Strive Notes

According to an article in PR Week (sorry, behind firewall), we may well be heading for the death of the local newspaper. This is not a new concept. Media tycoon Sir Rupert Murdoch famously warned us back in March 2005 telling the media world ‘adopt or fail’ as he saluted the Internet as a creative, but destructive force that will bring a new golden age of information.

In the UK it seems the North West is leading the way in adopting new publishing models for local news, especially in the larger cities Manchester and Liverpool. In the past, as a story broke the local jornos would be first on the scene for the newspaper, however the introduction of websites such as how-do.co.uk it’s getting more difficult for local papers to cover the news quickly enough. Even PR professionals are wising up and are pushing stories out on the wire a day or two before distributing it to the local media.

So, could this be leading to the ‘fully integrated digital newsroom’? Johnston Press, owners of our own Isle of Man Newspapers, have established two successful digital news rooms in Preston and Lancaster each offering a 24 hour continuous news service and is making moves of taking the Isle of Man newsroom in the same direction. The formula must be working. Johnstons is of the three largest news groups in the UK currently running 291 regional newspapers and operating 317 websites with an estimated monthly audience of 6.6million.

It seems that where some have shyed away from adopting the digital media to grow their publishing businesses others have simply embraced it as another channel.

Filed under: public relations