A group of MPs have challenged Johnston Press over its use of the term ‘sub-core’ to refer to newspapers it owns in their constituencies.
Four Nottinghamshire MPs have signed a letter to JP chief executive Ashley Highfield stating their concern at the papers’ classification, which was disclosed in January in an email to the company’s staff.
The list revealed JP had categorised its 200-plus newspaper titles into four groups – uber, primary, core and sub-core.
Nottinghamshire-based titles including the Alfreton Chad, Eastwood Advertiser, Hucknall Dispatch and Retford Trader & Guardian were among the 59 ‘sub-core’ titles.
Johnston Press said at the time that each grouping makes a “different, but equally important, contribution” to the company and that the categorisations would have “no bearing” on any decision to sell off titles in future.
But the four Labour MPs, including shadow cabinet member and former broadcast journalist Gloria De Piero, pictured above left, are now seeking clarification over the papers’ future.
Mrs De Piero, who represents Ashfield in Parliament, said: “We have asked for assurances from Mr Highfield that these newspapers will continue to have an important role to play in the company going forward, because we believe that they are key assets to our local communities.
“We urge him to ensure that staffing levels at the newspapers are maintained to a level that does not cause unacceptable stress to the employees who work there and which enables the newspapers to continue their good work informing local people, championing local causes and scrutinising local democracy.”
The letter has also been signed by John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw, Alan Meale, MP for Mansfield, and Graham Allen MP for Nottingham North.
Mrs De Piero, the Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Registration, has also written to John Whittingdale, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to outline her concerns about the future of local newspapers.
The MPs’ actions have been welcome by Diana Peasey, who chairs the Nottingham branch of the National Union of Journalists.
She said her members were “extremely concerned” about the future of papers in Nottinghamshire following a “continuous programme of re-structuring and downsizing with the loss of very able, talented and experienced journalists.”
Diana added: “There is only so much a journalist can do without falling prey to stress and ill-health. Sadly, and perhaps inevitably, some are walking away from the industry.
“Hopefully, these letters to Ashley Highfield, JP’s chief executive and to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport will hammer home a strong message about our fears for the future of the industry.”
A Johnston Press spokeswoman said: “We will, of course, be responding to this letter and addressing the concerns that have been shared.
“It’s encouraging to see MPs are interested in the future of local press and we always welcome opportunities to explore ways local MPs and councils can support our industry.”
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I am looking forward to JP’s reply to HTFP’s request for a comment – as I was in January when you first asked for a comment on this issue. Somehow the time has leaked away since then and I can’t remember if they came back to you (and us) with anything. My own conclusion is that ‘sub-core’ means ‘soon to be shut’, given the faltering finances of the company. However, it may mean something a lot more optimistic, which JP’s response will elucidate. On we go then.
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“…that they are key assets to our local communities”
clearly ms Di Piero has not seen the most recent ABC figures,they`re not.
“…We urge him to ensure that staffing levels at the newspapers are maintained to a level that does not cause unacceptable stress to the employees who work there… ”
talk about shutting the door after the horse has bolted! had this been raised as a concern 2-3 years ago it would have had more relevance but as staff are already way down that road with many fallen by the way side or taken alternate routes out of JP and local media as a whole its just lip service.
It does,however,show just how behind the times most politicians are if this is seen as a real concern when the industry as a whole is on its knees,primarily through complacency over new media competitors,taking readers for granted and pure greed.
Can i suggest she re-directs her line of questioning to all of the main regional press groups in the uk and understands why the industry is in the state its in,why there has been lack of investment in news papers,why the main board members have been reaping rich rewards whilst the core business has been allowed to erode without investment and ultimately who is responsible?
Once she has a thorough understanding she, and her esteemed colleagues,may realise how the pointless internal classification of a few local papers pales into significance when viewing the picture as a whole.
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About time someone challenged JP on tgeir crazy ideas.
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Sadly, and at a cost to quality, most are being pushed from the industry.
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roll up roll up buy our subcore product
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Well said @bernie
It seems more and more local politicians are leaping aboard the ‘save our local media’ bandwagon without fully understanding the root cause of the problems,recently we’ve had the naive save our public notices revenues , save the local rag as its valued in our community despite no one reading it any more and how ad blockers must be out lawre as they’re killing the industry.
