The Office of Fair Trading has delayed a ruling on whether regional publisher Northcliffe Media will be allowed to buy independent newspaper the Nottingham and Long Eaton Topper.
Northcliffe bid for the Topper last year after closing down its own free newspaper in Nottingham, the Recorder.
However the deal, which is being opposed by the National Union of Journalists, was referred to the OFT under competition rules.
A decision on whether it should go ahead had originally been pencilled-in for Tuesday 24 April, but is not now expected until 22 May.
Run for the hills, for goodness sake. Northcliffe has an uncanny knack for driving its titles into the ground and punishing those which are independently successful by making them share the burden of financial failings at under-performing “centres” (including, funnily enough, Nottingham).
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