The industry had to discover why the newspaper sales were declining. There was competition from hobbies. People were going out more and had less time to read a newspaper as well as being constantly encouraged to ‘get fit’. There was competition from other media such as television, which had regional news programmes, and radio, which had local stations. Due to demographic change, people moving away from an area and would be less interested in community news of a new and unfamiliar area. There was a decline in community spirit and stable communities. Readers were changing but the papers weren’t. The youth weren’t reading newspapers anymore and the newspapers weren’t making an effort to change that. It would only contain grass-roots journalism, which was seen as boring. It would review events such as meetings.
It was obvious that if the local and regional newspaper industry was to survive then it would have to change. The press publishing company Thomson Regional Newspapers introduced a programme called ‘Project Key’ in 1991. It was designed to ‘get to know the readers’ despite the fact that the newspapers always claimed they knew them well enough. United Provincial Newspapers introduced ‘Reader Project’ in 1992. This focussed on changing the content to make it more interesting. Research programmes identified the readers and target groups were decided. ‘Project Key’ concentrated on both content and appearance whereas ‘Reader Project’ focussed on content alone. It shows how they took their readers for granted and how they knew that a resurgence was needed. They realised that they had a big problem. They were going back to basics and asking themselves questions like ‘who reads our paper?’ and ‘what is a news story?’ The sort of questions that are asked when a newspaper is starting out.
A lot more useful information stories began to appear along with human interest stories. Everything has been done to bring the newspaper closer to their readers. The Lancaster Guardian features many ‘News in Brief’ sections in order to appeal to the younger audience or ‘blip culture’. At the end of the section it asks for any stories the readers may have which makes the newspaper seem like ‘your newspaper’. Many human interest stories are featured with no detail being too small which, again, shows identifying with the reader. Sections have been added such as a motoring section, a classified section and a property section. 20% of extra weekly sales is accounted for by job advertisements so this will have helped boost circulation. Subtle changes were made to the appearance of the newspaper. The Masthead was subtly changed, the plugs on the cover were altered and gradually the amount of colour and photographs has increased.
With the use of technology, namely electronic pagination, things can be done quicker and cheaper. It is also easier to improve the look of the paper and make it more appealing. Style and content have changed dramatically. Webpages have been set up on the Internet, which have also been used for advertising. Loyalty schemes were introduced in, for example, Birmingham where Midland Independent introduced its Accumulator Loyalty programme. Readers can get a discount card if they buy the Birmingham Mail six days a week and it can be used in about three hundred shops in the city.
There has also been a lot of change in ownership. Local newspapers used to be owned by multi-media multinationals like Reed, Emap and Thomson who weren’t particularly interested in them. They were advised to sell their titles, which they did. They were sold to new companies like Trinity International who were specialists and wanted to boost circulation. Trinity is now the biggest with 117 titles and a circulation of 8 million a week. In the second half of 1997, 56% of newspapers had increased their sales. There was now a new mood of optimism and the newspapers were owned by companies who wanted to own them.
Local weeklies have improved and 235 titles have improved their sales. A local newspaper in Merthyr has increased circulation by 33% and the Northallerton Thirsk and Bedale Times has risen by 44%. Between November 1998 and April 1999 half the morning titles and 35% of the evening titles of regional newspapers have added sales. 75% of the 379 local weeklies in Britain have increased circulations.
According to Roy Greenslade people are living in more stable communities and are moving around less. Because of this local newspapers have prospered. In areas such as Doncaster, which has the Doncaster Star, Paisley, which has the Paisley Daily Express and Truro, which has the West Briton, this has shown to be true. The West Briton is the second most successful paper in Britain with a circulation of 46 000 copies per week.
National figures show how the rate of decline of newspaper sales has slowed. In 1995 there was a 2.2% drop whereas in 1997 this had slowed to 0.5%. Further proof that there has been a resurgence was shown in September 1999. Trinity International, which is a local newspaper group, bought the Mirror Group, which is a national company. This shows how the industry now has the means and confidence enough to expand.
Because of this resurgence the newspaper industry is no longer complacent about its readers. Everything they do to the newspaper is now seen as important. But what does the future hold for local and regional newspapers? There may be a continued increase in circulation but it is unknown how long it will last. The events of the past few years have been beneficial to both the industry and the reader as the reader gets a better product and advertising revenue is now at an all time high.
