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Closure-threatened newspaper ‘bought by housing association’

A weekly newspaper threatened with closure for the past three months appears to have been rescued by a local housing association.

As reported by HoldtheFrontPage in July, the Tameside Reporter was facing closure after 157 years after its owners put it up for sale.

However reports circulating in the North West suggest it has now been bought by the New Charter Trust, a housing association based in Greater Manchester.

Neither New Charter nor the newspaper have thus far been prepared to comment on the reports, which surfaced on the website of the Northern Voices magazine.

The magazine, run by a workers’ co-operative based in the North-West, published a blog post earlier this week in which it claimed that the Trust had now purchased the title.

It also questioned whether the Trust, which it said had close links with Tameside Council, would maintain the newspaper’s editorial independence.

Said the post:  “Why a housing company with no previous experience of running a newspaper and with very, very, close links to Tameside Council, would want to buy a local newspaper, is to say the least, highly suspect.

“But because of its corporate influence and close links with council, one might also question whether New Charter, is an appropriate and suitable organization, to run a local newspaper.”

When contacted by HTFP about the reports, New Charter said it could not comment.

The newspaper’s managing director Chris Wright has yet to respond to requests for a comment on its future.

The newspaper, previously known as the Ashton-under-Lyne Reporter, was where the legendary former Sunday Times editor Sir Harold Evans began his career in journalism in the 1940s.

At that time it was owned by the Hobson family and at one point sold around 100,000 copies a week in the area around East Manchester.

Staff were summoned to a meeting earlier this summer to be told the paper may cease trading and that their positions would become redundant as a result.

Around  seven editorial jobs were at risk, including those of editor Nigel Skinner, deputy editor Chris Maxwell, four reporters and one photographer.

7 comments

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  • September 10, 2012 at 11:50 am
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    What a pity the NUJ didn’t buy it – a great opportunity has been missed for this group of renowned media experts to show everyone how it should be done. A collection of pocket change would have covered the purchase price. But that apart, how strange it is, that a ragbag collective of the brothers should now question the worth of a possible bailout that could save journalists’ jobs. Even stranger that the site which has the Northern Anarchist Network as one of its five topline links, should unsportingly demand £1.50 for a copy of its magazine. Top-hatted capitalists or what? You have to ask yourself whether those behind this organisation are fit and propert people to run a publishing operation – or a whelk stall.

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  • September 10, 2012 at 11:56 am
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    Not exactly what housing associations are supposed to do with their funds, is it?

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  • September 10, 2012 at 1:26 pm
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    Rob is probably right – it will be a great vehicle for ensuring the housing association and council can get their messages across to local people. It will also save money on the cost of advertising public notices. When all is said and done, it’s good to see someone prepared to invest in a local paper rather than trying to shut it down. Most readers may not care about editorial independence and others may be glad just to read a straightforward council story without it being unduly sensationalised.

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  • September 10, 2012 at 3:39 pm
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    Re; grey haired hack’s comment.. Who -except for the councilllors- wants to read a ‘straightforward’ council story. Time to give a once great paper a decent burial.

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  • September 10, 2012 at 5:05 pm
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    Observer: interesting comment, that. I seem to remember from my days (many decades ago) reading local government law that there is such a thing as ultra vires if a council or some such spends money on something it’s not supposed to. So clearly, unless they are to avoid a writ, they must turn it into a mouthpiece for themselves.

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  • September 10, 2012 at 6:09 pm
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    In reply to all the Clever D**** who are constantly knocking council run papers: I’ve spoken to many members of the public about these freesheets and a surprising number tell me that they find some of the content quite informative. If you try talking to ordinary people as well as fellow journalists you will find a surprising number of them can tell propaganda when it is being dished out. People are not as thick as you might think. There should be a place for every kind of media in the UK, even propaganda organs like the Sun and Mirror.
    I’ve never worked for a council run paper and I never will. I have, however, worked for many newspapers where journalists wrote car test reports, theatre criticisms, went on free holidays and received other freebies. Decency forbids me to write what readers said about this kind of “journalism”.

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