A city council appears to be planning to increase editions and formally register its newsletter as a newspaper in order to attract advertising.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council says that the move would save £147,000 per year in placing statutory notices in the local press.

But the proposed extra editions of ‘Our City’, up from six to 12 per year, would see annual production costs climb to £350,000, reports Stoke-based daily The Sentinel.

The Northcliffe title says the plans are part of measures aimed at saving the city council up to £45m over the coming three years.

A council report states: “Costs will increase due to monthly publication. However, if Our City could be registered as a newspaper, all public authority statutory advertising could be carried out through this forum.

“The revenue from advertising could be used to offset the additional production costs.”

Independent city councillor Ann James told The Sentinel: “People will still just put it in the bin without reading it. Those who are interested in local news go out and buy The Sentinel.”

Comments

Beth (29/12/2009 13:33:39)
Good on you Ann James for talking the truth! What a dangerous – and arrogant – route for the council to go down. A council-run newsletter is never going to have the scrutiny needed for decent news stories and hence a decent newspaper. So it will just get chucked in the bin. Like newsletters from banks, local churches, or the neighbourhood beat bobbies. How has Stoke-on-Trent City Council not realised this?

Steve (31/12/2009 09:02:13)
This idea was tried in Cornwall and turned out to be a complete disaster. Let them try. Most councils are unable to work efficiently and their management teams make even ours look good. They should stick to running their services and be headed by service chiefs and not corporate directors and such nonsense.
Our council no longer has a press office but a ‘media and corporate communications department’. The police are full of similar twaddle. God help us all.