chosen to leave the company and the people who moved into these offices were the people of the future,"

Trust rejects Beebs intrusion into local journalism

So perhaps not surprsingly in the current media climate the BBC Trust has rejected the corportaions attempts to go head to head with the local media.

This from the report

Whilst local video has the potential to deliver some public value it does not represent the most efficient use of licence fee funds, especially given access issues for non-broadband users and limited reach to key audience groups. We also recognise the negative market impact that could result from expansion of BBC online news provision at a local level at a time when commercial providers face structural and cyclical pressures. Conversely, that potential strain on local news provision has led in some cases to a reduction in editorial staff in the local press and commercial radio sector and could be used by some to justify a public intervention in the market.

There were always going to be arguments on both sides of the fence but I come down on the side of the Trust's decision given the current pressures in the local media,it was always going to be an unacceptable use of license fee resources.

However for the longer term it is important that the BBC does not abandon its cross pollinisation policy and shared technology

Rushbridger-it's essential that we have a local newspaper base

The Guardian's editor Alan Rushbridger comes out in the defence of the local paper.

In the light of the sector struggling in the current economic climate and the BBC's intrusion into the local circuit,Rushbridger argues that

It would be politically unacceptable to leave the BBC, however admirable as a news organisation, as the sole provider of local or regional news. If it is to expand its local coverage it might think of opening serious discussions with local papers about genuine partnership - in both content and technology

The nostalgia of the hyperlocal

Andrew Grant Adamson has been missing from the blogosphere for some time now but he is back and in a brilliant post reminds us why the concept of hyperlocal may still work

The area of Suffolk where I live looked ideal, one small town and several large villages with no strong presence of weekly newspapers. In my nostalgic view of traditional newspapers it looked good enough to provide work for a couple of journalists with an army of of contributors and a couple of people to look after the office and advertising

but the reality is

Patterns of work, life and leisure in the English countryside have changed. Fifty years ago most people lived close to their work: now mid Suffolk has one of the highest proportions in England of people commuting out of the area to work. They also travel further for cinema, music and to eat out.

Graduate challenges the local press

Here is a story to challenge the traditional media outlets.(via Hold the front page)

A graduate student from Staffordshire has set up his own local news website.It's called radical Press,co.uk and according to its website is

designed to provide an alternative source of news to the people of Staffordshire, which is currently dominated by the one newspaper, the Sentinel.
It is hoped that the website will provide news which protects the people, and questions authority, as well as providing a forum for debate about important topical issues in the county as well as the UK as a whole.

I wish you the best and good luck