Wednesday 10 March 2010

Steve Dyson: A splash of Worcester


Steve Dyson in his blog reviewing the regional press, hosted by HoldtheFrontPage, takes a look today at the Worcester News.
He likes the bomb scare splash but makes an interesting point about pagination on local dailies which throughout any week can range from fat to thin.
He writes: "In terms of capturing casual readers, though, what a shame that this great splash came on such a skinny day for the Worcester News. At 36-pages, this was the tightest daily paper I've witnessed since a 32-pager in Hartlepool last year, and this coming on what for Worcester was 'Jobs' day (although job adverts only made up two pages).
"I got hold of the Thursday 4 March Worcester News as well, and with a 48-page 'Property' section was then treated to a total of 80-pages for the same 40p cover price.
"Massively differing paginations through the week is not a new issue, of course, but at a time when readers need little excuse to wander, it's a relevant satisfaction point for all dailies to ponder."
It is also worth reading Steve's post on the HoldtheFrontPage story about Northcliffe's changes at the Western Morning News and Western Daily Press which will see a merged content desk and the Plymouth and Bristol papers coming under one editor.
He asks: "How can one man edit two papers 133 miles apart?" 

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