The sale of Trinity Mirror’s Berkshire Regional Newspapers to Berkshire Media Group Ltd, a subsidiary of The Dunfermline Press Ltd, has been completed.
The deal comprises 14 titles, including the Reading Chronicle series, which Trinity Mirror agreed to sell earlier this month for £10m.

Newsquest has donated £10,000 to the British Red Cross National Floods Appeal.
The donation comes after severe flooding, particularly in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Herefordshire, where the media group publishes a number of newspapers.
This includes the Oxford Mail, where flood waters surrounded its Osney Mead offices, and the Worcester News where water also lapped at the front of its office.

The Government re-affirmed its manifesto commitment not to put VAT on newspapers, when questioned about the latest European Communication proposals.
Asked in a written parliamentary question by Lord Stoddart, Lord Davies of Oldham replied on behalf of the government: “The government have always made it clear that the UK will not agree to any proposals that would harm our social objectives or undermine the fairness of the UK VAT system. The government have a manifesto commitment not to extend VAT to food, children’s clothes, books, newspapers and public transport fares.”

Western Mail farming editor Steve Dubé has been named as the Farmers’ Union of Wales Agricultural Journalist of the Year for 2007.
Steve, who produces the newspaper’s weekly Country & Farming supplement, received his award of an inscribed shepherd’s crook from FUW president Gareth Vaughan at the Royal Welsh Show.

The Northern Echo says its decision to switch from broadsheet to compact format has paid off, reporting a sales performance which is bucking the industry trend.
In a publisher’s statement it said it had seen a swing of 6.6 per cent in its sales since re-launching as a compact on February 26.
It said sales during June were virtually level with the same period in 2006, down by 0.3 per cent, at a time when the national average decline was expected to be nearly five per cent.