A new independent weekly newspaper is to be launched later this month covering three towns in West Norfolk.
Former Archant and Johnston Press staff are among those involved in the launch of Your Local Paper, which will circulate each Friday in the area around King’s Lynn, Hunstanton and Downham Market.
The new title will have a print run of 20,000 and will be available from a range of outlets, including supermarkets and newsagents.
The team behind the project includes managing director Alan Taylor, a former Archant and Johnston Press executive, and editor Donna Semmens, who has also worked for both groups in journalistic roles.
Alan has previously worked for both Archant, at the Eastern Daily Press, and the Johnston Press-owned Lynn News.
Donna has worked as a journalist in Norfolk for 25 years, most recently with the EDP. Before that she was news editor at the Lynn News for 13 years and has also been deputy editor of the Diss Express.
Said Alan: “We have had fantastic support for the paper from advertisers. Readers are keen to have an alternative to paying for their local news and free papers have changed, they are no longer the poor relation to their paid-for counterparts.
“There is definitely room in the market for us – advertisers are telling us they want an alternative and the readers don’t always want to be paying around £1 for their local newspapers.”
Added Donna: “This is a great project to be a part of – we are completely independent so don’t have to dance to anyone else’s tune.
“We will produce a local paper serving our community and creating a viable platform for our advertisers. West Norfolk is a great place to live and we want to reflect the good things going on as well as reporting the traditional, harder news stories.
“We know there will be people out there who maintain that printed papers have had their day – well we know that’s not the case here and we know our community wants to pick-up a local paper for a good read.”
The team is completed by account managers Gary Bush and Karen Everitt, and news editor Daisy Wallage.
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Retrain, go to college, become a plumber – just stop kidding yourselves folks, please
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Harsh but true Scott but plumbing is not the answer – too tough for us desk jocks!
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That’s the spirit, Scott. Nothing like the Blitz spirit to keep us all going. Shall I dig out the Barrel Organ?
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“There is definitely room in the market for us – advertisers are telling us they want an alternative and the readers don’t always want to be paying around £1 for their local newspapers” hmmm, so why did the Lynn Free Press fail? Just asking……..
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How frustrating! There I was, running a successful independent weekly for 5 years, simply because we were happy to settle for smaller profit margins, and all along I have been ‘kidding myself’. Your positive approach to life is a tonic for us all Scott.
Good luck to you Alan and Donna, it is tough but with a good commercial and editorial team you can really produce a financially sustainable quality newspaper.
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Print is just not the future. No matter what you want to believe, it isn’t. No matter how much time and effort you put in. Because young people are interested in the wider world and their interests, rather than their community. They shop differently, they learn about products differently. The evidence is in front of your eyes in falling sales. I’m not knocking endeavour, there’s just an age thing at work here where people of a certain age won’t accept that print (newspaper) has no viable future, or certainly no long-term one. Maybe it’s a generational thing and I understand why it irks old hacks, but I’m not so young myself and I can see it quite clearly.
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Please, for the love of breathing, let print go.
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O ye of little faith..
Of course there is a place for print, it’s just a different place that’s all.
If Sir Ray can do it and make good money why can’t Alan & Donna.
Mark has a successful paper in Cleethorpes and he has succeeded with a new title even in these trying times. So the time is always right for the right publication
Take the blinkers off you doubters and internet geeks and sow your seeds of gloom and despair somewhere else.
Thank God there are still enough motivated people out there to make a difference.
Good Luck and let the plumbers do the plumbing wev’e got an industry of our own to support.
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Not everyone has access to or reads local news on line,there`s still a place for a quality local newspaper we can look at hold,pick up,refer to and readily access
this is great news for us west norfolk residents,a genuine local paper, not one where we in the west of the county are seen as an after thought by hacks and sales people who throw us crumbs from Norwich,a paper by people who know and live in the area,not a ram raid from norwich just to grab advertisers money
i hope the businesses support you,good luck to your team
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Good luck to the people with their launch. It is still far too early to say print is dead. The readers will decide and the businesses too. But if Alan and Donna feel they can make a go of their publication, then good luck to them.
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May I say I use the EDP regulary and have a LOCAL sales rep who is not a Norwich, crumb throwing money grabbing sales person, she does know the area and most the people in it so not all are tared with the same brush but yes I agree, We do as a business receive calls from out of area sales reps who have no idea about the area or our business even though there is a team of dedicated Sales and journalist right on our doorstep, The out of area sales teams continue to insist they know whats best for our business and they dont, My point is the EDP do have a very supporting local team, use them!
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