Neil Urges Change For Newspapers To Survive

The nation’s national newspapers will continue to see their circulations decline, according to influential publisher, Andrew Neil, who has painted a bleak picture of the industry and appealed for change in his address to the PPA’s annual conference.

The high profile publisher of The Scotsman, The Spectator and The Business used his speech to urges change amongst newspapers, stating that they could learn from magazines in providing more in-depth feature-style content as more readers switch to digital television and the internet for up-to-date news.

Explaining the shift in media consumption, he said: “Everything that was available in tabloid newspapers is now available on Sky channels. The Times loses more money than the Sunday Times makes. There is a different pace to the printed word. Now that we are in the age of internet we all have to change and adapt to new circumstances.”

Neil’s warning follows recent ABC figures confirming a continuing slide in circulation for both daily and Sunday newspaper titles. The nation’s daily papers saw a combined dip of 3.7% year on year, with only the compact quality titles bucking the trend for decline.

Elsewhere, Sunday titles were similarly hit, losing a combined 2.1% in the same period, although a handful of titles managed to increase their circulations, with the Sunday Express most successful, rising by 6.6% year on year (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up – March 2005). ABC National Newspaper Round-Up – March 2005).

PPA: 020 7404 4166 www.ppa.co.uk