Trinity Mirror’s acquisition of Guardian Media Group’s regional businesses, including Manchester Evening News publisher MEN Media, and plans to relocate MEN Media staff to Oldham has stirred mass discussion amongst media commentators online. Below are links breaking down the fundamental aspects of the story:

The Guardian’s Steve Busfield covers the imminent MEN move, reporting claims by Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of Guardian Media Groups, that the £44.8m sale of GMG is in the best interests of GMG Regional Media.

Holdthefrontpage.co.uk has a statement from Bethan Dorsett, organiser of the NUJ chapel at MEN Media Weeklies, and Judith Gordon, director of the MEN chapel, describing their concerns for MEN staff.

The Drum covers the various reactions produced by the deal, questioning whether Trinity got a good deal or gained a dying media group, including comments from analyst Jim Chisholm, who told the Drum it was “a great deal for Trinity Mirror” though “not such a great reflection of the way the regional print industry is today viewed”.

On Press Gazette, the financial benefits of the deal to GMG and Trinity Mirror – pointing towards the FT’s analysis of the sale, which considers the issue of consolidation, but comes down in favour of TM saying it was a bargain for the group.

Crain’s Manchester business takes notice of the exclusion of Channel M in the GMG sale to Trinity Mirror. Channel M lost GMG a significant amount of money since it’s launch and its segregation has left questions being asked about the channels future.

• GMG sells regional media business to Trinity Mirror for £44.8m
• GMG Regional Media chief exec confirms talks without naming Trinity Mirror
• NUJ members in Manchester join forces after MEN sale
• Former Trinity Mirror employee Craig McGill on the GMG Regionals sale
• Media Guardian: ‘Massive reduction’ in GNM’s loss next year, says chief executive McCall

This FT interview with Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall reveals some  background on the company’s pay wall strategy. The company discussed six different models, including a pay wall, but McCall said there was no  evidence for the commercial success of pay walls:

“It is not really the way the web works. That is not to say there are not areas of specialist content that cannot be charged for,” she says.

Finally, this nugget:

Ms McCall dismisses the idea of any changes in the Guardian’s senior management – which is known to hold the firm view that freedom of news takes precedence over any business model – as “preposterous”.

Full story at this link…

• FT.com: Murdoch considers charging for online news, developing e-reader
• The Journalism Firm: What journalists have to learn from lawyers
• Media Guardian: ‘Massive reduction’ in GNM’s loss next year, says chief executive McCall
• Could the Monday MediaGuardian section go online-only?
• Ad spend will bounce back, says Fry; multiple models needed, counters McCall

In an update to this weekend’s reports about a possible change of format for Guardian News & Media Sunday title the Observer, Times Online is reporting on an internal memo from Carolyn McCall, chief executive of Guardian Media Group, suggesting the closure of the title is ‘actively being considered’.

The memo also reminded staff that the ‘core purpose’ of the Scott Trust, which safeguards the future of sister title The Guardian, was to secure the daily’s long-term future – not that of the Observer.

Full post at this link…

• Staff to be briefed on Observer’s future tomorrow, says Sunday Times
• City A.M.: Capital Ideas group makes bid for Observer
• FT.com: GNM considers Observer’s future in digital age
• Observer to drop to four sections staff told
• Press Gazette: Rusbridger says integration of Guardian and Observer will ‘unlock creativity’ of staff

Amidst what was otherwise a fairly gloomy House of Commons select committee session on the future of local media in the UK [see Claire Enders' prediction that half of the UK's regional newspapers will close in five years and her comments on bloggers], Johnston Press chief executive John Fry remained staunchly optimistic about the cyclical/structural elements of the decline in local media.

While all members of the panel agreed that this was the worst crisis faced by local media in the industry’s history, Fry said the decline in advertising revenues for his group was more cyclical than structural.

“That implies that there will be a bounce in advertising when that changes. From here onwards we’re likely to bottom out. When the economy recovers we’ll see a recovery in advertising,” he said.

Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall was quick to temper Fry’s optimism:

“I don’t believe the prospects for recovery, particularly in classified advertising are particularly strong. I don’t expect to see a great deal of those three big markets – I don’t think bounce is the right word – I think it will come back slowly, it will come back in a different form or shape,” she said.

“The structural change is too profound and the economic recession has just hammered it. Deregulation is one step towards helping. It’s not a panacea. It raises all sorts of important issues about jobs.

“One thing we’re going to have to face about this industry is that it’s going to be a smaller industry with less people in it. Consolidation will help because then the clustering of assets in the right place, will makes more sense, you’ll get more scale.”

All three panellists (Fry, McCall and Trinity Mirror’s Sly Bailey) taking part in the evidence session (which had earlier taken comments from Claire Enders and DC Thomson’s Christopher Thomson) supported consolidation and the relaxation of newspaper merger rules to help local newspapers.

Yet it was McCall again with the most sensible comments – a range of issues and possible solutions need to be considered: discussions about aggregators; consolidation; support for web development; the use of part-paid, part-free access; state-funding; and the problem of council newspapers.

The industry needs to move away from the display advertising model to – not just one business model – but lots of business models, she added.

If any of them can sustain quality local journalism, none should be ruled out, she said, echoing comments from the Society of Editor’s executive director Bob Satchwell to Journalism.co.uk last week.

• FT.com: Guardian considered six different pay models
• FIPP 09: Fears ahead for magazines – what concerns those at the top?
• SoE08: What next for local media?
• Your guide to the CMS Report on the Future for Local and Regional Media
• A video every regional newspaper editor (and journalist) should watch

News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch is now convinced that ‘it is possible to charge for content’ online given the success of paid-for business news on the Wall Street Journal, he said last night.

Any pay model would be tested on one of the group’s stronger titles, he added.

Murdoch also described Newsgroup’s interest in developing its own e-reading or digital paper device.

At the FIPP World Magazine Congress this week Guardian Media Group’s Carolyn McCall suggested Guardian.co.uk could also start charging for specialist areas of the site.

Full post at this link…

• FIPP 09: Fears ahead for magazines – what concerns those at the top?
• Fitz & Jen: US Print Council defends newspapers with environmental campaign
• FIPP 09: Audio: Keynote from Google’s Matt Brittin
• Could the Monday MediaGuardian section go online-only?
• FT.com: Guardian considered six different pay models

“I insist that we are going to have to end up charging for our content wherever we can,” said Roberto Civita, CEO and chairman of Brazilian magazine publisher Abril, today.

“The more segmented the more we’ll be able to do this, the less segmented the less.”

Civita wasn’t the first publisher at this year’s FIPP World Magazine Congress: yesterday Guardian Media Group’s Carolyn McCall said charging for specific sections of Guardian.co.uk was a consideration.

He also echoed comments made earlier in the day by Google’s UK MD, Matt Brittin, who said publishers could learn from the e-commerce industry.

Magazine brands should be ideally placed to do this, for example, by placing direct links to buy on advertisements, he said.

Civita was adamant that magazines will continue and that the industry shouldn’t get hung up on what platform this happens on (“I really don’t think it makes any difference if we’re talking about paper or the new e-papers”) – it’s the quality of the product that matters

Fellow panellist Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazines in the US, added to her Conde Nast’s counterpart’s remarks about the importance of brand.

“Strong brands will be brands going out into the future. Strong brand, strong advertising, strong editorial,” she said, adding that Hearst brands should be at the centre with spokes from them crossing into e-commerce, merchandising, and other media revenues, like TV spin-off ‘Running in Heels’.

So – print’s going to survive and while online will grow (and e-readers too) – where does that leave digital content?

Both Black and Civita agree: magazines’ digital offerings should be differentiated from what else is available in their sector online.

“We must continue to emphasise the things that have made our magazines what they are today: remained tuned to interests and characteristics of our readers (…) maintain our integrity and ethical principles which are the cornerstone of our greatest asset, our credibility,” said Civita.

