OFT may investigate MEN sale

It seems that last week's sale of the Manchester Evening News is not quite done and dusted just yet.

The Office of Fair trading is to step in to askfor representations about whether it should investigate Trinity Mirror's acquisition.

It will be worried that Trinity will be creating a near monopoly of news in the North West.It already has the Liverpool Echo in its stable as well as titles in Cheshire and North Wales

Manchester Evening News-good business move or the death of regional news

It is either the final death knoll of the regional paper or a sound business decision.

Yesterday's announcement that Guardian media group are finally cutting their ties with the city of Manchester must have made CP Scott turn in his grave.

After persistent rumour,the "unthinkable has happened at the Manchester Evening news will fall into the hands of Trinity Mirror.

To much wailing and protest by some who see TM as an asset stripper,the paper will move from its spacious glass house in Deansgate to the confines of Oldham.

Now for one,this may not be a bad move.The paper's journalism has been accused of being stuck in its city centre confines,unwilling or unable to respond to the needs of Greater Manchester as a whole.Maybe its journalism will get a better idea of what is going on as it looks down from the heights of Oldham across the urban surroundings.

As pure business sense,Roy Greenslade makes the point that

It is a regional newspaper, in an industry which is buckling under the twin pressures of the credit crunch and the growth of digital rivals. Guardian Media Group, with its small disparate regional network, was not the organisation to pull the MEN out of that hole.

Trinity,for all their faults,at least have a semblance of a regional structure.Whether that will increase the provision of news in Manchester remains to be seen.

The fact that it has been sold for just £7.4m and the cancellation of a £37.4m print contract that had 10 years to run shows how desperate GMG was to sell.How we have fallen from the heady times of multi million pound regional newspaper deals!

Finally what will happen to Channel M not part of the deal.It has suffered dramatic cost cutting in the last twelve months.Their state of the art news collecting vehicles are no longer seen on the streets of Manchester and with Urbis converting itself to football matters it will only be a matter of time before they move out of their plush surroundings.

Yesterday's move could be seen as a major turning point in the provision of news in the city.Maybe an opportunity for the hyperlocal scene to take off or even a fresh breeze blowing through the current evening paper.

As with nearly all areas of the country,the events show that traditional regional news models no longer apply.

Meanwhile GMG can concentrate on pouring their resources into their flagship paper which by all accounts continues to lose money

Flogging the family silver

The Independent's Stephen Glover no doubt gets his own back on the specualtion about his own paper by taking a look at the rumours concerning the Guardian from last week.

The Guardian may now be housed in fancy offices near Kings Cross, complete with their own theatre, but its spiritual home is Manchester.

he says

For him the significance is

all the greater if The Daily Telegraph, which broke the story, is correct in suggesting that the Manchester title might fetch less than £40m, though it was supposedly worth £200m several years ago

and adds that

GMG’s apparent willingness to flog off what was once thought of as the family silver suggests its management has woken up to the weakness of its position. Here is a company which by its own (possibly unwise) recent admission is losing £100,000 a day on The Guardian and The Observer, which we might round up to £40m a year. In such circumstances it has to consider selling anything

Guardian media latest

As I blogged earlier this morning,the Telegraph's story of the Scott Trust divesting itself of Guardian regional media seems to have satisfied the old adage that there is no smoke without fire

In a statement late this morning,the group said

”In line with its remit, GMG keeps its portfolio under review on an ongoing basis. There have been some exploratory talks regarding our regional media business.
“However, these are at a very early stage and it is not clear whether they will progress or what the outcome is likely to be.”

Whether those talks are with Trinity Mirror,it seems too early to tell

Watch this space

Rumours of Manchester Evening News sale

Manchester is all a buzz after this morning's story in the Telegraph that Guardian media group is considering selling the Manchester Evening News

According to the paper

GMG is considering the sale of GMG Regional Media, whose flagship publication is the Manchester Evening News, in a desperate attempt to save more than 100 job losses at its two national newspaper titles.

with a source claiming that

"GMG and The Scott Trust, which was set up to safeguard journalistic freedom and The Guardian's liberal values, has turned its back on its heartland to keep The Guardian afloat."

Rumours abound that Trinity Mirror is in the running.

As yet there is no comment from Guardian media

Local support against the cuts at MEN

There was a meeting at Manchester Town Hall on Friday night protesting aboiut the recently announced job cuts at the cities paper,the Manchester Evening News.

Over at her blog,Here's the Kicker Louise Bolotin reports on the meeting where

More than 100 people crammed into an overheated room at Manchester Town Hall - people were sat on the floor and side tables when the chairs ran out, and at least 20 were forced to stand.

What was interesting she says was

that many on the floor were local councillors from across Greater Manchester, local community activists doing great things in their neighbourhoods, ordinary locals who just really care that they might no longer have a local newspaper covering their area.

These people will in her words

go home to spread the word about why local papers matter. What they may achieve is likely to be far more important than the forthcoming ballot on strike action at MEN. Because they will be the ones writing to the letters page of their local paper asking awkward questions about cuts and closures, among other things

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

MEN maps shootings online

The Manchester evening news takes intercative mapping to its extreme with a map showing the locations of the people who have died in shootings since 1999.

It certainly makes grim reading,check it out here

Cocktail sticks at noon

How much notice people take of newsagents billboards I don't know,but I couldn't help but notice the ones for the Manchester Evening News this lunchtime

Boy in court for throwing sausage said the headline and the article quotes

He was accused of throwing the cocktail sausage at an elderly neighbour. It allegedly hit him on the shoulder.
When the boy appeared at a youth court in Manchester, the judge said he couldn't believe the case had been brought before him and questioned the decision to take legal action. The boy's lawyer said the decision to prosecute `beggars belief'.

MEN asks for Volunteers

Press Gazette are reporting that MEN media are undertaking a structural review of its Manchester based business.Chief Exec Martin Dobson is reported as saying:


"The past two years have seen the rate and pace of change in our industry accelerate beyond all predictions. As a company with a large proportion of its revenues linked to print business, we need to increase our rate of change to meet the digital present as well as the future. This will mean that we will be best placed to face the demands of an increasingly competitive marketplace."

As part of the restructure it is asking staff for volunteer redundancies.

A little worrying for a future journalist.THE Group has been held up as a good example of how do deal with convergence organisational issues ,but it seems that these can no longer be paying the way

Why local issues are important for the media

This evening's copy of the Manchester Evening News is a good example of what a local paper should be concentrating on in these competitive times.

Its front page and inside pages produces the results of its opinion poll on whether Manchester wants congestion charging to come into being.

Its headline says:

YOU SAY NO

Two out of three reject plans to bring in pay as you drive.

The budget is relegated to the second lead and inside on pages 4-5 the figures are analysed further.

For better local analysis the survey directs readers to the smaller regional papers for the issues in its particular area.