A trio of new paid-for newspapers are to be launched in three Northamptonshire towns in competition with established Johnston Press titles.
Extra Newspapers is launching fortnightly titles in Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough next month, with further launches planned in the South East and Lancashire.
The papers will be designed to appeal to what the company is calling a “younger, digital savvy readership” and will have a start-up circulation of 10,500.
Each title will have a cover price of 50p – but in an inversion of the usual advertising-led business model, recruitment advertising will be offered free of charge.
Managing director Stuart Parker said the editorial content would be “wholly dedicated to hyperlocal news.”
“For example – Corby, a town of 55,000 people had until now no newspaper to call its own. The Corby Extra will give Corby what it wants most of all and that’s a voice across the community,” he said.
“We intend to truly support local business and free recruitment ads are something our research flagged up.
“With the gradual shift in recent years to high advertising rates, the regional press has made it almost impossible for small businesses to communicate effectively with their target audiences and Extra will also be providing value for money advertising rates, so that businesses can quite simply afford to advertise and communicate.”
The three Northamptonshire titles will be edited by Judith Halliday, a former Derby Telegraph journalist now based in the area.
Said Judith: “The local community will be at the heart of each publication. We are committed to bringing positive, good news to communities that have previously been left feeling they no longer have a way of finding out what is going on around them.
“Circulation areas will be tight and the news content hyper-local. Extra aims to prove that small and local can be beautiful.
“We will be right there on the corner with the local community – watching, reporting and sharing all the news.”
The Kettering-based Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, owned by JP, currently circulates in both Wellingborough and Corby.
As well as the daily title, JP also publishes a series of weeklies in the area under the Citizen brand.
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“Corby, a town of 55,000 people had until now no newspaper to call its own.”
But still not important enough to have its own editor?
I’m always suspicious of titles, particularly new ones, where an editor is in charge of multiple titles and they talk about hyperlocal.
What do they mean by hyperlocal? It often translates as lots of submitted content.
So how many reporters are they hiring?
My fear is this could hurt the Evening Telegraph while not actually improving the news service for the area or journalism standards.
I do agree that recruitment advertising is massively overpriced in the industry though, and as a result much of it has migrated online.
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Interesting to see these new titles will be edited by Judith Halliday, wife of the former editor of the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph who is still working for Johnston Press.
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Interesting idea regarding sits vac. Good luck, Judith.
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Paid for locals? Wrong model unless you’re going to uncover blindingly valuable content
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Judith said: “We are committed to bringing positive, good news to communities that have previously been left feeling they no longer have a way of finding out what is going on around them.”
Seeing as she has worked on a freelance basis for the Evening Telegraph for years, and her own husband edited the paper until recently, this is a bit rich, isn’t it?
Anyway, all the best. I look forward to seeing the advertisements for ther reporters’ jobs that will surely need filling.
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“Corby, a town of 55,000 people had until now no newspaper to call its own”
Doesn’t the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph have a dedicated, daily, Corby edition? As well as its edition for Kettering and Wellingborough…
Surely this company’s research should have picked that up – especially as their editor is the wife of the former editor of the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph – who I think launched the Corby edition himself?
Even the free weekly Herald & Post still publishes in Wellingborough – did they not know that?
This is either terible research by the company or a new newspaper that’s not too concerned about reporting the facts – and that’s before they’ve even written a story!
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certainly a good time to take on JP while it is in meltdown; certainly a good time to go hyper-local as the industry re-builds from a base of small is beautiful; but make sure you have enough money, a team of quality journos and (yes, really) a bunch of calibre ad reps. why not also include Northampton? Good luck!
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I wish it well but why no info on the jobs aspect? Didn’t you ask or is this a cut and paste job from them? Tut tut.
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Hopefully this will give the Evening Telegraph a kick up the backside and get it to pull its socks up. It is dull, looks bland and dated, boring, and only seems to use two colours and grey. Its news coverage is mostly hatstand, with inflated supplements like ‘Term Time’ that no one reads, and it leaves stories that do interest people untouched. It seems aimed stubbonly aimed at an old readership that is fading away, and there is no focus on younger people.
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@ John Grainger – Corby does have its own edition of the Evening Telegraph but not quite a dedicated seperate edition – front and back pages and one or two slip pages as far as I can see.
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Great news for Corby . You can not count the Et as a real Corby paper. its so anti Corby ,,, looking forward to getting the new paper.
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if you look at the remit for The Corby Eye which has been running from January this year it looks remarkably like this paper, except The Corby Eye is run by Corby people, printed in Corby, for Corby people and distrubuted for free. The Corby Eye is the only true Corby publication of this type. issue 3 is out there now, go and get your FREE copy now or check http://www.thecorbyeye.co.uk for your electronic copy.
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A Corby Edition of The ET? Never seen one. Seen plenty generic editions of The ET paying lip service to Corby over the spread of 3 pages but nothing like The Corby Eye which is By Corby, For Corby, About Corby, In Corby well, you get the picture. The Corby Eye – get your copy now. Issue 3 out today or get an online version. E-Mail me at [email protected] to learn more.
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