And – one parting thought from panel chair Lord Heseltine, chairman of Haymarket – the two platforms must work together:

“The pure-play people have got to keep promoting their product. If we have a brand we have a natural promotion vehicle. I’ve seen examples where pure-play people have launched very successful sites, much more successful than ours, but it’s only been a matter of time before we caught them.”

• Hearst to close four magazine websites?
• Folio: 115 predictions for the media and magazines in 2010
• FIPP 09: Lévy’s forecast gloomy but print magazines still important for luxury brands, says Gucci Group media director
• FT.com: US magazines planning digital store
• Guardian: Pluck picks up Hearst website deal

As reported over on the Journalism.co.uk main site, leading industry figures shared their hopes for the magazine market at the FIPP World Magazine Congress 2009 this morning.

But they were hopes in the context of an economic downturn. William Kerr, chairman of board for the Meredith Group joked that ‘being 12 per cent down is the new up’. 

Each of the panel looking at ‘riding the storm’ shared their fears for the magazine industry:

• Carolyn McCall, chief executive, Guardian Media Group: is worried that the industry would ‘not make structural change quickly enough’.

• William Kerr said that his main fear was that the ‘best and brightest [candidates] had migrated to other areas’ for employment. 

• Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief and chairman of the India Today Group said he was worried about the ‘magazinification’ of newspapers in terms of content and design: it is a ‘threat to magazines, as newspapers go in that direction,’ he said. 

• John Smith, chief executive of BBC Worldwide, said his main concern was the dominance of Google as an online sign-post. it was a ‘dangerous’ situation he said, to have all the power in one company. Google’s 63.7 per cent grasp on search traffic made it necessary for other companies to enter the territory, he said.  

• FIPP 09: Downturn is the conference buzzword – but is the mag industry facing up to it?
• Former PPA chair Helen Alexander wins Marcus Morris Award
• FT.com: Archant boss John Fry finalising contract with Johnston Press
• Sunday Times: David Montgomery steps down as Mecom executive chairman
• PA Group appoints James Murdoch as non-executive director

The Guardian News & Media (GNM) editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, has made his ten per cent pay cut public, following public comments by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) about Guardian executive bonus payments at a time when cuts are being made at regional newspapers within the Guardian Media Group (GMG).

Earlier this week the NUJ published a full page advert in the Guardian which said there were “devastating staff cuts to service the ongoing expansion of the Guardian – which is losing many millions but still paying executive bonuses.”

An article published today on MediaGuardian.co.uk reports that Rusbridger is not part of the GMG bonus scheme and had last year informed the Scott Trust, owners of GNM’s parent company GMG, of his plans to take a pay cut.

The article states that Carolyn McCall, chief executive of GMG, had told the company’s remuneration committee in January that she would not take a bonus for the 2008-9 year.

“”Ordinarily such information would only be made public when GMG’s annual report is published in the summer. However, as the group’s two most senior executives, and in light of recent comments by the NUJ, they felt it was appropriate to inform the [union] chapels,” a GMG spokesman said.”

As part of the pay freeze announcement in February GMG said that it would not pay financial performance bonuses for the financial year 2008-2009, ‘which form the larger part of overall bonuses,’ it continues.

“But its remuneration committee – which consists of independent directors and the chair of the Scott Trust – decided that bonuses based on the achievement of personal objectives could be paid.”

GMG has suspended its bonus scheme for this financial year, the article reports.

• UPDATE: Guardian to cut 100 jobs; GNM running at £100,000-a-day loss
• PCC’s credibility under attack
• David Cameron to give Hugo Young lecture
• ‘Why Journalism Matters’ by Alan Rusbridger (@arusbridger): the video
• Despite group redundancies and pay freeze, Johnston Press CEO’s pay package nears £1m

The Manchester Evening News National Union of Journalists Chapel has passed the following motions at a mandatory meeting held today, and sent this email to GMG Regional chief executive, Mark Dodson.

