Is there hope for local papers after all?

Yesterday, a regional paper that scrapped its Saturday edition announced it had seen a 25 per cent increase in sales of its Friday paper.

The Bristol Post became a five day publication last month and created the Post Weekend, which has full details of things to do in the city over the weekend.

Bristol News and Media has said circulation on Fridays is up by an average of 8,000 copies compared to before the change.

While I don’t think this is a sign that the industry is saved and all local dailies should produce a ‘bumper’ edition on a Friday and see a rise in sales, I do think it is a positive sign. Things might not be quite as doom and gloom as we think they are.

I know, personally, I see news of dailies becoming weeklies or becoming five days a week instead of six and I worry about what is going to happen to the newspaper industry in the future. If they’re making cuts and getting rid of jobs then there can’t be much future. And as someone who would quite like to work for a newspaper that makes me kind of sad.

But actually, if people are still buying local newspapers, and in increasing numbers by these figures, then surely there is a little bit of hope?

Because if people are buying newspapers (which, clearly they are) then there’s a need for journalists who can produce the content, and subs who can edit and design.

And like I say, I don’t think that it’s the answer for every newspaper that’s seeing it’s circulation falling. But it’s clearly worked in Bristol so I don’t see why it couldn’t work in other parts of the country.

And maybe it’s just because it’s something new and in the next few weeks the circulation will fall again. Or maybe it’s just a last ditch attempt at saving a newspaper before it accepts that digital is the future. Or maybe they’re actually on to something good. Only time will tell. But I think it’s one worth watching to see what happens.

hacked_off

Local newspapers are on life support. With fewer and fewer experienced, skilled, staff on the payroll local rags generally look tired and amateur. The websites won't save them because the few staff who are left shovel the same badly written, poorly subbed, copy online largely unchanged. My local paper's pagination and story count is woeful, the headlines dull, the layouts predictable and the copy riddled with literals. The same lack of flair is evident online. When will newspapers get through their thick skulls that it's all about the journalism? Without that you have nothing.

annedreshfield

I agree. It's interesting to see that local newspapers are still managing to (somewhat) thrive, and larger publications are still losing readership. I imagine local publications don't have the resources to move more online, so they're keeping the paper more or less alive.

hacked_off

Most, if not all, local newspapers have made redundant their best staff (those pesky high salaries were clearly undeserved). Those who remain are less experienced, less talented and massively overworked. Factor in to this brilliant business survival plan that papers have reduced pagination and raised cover prices and you have a product which gives readers lower quality, less news, for more money. Oh, and did I mention you can get all the news free on the website?

andymurrill

@wannabehacks There is hope!

thegreycardigan

Sorry, but that's bollocks. Let's assume that they were selling 30,000 copies of the Saturday newspaper. That makes them 22,000 copies down on the deal. Sheer genius.

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