An editor who went head to head with his former employer says he believes the “demise” of newspapers has been “somewhat exaggerated” after celebrating the 100th issue of his weekly title.
HTFP reported in 2016 how former Hawick News editor Jason Marshall had launched The Hawick Paper after taking voluntary redundancy from Johnston Press.
The weekly has now reached 100 editions, marked the occasion by producing a 20-minute video bulletin with the week’s news, as well as interviews with several of its own staffers and freelancers.
It also featured a piece from Mark White, of Sky News, and round-the-world yachtsman Sir Chay Blyth, both of whom were born in Hawick and are “great supporters” of the paper.
The Paper began life with one advertising executive, two freelance journalists, a freelance sport editor, and three freelance photographers.
It now calls on the same advertising executive, as well as four freelance journalists, a sub-editor, a freelance sports editor, and around six freelance photographers.
In an editorial marking the milestone, Jason wrote: “The demise of newspapers is never far from the headlines these days, but perhaps – at least in this neck of the woods anyway – that appears to be somewhat exaggerated.
“I remember being asked for my thoughts on what the future held for newspapers before we launched our paper back in August 2016, and I’m as unequivocal now as I was then, in that there will always be a huge demand for local news. It’s at the very heart of all that we do. And we simply cannot ever stray from that ethos.
There is a saying in the newspaper industry that ‘Content is king’, and so it has proved for The Hawick Paper.
“We try our best to cover everything in the town; to tell you the stories that need to be told; to hold the powers-that-be to account; and, most of all, to give you something to look forward to every Friday morning.”
The Paper’s first edition, of which 3,000 copies were printed, sold out in two days, and it now has a circulation of 3,300, as well as 200 subscribers to its digital edition and 50 regular advertisers.
Jason told HTFP: “We’re incredibly proud to have reached our 100th edition and each and every one of our team has contributed massively to getting us to where we are today – slap bang at the heart of the community.”
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Congratulations to Jason and the team on this milestone achievement.
Local NEWSpapers are far from dead, it’s only the bigger old dinosaur publishers,whose policy has been to dumb down content to save costs and get the job done as quickly and cheaply as possible, irrespective of the obvious huge copy sale/ reader losses they’d incur, for whom local publishing is on its last legs.
All across the uk including where I am in the east,strong independent local papers are thriving by giving the local public exactly what they want: hyper local news and advertising,things the bigger groups no longer offer.
Well done again and here’s to the future success of THP and those like it.
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Well done guys. This proves what I’ve been banging on about for ages… Print isn’t dying…. Its being Murdered by the likes of JP/TM/NQ. It is death by a thousand cuts! Why can’t these big companies see that if done properly local weekly papers can be a goldmine. Can JP for example not see that the i is a quality paper and their circulation has gone up. Stop degrading local weeklies with ‘company wide pages’, unsuitable templates and constant vol redundancies. Also stop making completion for your paid for papers with free online versions which attract no local advertising. Unfortunately there are too many incompetent people at the top who don’t have the sense they were born with. These guys in Hawick have proved I am right. Let’s hope others follow their example and blow the so-called big boys out of the water.
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Brilliant job. Here’s to the next 100 editions.
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Well done – and keep going. The problem with too many newspaper groups is that the people at the top can’t distinguish between the need for a local paper to tell its readers what is happening and a can of baked beans. They are salesmen in the wrong job and with their hands on the wrong product.
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Local news, properly presented, has to infuriate the dinosaurs and their ‘business model’. Mind, small does have unfair advantages – no mega finances to feed and no digi-creeps leadership to hold them back with a determination to prove that old fashioned vision of an on-line flowing with milk and honey! Keep up the good work guys (and I’m sure it is hard work), will soon be looking in to buy a bunch of copies.
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