A Midlands daily newspaper’s headquarters could be sold to its local council, it has been revealed.
Leicester City Council is looking into making an offer to buy the Leicester Mercury building and officials from the authority have visited the site.
Northcliffe managing director Michael Pelosi said the group would consider selling the building if a financially-acceptable offer was made – which would mean the title would have to find a new home.
He made the announcement to staff this week after the leader of the city council told a reporter from the paper that authority was considering making an offer.
Mr Pelosi said: “It is true that the council has approached the company to enquire about the possibility of purchasing the building and council officials have visited our site. A further visit is planned for this Friday.
“While the building is not up for sale and is not being marketed as such, the company would consider any reasonable offers.
“If an offer was deemed to be financially acceptable, then the group would give this consideration and discuss the various options with the businesses involved.
“However, it should be stressed that the company has not received any form of offer from the city council and is unaware of any decisions that the council may have made regarding the future of its buildings on New Walk. We will keep staff informed if this situation changes.”
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Er … just 30 pages on Monday and Tuesday? That’s a good trick for a tabloid.
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Strange but true! Not sure how they did it (only had a quick look) but the Mon and Tue editions were definitely 30 pages. Single sheet insert like broadsheets sometimes do? Maybe someone will tell us…
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But the Lancashire Evening (sic) Telegraph is really a poor newspaper. Morale there must be very low, you only have to look at how frequently they are recruiting for all manner of journalistic staff on HTFP.
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That’s a sly dig! Based on what? While it is thin, I thought the Lanc Tel had good, local and real content on both the occasions I reviewed it – a couple of weeks back and a year ago. Why do you say poor? Re job adverts, nice to see someone recruiting!!
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Except Steve, it is based on local knowledge, of both the area and the people who have worked at the LET. Morale is low, staff turnover is high.
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Sly_dig: your comments can’t go unchallenged. ‘Really poor newspaper’? As Steve Dyson has pointed out in each of his blogs, we work damned hard to produce two editions, driven by both high news standards and high story count. Anyone in the industry knows how difficult this is to achieve, and we are proud to hit these standards. Our quality is recognised by the awards our reporters, and the newspaper itself, have won, as well as by the number of exclusives we break. ‘Morale there must be very low’…Yes, these are difficult times to work for newspapers, but the Lancashire Telegraph newsroom is committed, tenacious and upbeat. ‘you only have to look at how frequently they are recruiting for all manner of journalistic staff on HTFP’. You are way of the mark. This year just one member of my team has left, and most staff have been working here for a number of years. Constructive criticism is fine, but please ‘Sly_dig’ stop spouting utter rubbish.
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Nice to see a news editor sticking up for their paper and staff.
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Nice to see a news editor sticking up for their paper and staff.
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Sorry Ian, but your paper is infamous for its high rate of staff turnover. The near-constant jobs ads on HTFP are a source of amusement for many, some of whom have had the previous misfortune to find themselves employed at the L(E)T. BTW, good luck with ATEX pal!
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