Newspapers to lose recruitment revenue
At a gathering at the Scottish Parliament earlier in the month, which paid tribute to Scotland’s 120 local weekly newspapers, the Scottish Newspaper Publisher Association’s president spoke of the struggles facing local newspapers, including the immine
In his address at the event, in which Cathy Peattie MSP, Convenor of the Cross Party Group for Culture and Media was present, Bill Laidlaw said that it was all too easy for Scottish weeklies to fall under the description ‘old media’ which he did not feel “was fair or accurate.”
Laidlaw said: “There is a huge investment that has taken place across the UK in terms of high speed colour presses, supported by new state of the art IT. Then, there has been the rapid development of online opportunities. The internet is a key battleground for us. You will not be surprised therefore, to hear that SNPA is active in trying to ensure that the Scottish weeklies are not hindered in the expansion of their online activities by public sector development such as the BBC Local websites and local authorities’ recruitment portal.”
In a documentary broadcast on BBC Scotland, and as previously reported in The Drum, the Scottish Government is to move all of its recruitment advertising from the end of May to local authority websites.
The move is estimated to save £47m each year in public money, but will be another huge blow to the Scottish industry as circulation and advertising figures continue to dwindle.