A highly experienced national freelance recently visited Eulogy! to give the lowdown on the current state of the fourth estate. Sadly for fans of a free, vibrant press, he painted a picture as grey as newsprint.
As we handle PR for both ABC and the National Readership Survey, we have immediate access to the tools that tell us national newspapers are continuing their spiral of decline. There are some short-term blips to this trend, and not every title is suffering, but overall it’s a bleak background.
Traditionally left-leaning titles such as The Guardian, The Observer and especially The Independent are struggling. In the case of the former, the journalist suggested editorial was beginning to cosy up to the Conservative front bench in a bid to stem the backlash for its long-term Labour support, should the Tories triumph at the next General Election.
Be that as it may, the death of any quality national newspaper (as our guest pointed out, the recent swap to Berliner formats more or less rendered the term ‘broadsheet’ obsolete) should not be taken lightly. In the same way that a whole town goes into mourning if its football club goes bust, so a title’s loyal readers would feel let down.
For PR folk, a healthy press is vital for the basic element of our job: placing stories in print. Newspapers also continue to be a central plank of the wider media community, not least planning and buying. And for the UK as a whole, the nationals remain a vital defence against political excess. It would be a tragedy if a great swathe of the publishing middle ground was doomed by the rise of rolling TV news and the appetite for quick-hit online updates.
