Scary stuff from Peter Preston in the Observer today warning that the Government by axing its advertising budget could prompt a double dip recession for the press.He writes: "Most of the press wanted cuts and pain. So bang – for starters – goes a £75m Department of Health ad campaign against obesity. And bang goes a swathe of public service job ads which Eric Pickles, the local government secretary, says must go (far more cheaply) online.HMG is Britain's biggest advertiser.
"Local papers, battling to survive, get 75% of their revenue from ads. So the pain without prospect of gain is great, and mounting. The French (and, to some extent, the Americans) steer ads towards print. They help ensure survival. But that's namby-pamby stuff in a coalition world, not to mention what looks like the first double-dip industry in the land of hard times."
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Maybe "the press" will see a rise in demand for their product when they feel less fettered or pressured to favour the local authority and government lines. Should be plenty of scope for investigative journalism given the scale of imminent cuts nationally, regionally and locally. More readers could even equal more advertisers (now there's an idea).
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