A former regional press editor has called for government protection to be given to the printing of public notices in local newspapers.
John McLellan, pictured left, who currently serves as director of the Scottish Newspaper Society, has made the plea to Members of the Scottish Parliament following a debate on the state of newspapers in Scotland.
The discussion was triggered by a motion, supported by 38 MSPs, celebrating “the importance of local newspapers to communities across Scotland.”
Writing in Glasgow daily The Herald, John, who previously edited titles including The Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening News, said the MSPs has made “no suggestions” about what could be done to defend local newspapers.
He wrote: “In the media world reliable future planning has been all but impossible because the technological sands have shifted so quickly, but the Scottish Government can play a part in finding solid bedrock.
“It could make a commitment to support local publications by pledging to maintain the place of public notices in community papers, the dull-looking but important adverts detailing road closures and elections which are actually seen by 80 per cent of readers.
“At approximately half the adult population of Scotland, that’s around 1.5 million people. Yet in the drive to cut costs, this vital aspect of local accountability is under threat.
“So those 38 MSPs who have pledged their support for the Scottish newspaper industry can go one step further; they can ensure a key source of income is protected, and with it the livelihoods of more than 4,000 people working directly or indirectly in Scottish news publishing.”
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Here we go again
“….make a commitment to support local publications by pledging to maintain the place of public notices in community papers”
Why?
The arrogance and self important attitude of assuming if revenues are at threat from a lucrative part of the business, the government will step in and bail them out!
We didnt hear any offers to pay a higher tax or give a cut back to the treasury when papers were thriving and there were page after page of PNs published all of which carry the highest ad rates in the paper but now because newspapers are in their death throes they want our money to prop it up.
Years of complacency in taking PN revenues for granted along with a ” they HAVE to publish them in our papers so rack the rate up” attitude have brought about today’s situation whereby the monopoly has gone, alternate options are available and those posting PNs have chosen to go elsewhere.
you can’t have it both ways,the markets changed alternate choices are available and local newspapers are just one Of the choices which due to collapsed sales are no longer a ‘must ‘ for potential advertisers
it’s YOUR problem, that YOU caused, YOU sort it out
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I admire this guys cheek
Another case of enjoying bumper revenues and big bonus payments when this revenue source came becaise there was no alternative and the regionals had the monopoly,now whining violin playing and going cap in hand now the situation has changed and this easy source of revenue has all but gone taking tens of thousands with it and expecting us the tax payer to cough up and bail them out.
Alarm bells rang 3-4 years ago when the strict rules on where public notices could be advertised were relaxed, other alternate options became available and because of cripplingly high sccm ad rates many chose to walk away from the local paper and advertise these elsewhere.
Greed at charging what they wanted for PNs and a blase attitude towards advertisers has brought about this huge loss of conmercial revenue
If you were happy to sit back and take it in then,don’t be arrogant enough to expect the government to ba you out now.
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Incredible Buck passing when he says save public notice revenues or jeopardise”…. the livelihoods of more than 4,000 people working directly or indirectly in Scottish news publishing.”
It’s nothing to do with public notice revenues it’s down to a succession of mis management, lack of investment,lack of foresight at the threat of new competitor media, the arrogance of believing ‘ people will always buy our papers’ and sidelining quality staff for cheaper alternatives resulting in poor papers that have lost their readerships.
You can bet this will be used as a gun to the head of gullible ministers who fear they’ll have more redundancies on their constituencies as a result but again without knowing the proper picture.
This is a stark realisation that the golden goose that was taken for granted for so long, has stopped laying lucrative eggs.
Find other new revenue sources and stop expecting us to lift you out of the financial mess you find yourselves in.
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Every now and then, JP ordered its editors (in the days when it had them) to write to their MPs lobbying for the continuation of this public notice scam. You were told, on pain of some unspecified punishment, to send a copy of the letter to the CEO’s secretary. I always refused and the MD sometimes had to write for me (cheers Parky and KD). The company also required you to fill-in a spreadsheet detailing your recent toadying contact with your local MPs (me: nil, so no praise in EDMs for me, thank goodness). Also, no boring, self-serving “Westminster Days” columns. Anyway, the taxpayer, our readers, forking out £thousands for half a page of 7pt full of technical and legal jargon about a proposed Pelican crossing? Scandal. Good that it has all-but disappeared and disappointing that ancient legacy thinking like this is still around.
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Three points:
1. Why would any government resort to protectionism for one private sector industry?
2. Any newspaper company which relies to heavily on on income stream, ie public notices is on to a losing streak.
3. When circulation levels are dropping in every title as htfp has reported, why should councils which are losing millions of pounds of funding, be required to spend tens of thousands a year for notices which the majority of people won’t see. IN my borough of 307,000 residents, the local paper has a 50k print run.
Having said all that, I have found some of my best stories in the public notices, the sort of thing press officers don’t usually think to tell you about but which readers are really interested in.
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As one who has recently had to put a death notice in a regional evening newspaper (I won’t say which paper, save to say it was not in my local area)
When I discovered the cost, I was appalled. The newspaper circulates under 10,000 copies a night, and the cost of one insertion was out of all proportion to the coverage the newspaper offered.
Hiring a town crier would have been a far more cost-effective solution.
If taking your customers for a ride is the best that the industry can come with as a survival plan, they haven’t learned very much over the last 40 years.
What Mr McLellan needs to remember is that it is the taxpayer who will ultimately fund his public notices, and given the latest ABC figures there does not seem to be much of a public appetite for regional newspapers.
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Public Notices and BMDs were ransomed at outrageously inflated prices for so long that it’s no surprise people seek alternatives.
Newspapers have shot themselves in the foot on this issue, so there’s little point in expecting a state bail-out.
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So if my business was selling a product you could only buy at my shop and which the law dictated you HAD to buy from me, and I could charge what I liked to do so and constantly did because I had a monopoly, then things changed and other places wree allowed to sell this item,would anyone feel sorrow or pity for me because a huge revenue stream that I took for granted and didn’t have to work for has now gone?
No exactly!
Too many things taken for granted by lack of foresight and awareness that one day the bubble might burst have brought the regional press to its knees, and now they’re caught short and stuck with no realistic plans in place to get them back on track
Sort it out yourselves lads and stop asking for handouts,like the people who once bought your papers,no ones interested anymore
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Slate Grey has it spot on. Always seen as a cash cow and treated councils (and taxpayers who ultimately foot the bill) with utter contempt.
I’ve seen full page ads go for less than £50, but never ever ever seen a council notice published for anything less than the rate card. It’s no wonder so many council’s thought their money would be better spent on subsidising their own ‘newspapers’.
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It never ceases to amaze me how editors are quick to go cap in hand to their local mp for a bail out when the business they’re in that has been badly managed suffers a loss of revenue due to competitors coming into the market.
Maybe if they’d better managed the category by not charging unrealistic ad rates then any loss witkdwould not be so damaging and more local individuals and businesses who have to post public notices might choose to stay with you.
A basic business practice but one the regional press suits fail to understand.
You raked it in and just had to manage volume in the past, suck it in and manage the downturn and losses now, the business you took for granted won’t be coming back
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