Stop Press! Small Papers Are Victims Of Big Business

Although I'm heavily involved in running a store these days, I still do quite a bit of PR work. The current crisis in local press is proving a real challenge.
A cornerstone for success in local PR is having good contacts but I'm constantly finding that local papers have closed or excellent journalists have been fired.
The headlines say the problem is a decline in property, cars and jobs advertising, exacerbated by the rise in online advertising. Yet some local papers remain profitable.

The difference is almost always the ownership. The ones in trouble tend to be owned by large conglomerates who bought the papers as commodities, financed the purchases with loans, milked the profits, built up debts that cannot be repaid in these difficult times and don't care if they are depriving a local community of a source of news, debate and jobs.
It is a tragedy for local people. The same thing has happened where big corporations have swallowed up and then closed down local shops, farmers and factories in a process of cost saving.
My hope is that the current recession will sweep away a lot of these huge holding companies who only look at the salaries of their chief exceutives and shareholder profits.
Like my wife and me, all our suppliers have gone back to basics and are building enterprising small companies that are sound and profitable because they are run by people who love the business they are in and care about employees and customers.
We're supporting them with a range of Handmade in Britain special gifts at our online store. We'll be looking for more next week at the Britosh Crafts Trade Fair.