Johnston Press: A warning to media investors
Regional publisher Johnston Press was bought out of administration over the weekend by a new company formed by its lenders. The deal means the London-listed shares are now worth nothing – in August 2015, this was a £100m company. The decline is a clear sign that the regional publishing sector is dying in the UK: a warning to investors and regulators.
Journalists at the i, Scotsman, Yorkshire Post and many other regional titles will have turned up to work this morning with hint of uncertainty after their owner, Johnston Press, was rescued out of administration over the weekend. On Friday evening, employees were sent an email from the chief executive David King saying, “operations will continue uninterrupted, so it is important that you turn up for work as normal”. But what is normal for a journalist at a regional publication? Nerve wracking, probably. Since 2005 more than 200 local papers have closed in the UK, according to the BBC. The number…