Over at ConservativeHome, Harry Phibbs has commented on an interesting article in the Guardian about local newspaper cuts – and local newspaper survival – in the current economic climate.
I find it somewhat ironic that there is a long piece in the Guardian on this subject, given that it is the Guardian Media Group that is responsible for the savage cuts proposed for the Manchester Evening News and local titles throughout Greater Manchester and beyond, including our own Salford Advertiser.
The second irony is that the MEN Media group – which includes the Manchester Evening News, Salford Advertiser and Channel M News – is I’m told actually on course to turn a small profit this year, despite the recession.
So, why are we seeing such savage cuts across our local and regional media here in Greater Manchester, including the sacking of journalists and closing of offices, when they are still turning a profit even in challenging economic conditions? It’s simple – to subsidise the Guardian which makes a whopping great loss.
Now I’m not, unsurprisingly, a Guardian reader, but it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth that our local papers are being put to the sword – with all the knock-on implications for local democracy – just to subsidise a failing national newspaper. I’d say exactly the same if it was the Telegraph, Times or Mirror.
I’m sure local residents in Salford and across Greater Manchester would be deeply unimpressed if they realised that by purchasing the MEN or buying adverts in our local papers that the money is not being ploughed back into local journalism but being used to subsidise a dying national paper.
It makes a loss because it talks uninformed drivel that gets on peoples nerves. It is out of touch, has a horrendously biased reporting style and has literally the worlds worst columnists.
The letters it publishes also all tend to pander to the same old agenda.
That’s why it makes a loss.
Adele, you could make the same argument about pretty much any national newspaper, except maybe the Metro, because it doesn’t have any columnists…
I don’t expect the Guardian to make a profit any time soon, even if the editorial line changes. The issue here is not the content of the Guardian, but the fact that our local communities are suffering to subsidise it. As I’ve said, my point would be exactly the same if it were any other national title.