See how value of newspaper companies has fallen
The sale yesterday (February 9) of the Manchester Evening News highlighted again the slump that has hit regional newspapers in the last two years, writes Paul Watson.
Trinity Mirror bought 22 titles in the North West of England, including the flagship Manchester Evening News, plus ten titles in the South of England, including the Surrey Advertiser and Reading Post.
Sellers were the publishers of the Guardian and Observer. They have pocketed nearly £45 million for the 32 newspapers.
Now let’s look back to December 19, 2005, when Johnston Press – publishers in these parts of the Sussex Express, Eastbourne Herald and Mid Sussex Times – announced it was buying The Scotsman Publications Ltd.
Scotsman Publications sold the Scotsman newspaper (a morning paid for title in Edinburgh), www.scotsman.com, Scotland on Sunday (a Sunday paid for), the Edinburgh Evening News (an evening paid for) and the Edinburgh Herald & Post series (a weekly free).
Johnston Press agreed to pay out £160 million. Obviously, we are not exactly comparing like with like but the huge sum paid by Johnston Press shows how the value of newspaper companies has dropped.
Share prices have fallen through the floor, although there have been small rises in more recent months.
Johnston Press is weighed down with debts as a result of a buying spree which saw it become one of the biggest regional newspapers publishers in the country.
It vacuumed up titles in England, Scotland and Ireland and in the process became heavily indebted.
Many of those titles are worth only a fraction of what they paid – but still the debt repayments must be made.
Working in regional newspapers is a tough row to hoe at present and if you are a Johnston Press employee the debt burden means there are plenty of rocks and clay in your row to make the going even harder.
*A side effect of the crisis facing newspapers is the closure or downsizing of reporting and picture agencies.
Kent News and Pictures closed last month, blaming poor national newspaper rates for stories and pictures and tough economic conditions.
Kent News and Pictures operated in Kent and Sussex and had a keen nose for news. One of their last stories was about the nuns in an Uckfield convent protesting about plans by the Broadway to hold striptease events.
Agencies also were valuable to local newspapers. Often the agency reporter(s) would cover crown court and provide a regular flow of stories.
Local papers too cut back on the money paid for such stories and it means that many cases in crown courts in Sussex go unreported. It’s just not worthwhile for the news agency to have a reporter there because the market has dried up.
Justice is being done but is not being seen to be done by the vast majority of people in the county.
(Added to site Wednesday, February 10th, 2010)
