BEGINS the trade website, holdthefrontpage.co.uk: “Trinity Mirror has admitted that its regional titles are facing a ‘difficult’ print advertising market as the group’s adjusted profits fell 2.5pc in the first half of the year.
“Operating profits at the national and regional publisher were down from £50.3m in the first half of 2014 to £47.9m in the corresponding period this year, with overall revenues down from £324.2m to £288.5m.
“Although digital revenues rose by 26 per cent to stand at £16.6m, the company admitted that the ‘digital tipping point’ at which the increase in digital revenues offsets the decline in print revenues had been ‘pushed out’.”
Read more, here.
Trinity Mirror publishes several regional titles in Scotland.
Read Trinity Mirror’s half-yearly financial report – published yesterday – here.
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THE website, Daily Business, reports: “More Scots are reading news online rather than in newspapers. Almost two-thirds of Scots do not read a daily newspaper, according to the latest data.
“Figures from the Scottish Social Attitudes survey show that those no longer reading dailies rose from 24 per cent in 1999 to 59 per cent last year.
“Many have switched to online news websites such as Daily Business which yesterday enjoyed its second-highest figures over the last 60 days with 4,749 page views and a remarkable 0.15 per cent bounce rate which shows that every reader viewed more than one page.”
Read more here.
The story is picked up, here, by the BBC. And here, by pressgazette.co.uk.
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A JOURNALISM training conference is taking place later this year, with organisers saying it is “a must for anyone interested in quality journalism training”, providing “a vital link between journalism’s education, training and industry sectors”.
The annual conference of the National Council for the Training of Journalists is taking place over two days, in Birmingham, in November.
The event is being hosted at a BBC training centre, The Mailbox.
For more details, click here.
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BEGINS an announcement from the University of Glasgow: “The UK media sector’s rapid expansion onto new, multiple digital platforms in the face of tighter financial budgets has encouraged more emphasis on strongly branded and high impact content, according to University of Glasgow research which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
“But while the transition has offered what is in some ways an improved experience for audiences, it has also contributed to potential standardisation and uniformity of content, the researchers have found.”
Read more, here.
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THE Sunday Herald’s investigations editor, Paul Hutcheon, was interviewed last night on the BBC programme, Scotland 2015 (here), as he continues to challenge the authorities to confirm or deny a claim that a journalist has been spied on.
His relatively long-running investigation is joined today by a column – by colleague, Iain Macwhirter – in today’s Herald, here.
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AN announcement issued yesterday by the Scottish Government, starts: “Culture ministers from Scotland, Wales and the North of Ireland will meet in Glasgow [today, Tuesday] to discuss their priorities for the future of the BBC.
“Hosted by Scotland’s Culture Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, the meeting will be attended by North of Ireland Culture Minister, Carál Ní Chuilín, and Welsh Deputy Culture Minister, Ken Skates.
“The three ministers are expected to discuss how they will engage with the BBC Charter renewal process and what they expect the new BBC Charter to deliver for the nations and regions.
“The meeting will form part of regular, ongoing discussions between the devolved governments on a range of broadcasting issues, such as governance, production, indigenous language services and wider public sector broadcasting.”
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THE Scotsman’s Aidan Smith reflects today on the BBC Scotland programme, Sportscene – which is celebrating its 40th birthday this year.
And he calls for a return to the airwaves of legendary broadcaster and sports commentator, Archie Macpherson.
Read him, here.
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