Steve Dyson in his blog reviewing the regional press, hosted by HoldtheFrontPage, looks today at the independent local weekly Cleethorpes Chronicle.
The Chronicle was launched by Nigel Lowther (pictured) , former deputy editor of Northcliffe's Grimsby Evening Telegraph and Mark Webb, former managing director at Grimsby and Scunthorpe Newspapers, in March 2008.
Dyson gives the paper the thumbs up and says: "Surely there's the beginning of a template for more local, independent launches here?"
He adds: "There's one more little secret that it wasn't hard to discover about the community allure of the Chronicle: not a jot of it is reproduced online. When I asked Lowther about this, he confirmed it was 'just a printed publication', although they were considering a 'website in the future'. I pressed him on this point: given the success of the printed product in notching up two years trading and readership in the worst recession since the 1930s, did he think this might be harmed by a website? 'Yes, we believe it would have been harmed if we had just given away the hard-gained content free. We are determined this will not happen. When we do go online, we will charge... It represents a good opportunity and a sensible way forward.' "
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