A council has told regional publisher Johnston Press it will oppose any plans to move the Lancashire Evening Post to weekly publication.
Preston City Council unanimously approved a motion last week raising concerns about any attempts to change the Preston-based regional daily to become a weekly title.
The motion will see the council writing to Johnston Press calling on it to continue to invest in quality journalism in Preston amid fears by staff about it moving weekly.
Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield has already said no more dailies will move weekly this year but this has failed to quell fears by the council.
The motion was put foward by Councillor Michael Lavalette, who is an independent Socialist, who said he had talked to the National Union of Journalists chapel at the paper about their concerns.
He said: “It was partly a reflection about what people at the LEP were feeling about their jobs. It was also about the national picture about what is happening to local papers.
“We want to make sure we have a daily paper which in part is there to scrutinise decisions made at local and county level. The motion was about democratic accountability and the need for a free press.”
Council leader Peter Rankin was also planning to meet with management at the regional publisher about their concerns.
The approved motion reads that Preston City Council resolves: “1. To write to the owners of the LEP and its parent company, Johnston Press, congratulating them at the award of North West Newspaper of the Year but raising our concerns about any possible moves away from a daily paper and calling on it to continue to invest in quality journalism in Preston; 2. To support publicly the LEP as a daily paper for the city.”
Lawrence Shaw, the NUJ’s assistant regional organiser for Northern England, said it was important that Johnston Press took note of the clear message from the council.
He said: “Politicians of all shades are united on the need for Preston to have a strong, vibrant and independent local daily newspaper as a vital part of the democratic fabric of the city.”
Five Johnston Press daily publications have been coverted to weekly titles already but in April, North-West managing director Gary Fearon said there were “no plans” to move the LEP, Blackpool Gazette or Wigan Evening Post to weekly publication.
A wide-ranging restructure by Johnston Press in the region saw long-standing LEP editor Simon Reynolds leave in April after 11 years who has now been replaced by Gillian Gray, who will also lead sister weekly the Chorley Guardian.
The paper was named as North West Daily Newspaper of the Year at the O2 Media Awards.
Johnston Press has declined to comment further.
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Futile. Only the biggest city papers will still be daily in five years.
The council will be told by JP the area will be better served in the future – 24/7 with digital daily/print weekly. Ashley Highfield has said this week that bumper weekly papers can collect more advertising in one issue than over six days. He is also going to provide staff with the tools to do the job – and what’s more he’s making the staff pay for them by blocking a pay rise this year! Don’t kid yourselves, jobs will be cut, savings made, and the workload increased. And, forget the NUJ, it is nothing but a talking shop and totally ignored by JP.
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Hmmm…
Did AH foresee the fall in circulation that I understand the Halifax new ‘super weekly’ is undergoing?
Can’t see advertisers liking that much…
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I expect the council will be uping its ad spend with the paper to support it then ?
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Seems like reality is being willing to roll over and have your belly tickled, at least someone is making their voice heard.
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I’m sure the NUJ mean well in doing this but it seems odd that they are doing this in Preston, the one city where a JP MD has put his head up to insist they don’t plan to take the LEP weekly at the moment. In my opinion, in turning the ‘will it go weekly’ debate into a wider discussion that just one among journalists, the NUJ risk making it more likely the LEP will go weekly. Creating uncertainty (which the MD has sought to stop) worries advertisers and puts a strain on important relationships between the paper and those who hold the purse strings in the local community. Reduced advertising, and a knock on circulation if people get it into their heads that the LEP is already a weekly (which has happened elsewhere) only serves to hasten the switch to weekly.
Then there’s the point about the council demanding the LEP stays weekly. This is the same Preston City Council which pumped hundreds of thousands of pounds into a council newspaper to avoid having to spend money with the LEP.
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