The future of a local newspaper publisher has been secured after its former boss bought the firm out of administration, saving 21 jobs.
TriMedia Newspapers, which publishes the Basingstoke Observer and both editions of the Oxfordshire Guardian, has been sold to former managing director and chief executive Howard Taylor under the new company name Taylor Newspapers.
Howard also revealed the new company will relaunch the extinct Oxford Journal on Wednesday ahead of its 40th anniversary in January.
The Oxford Journal title was scrapped and rebranded as the Oxfordshire Guardian in December last year, but Mr Taylor said he wanted to bring back the original title with a new remit.
Said Howard: “While we have been through an extremely difficult period, we are through that now and we have a very promising future ahead.
“It might seem like an odd time to relaunch a paper, right before Christmas, but we felt it was the right time as we celebrate 40 years since the Oxford Journal first launched in 1973.
“This will be a lot more Oxford-centric, rather than covering the whole county. It will be a niche publication for Oxford, within the boundaries of the ring road.”
The Oxfordshire Guardian is among the titles which have been saved from the threat of closure
TriMedia Newspapers, which went into administration on October 25, has 21 people on its staff including four journalists. Howard said he was also recruiting two more to add to the team.
It was saved from the axe after he and administrators Wilkins Kennedy reached a purchase agreement on October 30, and the firm was sold as a going concern. All staff and assets have been transferred.
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Best of luck to Howard, but I can’t help but take issue with your rather credulous assertions that jobs are ‘saved’ and the “future of a local newspaper publisher has been secured”.
If it were that easy, TriMedia wouldn’t have been driven into administration in the first place.
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There’s a reason for everything. So what happens to the debts Trimedia had when it went into administration, and how much has Howard paid to buy the company out of Administration?
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Companies associated with this newspaper group have gone into administration or liquidation five times in the past six years. You have to wonder if there is a pattern here. Does Oxford really need another newspaper when it is already well catered for by the Oxford Times, Oxford Mail, Oxfordshire Guardian?
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I see Taylor Newspapers is still using the TriMedia Group website, even though that co. went into administration.
And they are hosting an online version of the ‘new’ Oxford Journal under the Oxfordshire Guardian City banner.
It strikes me that life has gone on as normal for this business.