A 'local' remedy for poor circulation?

by LESTER CROSS

The latest certified sales figures covering most of the print editions of Borders weekly newspapers make for extremely grim reading and suggest a number of local titles are already in intensive care if not terminally ill.

It was particularly worrying to see the former Tweeddale Press twins, The Berwick Advertiser and The Berwickshire News averaging little more than a thousand copies each week in 2021 after haemorrhaging massive swathes of paper sales.

The Audit Bureau of Circulation [ABC] statistics show the Advertiser sells a mere 1,281 copies, down by 24% on the 2020 average of 1,683 per week. The comparable figures for the Berwickshire title were 1,115 (2021), a drop of 16% from the 2020 total of 1,324.

It is worth noting that as recently as 2012 the Advertiser was selling an average 6,079 papers weekly with the Berwickshire News recording sales of 4,506. The migration to online access by newspaper readers shows no sign of slowing down.

The situation seems equally depressing for another JPI Media title, The Southern Reporter which suffered a 15% slump in printed copy readership last year alone. The ABC tables show the Southern with 4,603 copies sold each week, down from 5,395. Less than ten years ago the Selkirk-based title was selling 13,953 papers weekly.

In the case of the Newsquest Media Group pair Border Telegraph and Peeblesshire News sales losses in recent years have been slightly less dramatic in percentage terms, but concerning nonetheless.

These titles no longer feature in the ABC figures, but in 2018 the Telegraph was recorded at 2,384 - down 9% on the previous 12 months while the Peeblesshire sale was 2,939, a 6% reduction on 2017. The corresponding sales numbers for 2012 were 3,532 for the Telegraph and 4,496 for the PN.

There have been calamitous losses too for the daily and Sunday titles which once enjoyed healthy sales in the Scottish Borders. The national daily figure for The Scotsman in 2021 stood at 9,852, a far cry from the 35,949 copies sold daily in 2012.

Meanwhile Scotsman stablemate Scotland on Sunday was selling an average 5,881 papers each week, 14% less than the 2020 ABC figure of 6,843.

A long time observer of the Scottish newspaper scene told us: "I note JPI have decided to reverse their decentralisation plans for some of their titles, which doesn't bode well for the former Tweeddale papers. The chances of them having a local editor, or group editor, now appear to be slim to none. But to be honest, JPI's formula of ever-increasing cover prices, a dearth of investment in editorial, and a drop in pagination is likely to only accelerate their titles' demise anyway, regardless of whether local editors are in post or not.

"The Scotsman, in my opinion, can't really call itself a national newspaper anymore with such a low sales figure. There have been rumours for many years now that they would ditch the print edition and concentrate on an online version. Again, though, without serious investment in journalism, perhaps something like The Times digital version, I don't really think this would succeed either."

With so many newspaper titles in jeopardy since the dawn of the digital age, it must have taken large helpings of courage and conviction to launch a brand new Borders weekly during the turmoil of 2016 with newspaper sales on the slide.

But that is exactly what Jason Marshall decided to do, and it appears to have paid off against all odds. His experience in and knowledge of the local newspaper trade has been put to good use.

The family-owned The Hawick Paper does not feature among the toiling publications listed by the ABC, but it continues to sell the same number of copies these days as it did when the first issue hit the newsagents more than five years ago.

And there's nothing complicated nor fancy in proprietor Mr Marshall's recipe for success. The ingredients are simple...his team of journalists concentrate 100% on ultra-local stories, issues and photographs - subjects which might be of no interest whatsoever outside The Hawick Paper's bubble which covers the town and its immediate hinterland.

The editorial staff appear to have as their motto the old adage "a day oot o' Hawick's a day wasted".

Mr Marshall told Not Just Sheep & Rugby: "Our paper continues to go from strength to strength since we launched around five-and-a-half years ago. We sold out our first edition of 3,000 printed copies, and now sell around 3,000 in print and around 600 digital versions."

The much acclaimed paper is also a hit with Hawick exiles the world over.

A remedy for poor circulation which could, perhaps, be picked up and adapted by the distant owners of other Borders publications. There could be a future for the local press after all.