It’s time for a thorough investigation into the way the regional press has crashed and burned, vast majority of it through its own mis management,with the outcome being those responsible will be held to account and more politicians understanding the real issues that affect the whole picture and not petty local matters that only affect those directly involved.
It might also stop them making fools of themselves.
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They should have addressed it to: To Whom It May Concern.
Despite a run of exciting announcements about further job losses and spending £24 million on a national daily newspaper JP shares have stayed stubbornly below 50p (1p pre-consolidation) since Dec 29. When I last looked they were less than a quarter of their value 12 months ago.
I feel the chairmanship of a Z-list quango or a committee looking into something (but not into what we used to call newspapers) beckons for AH.
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In my view the classifications are merely internal pigeonholing so the commercial people know what markets to pitch to, higher end, cheap n cheerful or middle range. Having said that in today’s economy the biggest potential is in the lower ‘sub core’ category with pound shops, discounts,and stack it high sell it cheap businesses all thriving making that category note lucrative to JP than the others.
However,with the blinkered approach to grabbing any ad revenue they can get their paws on categories and target canvassing go out the window when one size fits all, and an ‘ if they’ve got advertising revenue, just fry it at any cost’ attitude in most/all local press as departments.
Independent publishers are reaping tich rewards by targeting specific audience demographics and serving those sectors but with budgets, targets and expectations in the regionals set so high, categorising titles and readers is completely pointless
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Note to self do not type comments while walking and always use a spell check
Apologies for the typos ( hangs head in shame )
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One of the paper’s in my group was classed as sub-core.
We have since been told to basically let the paper die, paper sale and web figures are no longer checked and we have been told to put manpower elsewhere
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Dead digital horse – JP don’t have any ideas. Not a single one.
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When local papers were robustly-run, when they were powerful mouthpieces for the community, when they were vessels for decent campaigning, but when jobs started to go and the industry started to be de-skilled: that was the time for MPs to challenge JP on the future.
Now local newspapers are just like a Woolworths, a library, a phone box nobody uses them but people like them to just ‘be there’ and they’re somehow surprised when they’re under threat.
Their journalists don’t ask difficult questions of MPs anymore. They barely even turn up for Friday constituency photo shoots. So it’s no surprise that now MPs are now ready to stand up for them, when the threat they once posed has disappeared.
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I love the way MPs finally wake up when there are elections, referendums etc on the horizon. Far, far too late. The deafening silence regarding the decline of the regional press lasted years, and it is astonishing to see the depths of naivety being applied here about maintaining staff levels and the like.
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Sad. The local papers here hardly bother to cover the local councils any more unless it is a really big, big, story. Why? Because they haven’t got the staff to do so.
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Asking JP to stop shedding editorial staff is a bit like asking Dracula to stop drinking blood!
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desker. That’s frightening if you are unlucky enough to try to make a living with JP. But the attitude isn’t new. A few years back, before I have up in despair at falling quality and dreadful staffing, and got out, a senior manager told staff at my weekly we were going to lose a lot of sales as we chased digital. But it did not matter as printing costs would be reduced.! He chose to overlook the fact that advertiser would not pay the same rates for a paper selling well under half what it used to sell.
We were talking here of losing what must be by now 7,000 sale from about 13,000 a week. Horrendous decline management.
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Many weekly editors sucked up to their MPs. I can recall at least one story that pulled because it was (justly) critical of a well-known MP. Other papers ran it!
Their reward for their hero worship was to be totally ignored by them when JP closed offices. The MPs did not care , as long the puffy press releases went in unedited and unchallenged. Anyone recognise this scenario?
Now its all a bit too late
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They’re asking the wrong questions and nailing their colours to the wrong cause, as Bertie says it should move the categorising of the titles to one side, that’s a business decision and busineses are at liberty to categorise any of the products they are selling,and instead investigate fully the reasons why the uk regional press has gone into so rapid a decline and in so short a period of time.
Most of us on here know the reasons but if local MPs took the trouble to understand they might not concern themselves over things that no ones really bothered with and instead concentrate on matters affecting the whole industry and those poor souls left clinging on in there waiting waiting for the next announcement to be made or the next axe to fall.
