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Press Gazette saved from closure….again

Media magazine and website Press Gazette has come back from the dead at the 11th hour yet again after being sold to multi-millionaire Mike Danson.

The closure of the 43-year-old title was announced earlier this month by publisher Wilmington Group, while its five staff were issued with redundancy notices.

But Wilmington announced today that it had sold the title for an undisclosed sum to Progressive Media, owned by former Datamonitor chief Mr Danson.

The same group recently acquired a controlling interest in the left-wing magazine New Statesman, which had also been threatened with closure.

In a statement, Wilmington said: “On 6 April we announced that we were unable to continue publishing the printed edition of Press Gazette.

“Since that date we have been in consultations with the staff of Press Gazette but we have also had a number of discussions with other parties with a view to seeing if there was any possibility of securing the ongoing publication of Press Gazette.

“We are therefore pleased to announce that yesterday we completed a transaction with Progressive Media Group for them to acquire Press Gazette.

“They intend to continue the publication of Press Gazette in both printed and electronic formats.”

Mr Danson, who sold off his information business Datamonitor last September, is worth an estimated £234m.

He has since made no secret of his wish to build up a magazine empire and completed the purchase of the New Statesman from Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson earlier this month.

The Press Gazette deal does not include the franchise for the British Press Awards and the Regional Press Awards which will continue to be owned by Wilmington.

Media bloggers Jon Slattery and Roy Greenslade have both publicly questioned whether Wilmington should continue running the awards.

Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford said: “The purchase of Press Gazette is a positive sign for all journalists working on titles which, like us, are going through dramatic change at present.

“It proves the value that strong journalism brands have in an increasingly fragmented media world.”

Today’s announcement is the third time in four years that Press Gazette has been saved from closure by a last-minute deal.

In 2005, it was bought by former tabloid editor Piers Morgan and PR man Matthew Freud from Quantum Business Media. It was sold to Wilmington when Freud and Morgan pulled out the following year.

Comments

J (22/04/2009 12:19:41)
Very good news!
Is it me or has the cuts at newspapers seemed to have slowed down a bit? Can’t remember reading about one for a while now…

Mr_Osato (22/04/2009 12:28:26)
Good news indeed – let’s hope the return of its main competitor makes HTFP a bit less censorious. Stopwatch on.

HoldtheFrontPage (22/04/2009 12:36:38)
Mr O, the reason your comment about Lord Rothermere was deleted yesterday ought to be fairly clear from our story comments policy, if you could take the trouble to read it sometime.

Mr Mobile (22/04/2009 12:45:08)
Where is this mythical story comments policy oh great Warden of Knowledge????? Give us a steer please!

HoldtheFrontPage (22/04/2009 13:05:22)
Go to the homepage and scroll down about three quarters of the way to where it says “View our story comments policy.”

Mr_Osato (22/04/2009 13:28:07)
‘Bringing the newspaper industry into disrepute’ eh? Why would we need to when it does a perfectly good job of doing that itself? Seems like standard dissent-stifling stuff. A pity.

Chaz (22/04/2009 13:33:29)
Other cuts have been made. But have not been reported on here. There are more on the way also.

CD (22/04/2009 13:57:05)
Yes, three more announced at our place today. That makes, if memory serves me, 16 since last November.

HoldtheFrontPage (22/04/2009 14:06:36)
Mr O, for the record, we delete very few comments on HTFP and on the rare occasions where such deletions occur, the three most frequent reasons are obscenity, libel and repetition. We want HTFP to remain a lively forum for industry debate and censorship forms no part of our agenda. If it did, we’d probably have blocked your IP address by now.

hilary (22/04/2009 14:36:39)
Mr Osato for president!

Chris Youett (22/04/2009 16:32:39)
The real issue over the new owner of the UKPG is whether it will be a weekly that is produced in its traditional easy-to-read format. If Mr Danson continues the barely readable current design and monthly format, then he won’t win back advertisers or readers.

richard meredith (23/04/2009 11:00:15)
Great news abt Press Gazette; a legend in its own (perilous) lifetime, and an umbilical for every good quality journalist who grew up in the profession

Roger Jones (23/04/2009 16:37:10)
Great news in what is unfortunately a declining profession/industry. But if PG is to survive long-term it must be available in the shops and at a more realistic price, £10 is ridiculous. Why can it not be newspaper format, with a glossy cover to preserve it?
I know distribution is expensive but has anyone thought about a possible link-up with The Journalist whereby both publications could be available together? Maybe it’s worth Progressive, the new owners, speaking to Jeremy Dear at the NUJ – I’m sure the union could do with at least considering an opportunity to raise more cash.
I have read, contributed to and paid for/subscribed to what was initially UKPG for well over 40 years but I’m afraid the monthly price was just too much – and I am sure most trainees could not even contempate becoming a subscriber. I did see the first monthly issue and thought it was a good read.
Here’s to the future…Best of luck to the team at PG.

J (24/04/2009 09:11:28)
I am a NCTJ student and can barely afford a cup of beans, let alone £10 for a magazine. Used to love the PG – especially when you could walk into newsagents and pick up a copy.