To: Mark Dodson
Cc: Paul Horrocks; Jim Banham; Carolyn McCall; Liz Forgan
Subject: MEN NUJ chapel resolutions

Dear Mark,

At a very well attended, mandatory meeting earlier today, the MEN NUJ chapel unanimously passed the following resolutions:

• This chapel extends its thanks to the Guardian/Observer chapels for their declared support;

• This chapel deplores the company’s refusal to invoke a 90-day consultation period which could have been used usefully to explore other options and urges it to think again;

• This chapel declares it has no confidence in the Scott Trust or the GMG board;

• This chapel believes that Dame Liz Forgan, in her role as chair of the Scott Trust, has a moral duty and responsibility to speak to journalists at the MEN and its weekly newspapers and those at Surrey and Berkshire about how these devastating jobs cuts chime with Trust values BEFORE they are implemented;

• This chapel supports the weekly newspaper chapels in their decisions and pledges to support them;

• This chapel agrees to ballot for industrial action, up to and including strike action;

• This chapel reiterates its willingness to meet management at any time to talk with a view to resolving the current problems.

• Letter to GMG Regional Media’s Mark Dodson from MEN NUJ chapel
• NUJ Release: Vote of no confidence in Scott Trust after regional cuts
• NUJ Release: Guardian journalists to back regional colleagues
• MEN Media/NUJ update: 11 compulsory editorial redundancies; five jobs saved
• NUJ chapel demands ‘end to the insecurity and uncertainty’ at Express newspaper titles

Two questions being repeatedly raised at today’s Society of Editors (SoE) conference:

• stop talking about the nationals, how can regional media get in on the digital act?
• what to do about the BBC – or the ‘boa constrictor’ as Mail Online’s editorial director Martin Clarke called the corporation.

Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall told delegates that there is a model for the local press, focusing on hyperlocal.

“There will be models that emerge: investing in SEO, local press have to do that. There’s an opportunity for local press to go very local and build revenue around this. There are models, but it will have to be off a very different cost base,” said McCall.

She went on to describe Channel M – the television offshoot of the Manchester Evening News – as ‘a good model’ for local media that could be replicated in the future.

The business risks associated with online and sustainable digital business models, she added, need to be shared regionally and locally.

Regional media will have to take ‘a real hit’ on their bottom line when it comes to online to if they are to maintain standards of quality journalism, she added.

Malcolm Pheby, editor of the Nottingham Evening Post, took up the regional press’ baton in explaining how the NEP had successfully integrated its newsroom with staff now trained to treat all news stories as rolling news to be broken on the web.

But the pervading theme of the day has been the opposition from regional newspapers to the BBC’s proposed local video plans.

Pete Clifton, head of multimedia for the Beeb, did his best to defend criticisms of the plans, saying that the proposals are subject to assessments by the BBC Trust and suggesting that the BBC could forge stronger relationships with other news providers.

Still it was comments from McCall and Clarke, whose affiliate Northcliffe added its voice to the debate today, that received impromptu applause.

According to both, the BBC’s plans present unfair competition to the local press

Cue videojournalism evangelist and consultant Michael Rosenblum, who promised to teach the audience how to beat the BBC at its own game. Key to this he said is embracing technology, in particular video, wholeheartedly and not incrementally.

In response to a question from a Rotherham newspaper publisher, which currently has no video on its website, Rosenblum said there was a demand for the content and the potential for partnerships with regional broadcasters like ITV local.

• FT.com: Guardian considered six different pay models
• Michael Rosenblum: ‘Local TV news is already dead’
• Techflash.com: ‘Local media need dual business models, not dueling models’
• BBC could share more technology with S4C/Trinity Mirror in Wales, says Trust chairman
• BBC Trust’s dilemma over local video plans

Here’s the last 30 updates using the Twitter hashtag #soe08 – you will need to refresh the page to watch it update. Alternatively, you can simply follow the RSS feed or, if you prefer just our own fair Tweets from the very able Laura Oliver, subscribe to Twitter.com/journalism_live

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