GMG’s McCall: Local Media Must Cut Costs, Shut Titles To Confront Crisis
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Guardian Media Group CEO Carolyn McCall has warned regional publishers will have to make drastic cuts to avoid going to the wall. Speaking to Cardiff Business Club last night, McCall said: “The growth of the internet has not only decimated the staple diet of local and regional papers across the country – classified advertising revenues; it is detaching advertising from content altogether.”
SEE ALSO: Knives Out For BBC Local Video Plans, ‘Could Kill Newspapers’
McCall predicted national media, facing ad and circulation downturns, would see “some casualties in the not-too-distant future” but were fundamentally sound. Yet the regional press will fare worst because owners have been slow to realise their sector’s tailspin is “structural, permanent” rather than cyclical”: “We have already seen local titles close and this will continue. Certain owners will struggle to continue in their current forms.”
McCall warned of the risk of losing local media: “Who gives citizens their voice on all community issues? It won’t be Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Local, that’s for sure.” But she said local newspapers must consolidate and “reengineer completely ... costs will need to come out, staff numbers will have to fall, some titles will inevitably need to merge and close”. She said the media business faced “crisis (and) continuous change”, and she reiterated her opposition to plans to increase video on BBC Local sites. Full transcript at WalesOnline.
Disclaimer: paidContent:UK publisher ContentNext is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian News & Media.
“The principal barrier to the future viability of the regional press is the application of competition law around local ownership, which is stuck in a time-warp. In a world where Google accounts for 90 percent of all searches in the UK, where regional papers are fighting tooth and nail for their very life against all-comers – online-only players, the BBC, search engines, commercial TV and radio, direct mail and other media – the idea that one publisher owning two very small local papers in the same area is monopolistic, or poses a threat to consumers and advertisers, is ludicrous.” McCall and Trinity Mirror (LSE: TNI) CEO Sly Bailey repeated concerns before a House Of Commons select committee, too, Guardian.co.uk itself reports.
—Meanwhile, the effects of McCall’s predicted contraction in the newspaper industry was being felt at the London Evening Standard where 11 editorial, production and IT job cuts are being made, according to MediaGuardian.co.uk. MG also reports that the Daily Mail (LSE: DMGT) and General Trust-owned paper’s three daily editions are being cut down to two to save on staff and distribution costs.
@robertandrews
Nov 4, 2008 10:55 AM ET
Posted In: Media & Publishing, Newspapers, Companies, Guardian Media Group, carolyn mccall
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