“Trinity Mirror and Johnston Press failed to draw any steam out of suggestions that they should merge yesterday as the London market, unsettled by fears for the economy, sank into the red,” so say a piece in the Independent that canvased opinion of leading mergers and aquisitions bank ABN Amro about the nightmare that is advertising reveune in regional newspaper publishing.

The bank stirred the pot by telling the Indy that given the problems faced by the media sector companies would increasingly look for industry consolidation.

“These are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures: we believe a Trinity/Johnston combination makes sense,” ABN said.