A regional daily has launched a new edition of the paper aimed specifically at its patch’s Asian community.
The Lancashire Telegraph’s first Asian edition went to print on Friday, pictured below, with an initial 2,000 free copies posted through letter boxes across Blackburn.
The edition will be published weekly and available for purchase at selected outlets.
It has been launched in conjunction with Asian Image, a free monthly newspaper published by Newsquest and distributed across the North-West of England.
Nick Fellows, Newsquest Lancashire & Kendal managing director, said: “Our new weekly Asian edition complements the existing Lancashire Telegraph title portfolio, following the success of our part paid-for, part free extension into the Burnley market earlier this year.
“It is important that we continue to offer our readership dedicated local news content.”
The Burnley edition of the Telegraph was launched in November last year after Newsquest axed its freesheet the Burnley Citizen, in a move which saw two trainee reporters and a news editor who covered the town made redundant at the same time.
The new Asian edition will feature exclusive content from Asian Image writers.
Newsquest says early feedback on the first edition has been “very positive”.
Suleman Khonat, president of the president of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents and a member of Blackburn with Darwen Council, has welcomed the news.
He said: “This is something that’s been well overdue and will be beneficial to all readers in many ways.
“All newsagents are also looking forward to the new edition as this is pure local stuff.”
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Well, good luck, but here are some thoughts: over many years, I was involved in several determined launches aimed at the Asian communities in and around London. It NEVER works. Third and fourth generation Asians turned out to read our titles anyway, and didn’t take kindly to being singled out in this rather worthy way; those who were newer or less integrated stuck to the very reliable, very popular Asian press, and at the minority end stuck to the papers in their own language. Asian businesspeople are highly competent, highly competitive, and hard-headed. The USP for new titles has to be very strong, with appropriate reach, at rock bottom prices. The ad model is perhaps the hardest nut to crack.
I don’t want to joint the usual bleating chorus here, and if such a title is going to work, it will probably work in Lancashire, but I’m afraid I am very sceptical. As I said, good luck.
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Oh, and the titles were always ‘warmly welcomed’, and viewed as ‘long overdue’, blah blah blah.
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Hate to say it, but I think Antiquarian is spot on.
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Note Mr Khonat’s comment, though: “All newsagents are also looking forward to the new edition as this is pure local stuff.”
NQ, JP et al take note; potential readers, be they black, white or sky blue pink, want genuine LOCAL news, not listicles, sleb gossip & undiluted commercial press releases!
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With dipping sales, there is nothing to lose. Might as well go for it and pull the plug if the target audience doesn’t bite.
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Whatever happened to integration?
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Interesting description of the Burnley edition being an ‘extension’… Not sure that’s factually correct. The Burnley edition existed long before November, but was drastically reduced in terms of its content. The redundancies were not ‘Citizen’ reporters, they were LT, as Citizen was created from LT stories. Good luck with the Asian Image edition though, I hope it’s being properly staffed…
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It’s a good idea as long as it’s written by people who know their stuff. Not wishing to sound too much like a Guardian reader, but most of the newsrooms I’ve worked in haven’t exactly been diverse. If a project like this is executed poorly there’s a danger it could come across as patronising or ill-informed. Especially with the pressure to generate copy – or ‘content’ as I believe the kids now call it – at superhuman speeds.
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“Whatever happened to integration?” Digger is spot on. So much content in today’s weekly and regional papers is aimed at predominantly a white middle class audience and barely pays lip service to the fact that the populations of town and cities are more diversified than even.
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The newsroom diversity issue is extremely difficult. A large majority of Asian youngsters have absolutely no interest in joining the staff of a regional paper because that end of journalism is simply not seen as a ‘proper’ job: poor pay, poor reputation, poor prospects. They are actively discouraged by their parents – aspirant families determinedly target the professions and business: excellent pay, excellent reputation, excellent prospects. And why not?
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