Why regional press groups must get bigger

Press Gazette reports today that the seven biggest regional newspaper groups will claim to the Government this week that there is "overwhelming evidence" that the current rules on local newspaper mergers are outdated.
The lobbying for reform is being led by the Local Media Alliance, the campaign group of chief executives from Trinity, Johnston, Northcliffe, Newsquest, Guardian Media Group, Archant and DC Thomson as well as the Newspaper Society. The LMA has compiled a survey of 5,000 local newspaper advertisers and will be presenting its evidence to the Office of Fair Trading.
Outgoing Johnston Press chairman Roger Parry, who is chairman of the LMA, told Press Gazette while relaxing the ownership rules "would make a very useful contribution" towards solving the problems currently facing the regional press, it was not the only answer.
Parry said: "Local newspaper themselves have to develop a more viable hybrid model – a mix of newspaper, website, magazine and so on. It's easier to do that if you have much larger groups with better access to resources."
The Press Gazette story follows an Observer article on Sunday predicting a swapping of titles and assets by the big regional publishers if merger rules are relaxed.