Out With A Bang

I was reading that line in the House Of Lords report again; the one where the Newspaper Society offered a ‘very upbeat’ assessment of the state of their nation; as opposed, of course, to the more sober, albeit slightly outsider’s line taken by Guardian editor Alan Rushbridger – a view-point that their lordships appeared to put rather more faith in as and when they finally penned Friday’s report.

“The evidence we received from the Newspaper Society, which represents the regional and local industry, was very upbeat. They claimed the readership of those papers had increased in recent years: their figures showed that the number of people reading a local paper had increased by nearly a million in the last ten years (p 102). But such figures can be deceptive…”

Thinking about it more, perhaps I have been too swift to condemn, to quick to judge the Newspaper Society.

Because you wonder whether or not in delivering that ‘very upbeat’ assessment to their lords and would-be media masters that the Society was damned it if did – and damned if it didn’t.

Whichever way they played their cards in front of Lord Fowler and Co, they were always onto a lose, lose.

Presumeably once the ‘invite’ to appear before the Communications Committee, the Newspaper Society sounded out its members and worked out the ‘company’ line.

‘OK, boys and girls, we’re up before Fowler next week, what we going to say?’

‘Tell him the truth… tell him that if he doesn’t ease his rules on regional ownership and let us work the kind of economies of scale that we all need, we’re all f*cked. We need to consolidate – and quick.

‘Being stuck in these little geographic pockets of waning influence is killing us. Tell him that.’

‘That’s fine for you to say, you seen our share price? What, you want me to tell him that we’ve got five to eight years tops or we’re done for? Behave; we’d be pumping junk stock before the week was out; shareholders would riot; advertisers would flee… Nah, nah, nah.

‘Give him the numbers; you know, the readership up a million ones…’

‘OK… everyone happy? That’s what we’ll do. Tell him we’re fine; numbers on the up. And remember keep smiling; keep smiling. Upbeat, people, upbeat…’

The danger then, of course, is that Fowler and Co – potentially – think that you’re taking the p*ss.

That while the US market might not offer that many direct comparisons with its UK equivalent, once you’ve had a couple of dinners Stateside and talked to the media commentators out there as to where next for the San Jose Mercury and Co, you can’t help but wonder whether or not the UK provincial newspaper industry might be wandering down the same rocky road to ruin…

Particularly in the current economic climate.

And particularly once you get Mr Rushbridger sat in front of you and he gives it the full… “I do not think that the printed local paid-for newspaper has a very optimistic future …” routine.

I don’t believe that it is a case of ‘none are so blind as those that don’t want to see it…’ More none are so blind as those that can’t afford to say it…

Because to admit that the distribution model that has served them so well for so long is now broken beyond repair is simply courting more shareholder disaster; but all it needs is their lordships to cross-refer to Rebekeh Wade’s evidence and the finger she pointed at the drastic decline in the number of old fashioned corner shops in this country to work out that if that’s hitting The Sun’s sales, it is also likely to be hitting the sales of the local evening and morning paper…

That’s not rocket science. That’s fairly obvious.

Damned if they do and damned if they don’t, handing their lordships a ‘very upbeat’ assessment in what – in every likelihood – is their hour of urgent need, the Newspaper Society ran the risk of Fowler and Co calling their bluff.

That if there is, as you tell me, no problem to address, then we won’t…

In fact, because I figure you might be trying to pull the wool over my eyes and you’re not being wholly straight with me, not only am I not going to budge on relaxing regional media ownership rules, I’m going to give you another hurdle to clear… now you’ve got to persuade OfCom that in allowing you to consolidate a title or two with your nearest neighbour it won’t diminish the quality of the local journalism therein…

Tricky one, in all fairness. Who knows what any of us would have done in a similar position? Is it really the time to bare all? Or can we bluff it out in the hope of a cyclical turn in the economy riding to our rescue?

Like I say, damned if they do, damned if they don’t…