Regional daily ABCs | Publishers with most Editors' Code breaches in 2023 revealed
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Wednesday, 28 August. Press Gazette’s Future of Media Technology Conference, the UK’s biggest and best event in the UK for media leaders, is on 12 September in London. Secure your spot for the conference here.
Today's newsletter is dedicated to the brave men and women of the regional press who somehow continue to produce daily newspapers six days a week with often tiny teams.
The latest ABC figures for UK regional daily titles show a slight improvement in the rate of circulation decline, down 17% a year on average versus an average 20% drop in the same period a year ago.
Top of the table is the family-owned Irish News which still sells 23,000 copies per day in Northern Ireland and fell a very creditable 9% year on year.
Down at the bottom in 53rd place is the Paisley Daily Express which is now down to just 1,233 copies per day.
How long will titles like this last? The simple answer is as long as they are profitable. And with price rises and the latest production automation, it seems the long tail of print journalism profitability is proving to be far longer than anyone expected.
I picked up my nearest daily, the Newsquest-owned Argus in Brighton (down 11% year on year to 4,640 sales), today for the first time in a while and it is a good read, providing 40 pages of news and sport stories ranging from a set of new road markings inadvertently shaped like a penis to a double-page, picture-led spread on the regeneration of the rundown nearby port Newhaven.
If you are lucky enough to have a local daily newspaper near you, buy a copy. They are remarkable living relics of a simpler, more industrial information age. And they also provide a reading experience that can be more pleasurable than wading through the jungle of clickbait stories and intrusive ads which infest many local news websites. We should cherish these titles whilst we still can.
That said, many of those local websites are reaching astonishingly large audiences.
Look out for tomorrow's newsletter for an update on the regional newsbrand online figures, which are looking considerably perkier than print sales.
Today we also publish the latest league table of newspapers which have the most Editors' Code breaches against them for 2023. The Telegraph leads the list with five, but at least they take part in a system of press regulation and so are showing a commitment to raising standards. Cue my usual reminder that The Guardian, Observer, Evening Standard and FT aren't regulated by anyone.
Future of Media Technology Conference
Press Gazette’s Future of Media Technology Conference on 12 September in London. Other media conferences are available but this really has become the biggest and best event in the UK for media leaders.
Our speakers include:
DMG Media CEO Rich Caccappolo
Guardian chief supporter officer Liz Wynn
Politico deputy editor in chief Kate Day
News UK chief operating officer David Dinsmore
Harmsworth Media chair Nina Wright
Reach plc’s Live network editorial director Paul Rowland
Global head of SEO Steve Wilson-Beales
Former head of news partnerships at Google Madhav Chinnappa
Head of technology at Haymarket Media Group Payal Sharma Sood
Times head of digital Edward Roussel
Mail Digital Publishing product director Simon Regan-Edwards
Telegraph chief commercial officer Karen Eccles
New from Press Gazette
Regional daily ABCs: Print circulation down by average of 17% in first half of 2024
Excluding digital editions, the average print circulation decline in the first half of this year was 16%.
Daily Telegraph tops the table for most Editors’ Code breaches in 2023
The Telegraph was ruled to have breached the code five times during the year, ahead of liverpoolecho.co.uk and the Jewish Chronicle, which reported four breaches each.
News in brief
Google has reportedly cut the value of deals with some publishers under Australia's News Media Bargaining Code by up to 40%. Meta has already torn up its own deals and threatened to take news off its platforms in the country. (Capital Brief)
Willa Bennett has been named editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen, joining from the same role at Highsnobiety. Hearst said she "brings a strong journalistic background, ecommerce expertise and a modern approach to creating content to her new role". (Hearst)
Gannett's product reviews website Reviewed is closing down on 1 November, with executives reportedly blaming Google: "Google’s constant algorithm changes have degraded our current business model, and our ability to operate Reviewed effectively." (The Washington Post)
Music magazine Spin is returning to print on a quarterly basis. Its CEO said: "It’s exciting to see others like The Onion, Nylon and even Life going back into print. In today’s noisy digital ecosystem, print plays a fun and new role for all readers of all ages.” (Billboard)
Previously on Press Gazette
Portsmouth college ditches journalism training after 60 years
Journalists under attack in Ukraine: Reuters security adviser killed and journalists injured
EU urged to cancel trade agreement with Israel over journalist killings
Top 50 news websites in the US: All but two sites see growth in bumper July for news
Top 50 news websites in the world: Readers flock to top US newsbrands in July
Us Weekly editor on future of celebrity journalism: Kate Middleton speculation was ‘seminal moment’
Twitter alternative? News publishers see potential in Bluesky
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