The fight for local newspapers
On Friday I was at the the Manchester Chapter of the NUJ’s meeting to fight the proposed job cuts.
It was a passionate and compelling event and one that certainly opened my eyes.
The received wisdom that many might have is that digital media is the main cause of print media’s demise and in turn the local media – it’s an unstoppable force. Well the speakers eloquently expressed a different side to the debate.
One of the key messages and this is especially relevant to the Manchester Evening News and the Guardian Media Group is that the publishers are still making a profit. And those profits were more than healthy when redundancies were made over the last two to three years, including at the MEN.
One fact that might surprise it that The Guardian is not the money maker at the GMG. It was stated that The MEN and local papers actually propped up the flagship paper. What is perhaps more galling for local journalists is that there are no substantial cuts at The Guardian, not that anyone wants any cuts anywhere.
It is the ridiculous effort to prop up unsustainable and ludicrous profit margins that is a prime driver behind the redundancies programme.
One speaker pointed out that Tesco expects to make a profit of 9.8p on every pound spent whereas some publishers expect nearer 40p. Coupled with executive bonuses it is clearly an unsustainable policy.
The result is that if the proposed cuts are to go ahead then the quality of local media will be seriously compromised.
Newspapers are already relying on wires and press releases to a greater extent than ever before. But the figure of 12% that was quoted as the percentage of news that is researched and sourced and written by the journalists themselves was shocking.
What is more journalists are already responsible for taking images, uploading stories onto the web and taking on the subs work. Standards will inevitably diminish and quickly if the proposed cuts are made.
So what is the solution?
Whether news is conveyed in print or web is not the issue here. The issue is the standard of local media and indeed its survival.
And it can survive and prosper.
Initially we all have to as a community make sure the publishers are aware of community feelings and that pressure can be brought to bare. It is up to the community and if it is not interested in defending our local media then we deserve none. But I think there is enough of us that do – many attending the meeting were not journalists but members of the public showing their support.
Writing to politicians and the papers themselves might be a start – express support and make sure the publishers know the depth of feeling. To their credit there were politicians in the room including John Leech MP for Withington, so that is promising.
One solution could be that journalists take over local titles or set-up co-operative style managed media – an emphasis on quality and not weighted on profit.
Whatever the solution is, the current model of bleeding the local media to sustain unsustainable profits is certainly not the way forward.
Tags: local media, Manchester, NUJ, redundancy
March 30th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Hi Rob, I thought your comments switched off so my apologies.
I do appreciate that the journalists have a lot at stake here as their jobs depend on the MEN keeping going. And my sympathies are obviously with them.
Still, I’m not surprised that the UK outlook still seems positive because the USA is ahead of us in take-up of all things web-related. There the advertisers are leaving their papers in droves.
It hasn’t happened to the same extent here. However, that’s not to say it wont. As you note The Guardian newspaper itself is already suffering. I think the other point about profit margins is that Tesco has a huge turnover compared to the MEN. So 10% of 1 billion is a lot more than 40% of 1 million, or whatever turnover attracts the 40%.
Jim
March 30th, 2009 at 10:33 am
“One speaker pointed out that Tesco expects to make a profit of 9.8p on every pound spent whereas some publishers expect nearer 40p. Coupled with executive bonuses it is clearly an unsustainable policy.”
If true, this is a major problem. We’re very quick to blame the banks for the current crisis but the need for exorbitant profits and bonuses seems rife across many industries, and it’s hurting.
It’s greed, plain and simple, and I’m seeing it across a wide number of companies. In the end, when these companies go under, it’ll have knock on effects for other companies that rely on them. Mess.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:11 am
Thanks for a great round-up, but GMG is unlikely to hand the keys over to some other party. The Scott Trust, which owns GMG, exists to sustain the Guardian only (which is committed to seeking profit, even though it fails to do so). Everything else exists to generate investment income in support of that goal.
This is why the locals and regionals are squeezed, while the loss making title continues. They are supposed to be cash cows.
The MEN does have some special status in that its editor is one of only three appointed by the Scott Trust (the others being the Guardian and the Observer). But that looks increasingly anachronistic to an organisation that generally fails to see the MEN as anything special.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I think digital and falling advertising revenues will see newspapers suffer as Jim says.
A national had to pull copy for interviewees I had supplied as the advertising for the supplement could not be found.
However, I think Stephen gets to the heart of the matter: the priorities of the GMG leadership are not with local media. There could be a little of the failed bankers’ approach in their as well or perhaps a lot.
It is not an easy a black and white but it is clear that local media cannot sustain quality if it sees such cuts as are proposed.
December 17th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
[...] When I attended a protest meeting about the loss of 80 journalists in March at GMG I was surprised at what was said. [...]