Max Clifford Reveals His Vision For Magazines

Max Clifford outlined his vision of how regional magazines can uplift communities in comparison to national media at the PPA Regional Magazines Summit on Friday morning.

Clifford, a regular columnist for Surrey Life, urged those involved in the industry to counterbalance the bad news that is reported in national media with positive local stories.

He said he believed that national media is hostile, economical with the truth and delivers “generally bad news”.

In contrast, Clifford said regional media cares more about quality of life, is published by people who care about the community and are aware and able to highlight the good things going on in the community.

Clifford’s call to action to regional publishers was to extend their remit to include creating or associating themselves with events to bring the community together, citing an example of an event that Surrey Life put together at his suggestion.

Clifford believes that the regional magazines sector are best placed to do this as they have the inclination to do it properly and bring people together, while at the same time helping drive revenues by increasing circulation.

He drew the direct comparison between the attitude of regional magazines against national media, outlining the fact that his early career in dealing with national newspapers meant promotion whereas now his business is almost exclusively based in protection -believing that “the media minefield has become more explosive” while regional magazines still have the ability to influence for the good.

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