Trinity Mirror loses regional news consortium bid

Trinity Mirror has had its bid for the Scottish regional news consortium rejected.

The publishing group is one of five bidders who did not make it through to the next stage of the process to run the pilots in Scotland, Wales and England.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said today that just eight bids met its criteria in the first stage of the government’s independently funded news consortium scheme (IFNC).

DCMS’s selection panel, which is headed up by Richard Hooper, did not reveal other failed bids but confirmed that it has accepted three bids for Wales, another three bids for England and two for Scotland.

In Wales, ITN (with Newsquest, Northcliffe Media, Tindle, Boomerang and ITV Wales news staff), Tinopolis and UTV with NWN Media will be invited to “move forward into detailed dialogue” with the panel.

In the Tyne Tees and Borders region, ITN (with Johnston Press, Newsquest, Metro Radio, the University of Sunderland and ITV Tyne Tees and Borders news staff), Trinity Mirror with the Press Association and Ten Alps, and UTV will go through to the next stage of the procurement process.

Finally, in Scotland, Johnston Press (with the Herald and Times Group, Tinopolis and D C Thomson) and STV (with ITN and Bauer Radio) will be given a chance to follow up their initial bids.

Hooper said: “Let me be clear about what we are looking for: quality news reporting with a mix of local, regional and national (in the case of Wales and Scotland) audiences firmly in mind; genuine innovation, not just business as usual; strong multiplatform applications working together across the web, local newspapers, local radio and television where appropriate, utilising each different medium’s special characteristics; and finally, a revenue generation model that aspires to longer term sustainability.”

A final decision is expected to be announced in March.