ON THURSDAY, a new local print newspaper will hit the newstands in Thurrock: the Thurrock Enquirer.
25,000 copies will be distributed around the borough.
The paper is an offshoot of the Essex Enquirer and East London Enquirer and has been boosted by winning a (one year) contract to host all the advertising with Thurrock Council.
The successful bid has illustrated to many that reports of the death of the print newspapers are still somewhat premature. Reportedly, over 200 local papers have gone to the wall in the last three years but what this may illustrate is that it is the business model that needs to be reformed more than anything else.
Many across the UK will hail the fact that an independent newsgroup, established less than ten years ago by local boy Andy Diggory has beaten off one of the multi-nationals and may inspire others to do the same.
The Enquirer won the bid, beating the Newsquest’s Thurrock Gazette (TG) in a winner takes all bidding war.
In recent years it has been reported that the annual contract was worth in the region of £350,000. Sources close to YT suggest that the successful bid was somewhat lower than that.
The loss of the contract will, one suspects, cause a rather large hole in TG’s income stream. For Newsquest it will no doubt be bad news on top of an 8% drop in print advertising revenue in the last quarter.
Classified advertising was worst hit, dropping 10.2%, while retail advertising dropped 5.9% and national advertising 1.6%.
Despite this news, there are some who are still convinced that the death of the printed newspaper is inevitable.
In his column in the Guardian last week, professor of journalism at City University, Roy Greenslade said: “Isn’t the real truth the fact that all projections suggest that the local and regional newspaper industry will be a busted flush within the next decade?”
Indeed, this YT reporter heard the news regarding the contract whilst in the Apple Store at Lakeside. As he surveyed the queues buying the i-phone 4 and customers clutching their new i-pads he asked a staff member whether printed newspapers have a future.
He said: “Where do you keep your vinyl records?”
The Thurrock Enquirer will bring a welcome return to the Thurrock news-gathering service of Enquirer Editor Neil Speight. The veteran journalist has a deep and abiding passion for Thurrock news. Of course the fact that Mr Speight was the editor of the Thurrock Gazette until December 2008 brings a fascinating aspect to the story.
Some were convinced that Mr Speight’s combative style would have greatly hindered The Enquirer’s bid. What their success may illustrate is that the bid was won based on hard-nosed economic considerations.
What the Enquirer may well hope for now is that other blue-chip advertisers in the borough follow Thurrock Council and head their way.
What it will do will create a very interesting twelve months for Thurrock newspapers.
