Any future for regional evening papers?

One of the joys of the internet and blogs is following links to hidden treasure.

I enjoyed one such eureka moment today through Roy Greenslade's blog on Media Guardian. He links to Andrew Grant-Adamson's Wordblog about journalism, which I found compelling. Andrew teaches journalism at the University of Westminster in London.

Greenslade was taken by Andrew's post debunking the myth of objective journalism, but the piece that struck me was about the decline of Britain's regional press. He recounts the desperate measures of papers such as the Coventry Evening Telegraph moving to morning publication. But he made me sit up in amazement with the statement that the Birmingham Post - the morning daily in England's second city - now only sells 13,000. Can that be possible? A quick check on Google suggests it is. In Wales, the Western Mail is now down to some 40,000 and the South Wales Echo 55,000, when I remember both being disappointed by 100,000.

All this came to mind when I read Rhondda AM Leighton Andrews's post about Welsh culture minister Alun Pugh's suggestion that the Welsh Assembly Government may switch its advertising online from Trinity Mirror's Welsh titles. I've posted a comment on Leighton's blog suggesting the Assembly should save money on advertising when anyone wanting to work for the Welsh government can look at the Assembly website. This may be bad news for the economic future of the regional press in Wales but it seems inevitable in due course.

Talking of Welsh regional media, it seems that Trinity Mirror has mishandled its newspaper brands online by submerging them under the meaningless ic  banner. If you're putting content online, at least use the names of your printed titles so they enjoy any spin-off sales. Why not have Western Mail and South Wales Echo online? The Guardian and Observer have blended online and print brilliantly - as has the BBC with online and broadcast.

Comments

[Linda]

Hi Rob,

As a Midlands journalist I always follow discussions about regional newspapers with interest.

I agree with you about the Birmingham Post, but I would question how long it is since it was selling such high numbers as commentators are saying.

It is only three years since a scandal involving inflated readership figures led to changes in the way they are measured, didn't it?

My own experience of working on three other papers viewed as being in competition with The Post, coupled with targeting media material at its pages, in my re-incarnation as a PR woman, is that it is a hugely respected paper that can still set the Midlands news agenda.

So when you contemplate the circualtion figures in that light, I find them even more amazing.

I can remember seeing even the 'inflated' figures some years ago and thinking they were low.

I could go on for ages about how the calibre of the journalists on major regional papers rivals peers on the nationals despite the poor pay and day to day pressure of shrinking budgets but I'd better get on.

All best.

Linda

[Rob Skinner]

Linda
I agree that the calibre of regional journalists often more than matches that of their national counterparts. But then I may be influenced by my parents - former regional journalists (in South Wales)!