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Confirmed: Press Gazette Going Monthly, News On Web Only

imageWell, after the speculation, Press Gazette has now confirmed it is killing its weekly edition and going monthly from August 28. The mag will become “features-led” with an average 64 pages and new columns. It must have been tempting for Press Gazette to cast the cutback as an investment in online, and the official story sort of hints at that: “The new Press Gazette is part of a multimedia strategy and fits alongside our breaking news and jobs website – Pressgazette.co.uk – and industry-leading events.” But the website already relaunched last year to add some through-the-week reporting.

It’s been a troubled three years for PG. Bought from Quantum by Piers Morgan and Matthew Freud in December 2005, it went out of business a year later, only to be acquired in the following week by Wimington. Now Wilmington is in takeover talks with private equity house HgCapital. The magazine and website relaunched last year, including new blogs, but the print edition, even the name, came increasingly under the spotlight in a 24/7 world. Editor-in-chief Tony Loynes: “Press Gazette needs to reflect the time of change we are living and working in.” The operation has seven editorial and five commercial staff.

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Aug 8, 2008 9:08 AM ET

Posted In: Media & Publishing, Magazines, press gazette

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Comments (2)

Aug 8, 2008 12:19 PM

Alas, some smart thinking!  We should expect to see Dailies go Weekly, Weeklies go Monthly, etc.  The NEW paradigm.

digital bear

Aug 11, 2008 6:30 AM

I disagree with that big sweeping brush.

I think there’s still a place for weekly magazines, mainly in areas of high activity / news output. I think weekly magazines should do more to consolidate / summarise the week’s (increasing) mass of news and blogs output for weekly review in a measured ‘best of’ publication - effectively leaving the breaking news for its sister website. Mags like Media Week and PR Week have started doing this - and really well.

In short - weekly print mags should still exist, but their content focus changes. Granted this will only work in areas of high volume news, but until mobile phones give a near perfect reading experience on the train / tube, the print mag   will live on.

kenobi

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