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Editors have crawled around their local MPs for years, hopefull of some small glimmer of recognition as they themselves see their job as one of some standing in the community. That was certainly the case five-six years ago when buying a daily and weekly was an essential purchase and the editors name was known but not any more.
With local papers no longer the voice of the community or a force to be reckoned with, they are seen more as museum pieces, quaint reminders of the past but adrift in a modern media society. Bloggers and social media posters have more clout and kudos theses days so there’s no real benefit to the local political big wig currying favour with his ed ship as neither side can help the other.
As for the JP categories, forget them, no ones interested and JP will do what they like, they’re a business like any other and no amount of lobbying or outcry will influence their decisions whether from journos,a group of MPs or disgruntled locals.
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The suicide of the local newspaper is a truly shocking story. And it has happened in such a short space of time. The papers are dying because they have become irrelevant. But why is that? The decision that news has no commercial value (and to give it away for free) is, as we all know, the main reason. I remember fighting against that years ago when the MD and the IT dept in the group I then worked for wanted to join the rush to oblivion. Luckily, as editor, I still had a voice then and after a long battle we managed to expose the plan as ridiculous. I was happy to be branded as a member of the awkward squad at the time but I know that outcome would not be accepted today. Today’s editors face a terrible situation. But some of it is their own fault I fear, it’s too easy to blame everybody else. I’m afraid editorial must accept some of the blame. But having a young family and a big mortgage is a huge responsibility so perhaps it’s understandable that some editors have taken the easy (lazy) way out and simply carried on with what was accepted by readers before. New and vibrant ideas were needed to make the papers remain relevant. That doesn’t include, as is now happening at one weekly I know, scrapping court coverage as it is costly. What if the local mayor, bank manager, MP or even editor is hauled before the magistrates accused of something unsavoury?
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sub-core = pre-extinct
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Rambler Q: “What if the local mayor, bank manager, MP or even editor is hauled before the magistrates accused of something unsavoury?”
A: Wait for the press release from the cops HQ.
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Newspapers in the digital age need a USP if they are to successfully charge for content. You would think that a local newspaper group would have factored this into their business model but they have not.
The biggest selling point for local newspapers is, er, local news. News that is well written, beautifully presented and packed with local knowledge that can not be garnered from other sources.
The problem is that in recent years they have gone all out for high readership counts over quality. In so doing they failed on both counts. Offering readers clickbait, often already out of date and covered extensively elsewhere, they cannot hope to make the numbers that might just attract enough decent advertising to pay for their model.
Naturally this also comes at the expense of covering the local news that readers might just feel is worth paying for (I say might because most local news is pretty low rent these days).
What is remarkable – but sadly also highly predictable – is that given the potential scope, none of the big newspaper groups as sought to experiment with different models to see which one could prove sustainable in the long-term.
The same few men and women are made editors (this has been the case for some time) who carry with them the same ideas, whether they have worked or not. In part this is because no one on interview panels has asked: why did your last newspaper lose circulation (as most have)? and more pertinently: what have you learned and how would you do it differently?
If they blame the usual factors and are unable to produce a new strategy then you can expect the same results. Madness it is said is to do the same thing over again and expect different results.
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Employee X –
What a thorough investigation will tell you is that the world changed at an unprecedented rate and during that time (and probably still now) you had journos and editors who still believed that what they wrote and published was relevant. Combine this with senior commercial staff still thinking they could charge bid ad rates and increase cover prices. The large regional daily I worked for in 09 was losing circa £150k per week on recruitment revenue – this was just one paper. Having spend a large part of my career in these companies, I can comfortably say they were beset by institutional arrogance along with a culture of MD’s doing whatever was necessary for them to earn a 5-6 figure bonus
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Percy Hoskins. I wouldn’t blame JP editors. In many cases they don’t exist, just a group editor who doesn’t edit at all well. When I was with JP editors got orders from Edinburgh ivory tower every five minutes about some bright new idea, like blowing £700,000 on employing outside designers when the in-house boys were better. They lost control and yes, a lot of them did not have the bottle to fight against higher management. But they have had little scope for using whatever talent they might have had. JP went from a company of superb community papers to clueless clones within about two years.
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