“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain speaking after newspapers announced he had died.
American writer Mark Twain’s death was also exaggerated.
Last Friday after 159 years of publishing the Harrow Observer announced it will close in December.
I’m not saying this to gloat. Several of our reporters over the years learned their trade there. When such a well established institution shuts forever it’s a sad day.
Local and regional newspapers are dying out and closing down across the country on a regular basis.
If you listened to most media outlets you’d be convinced that there is no future in local news printed media.
Yet in January next year we launch our 13th title – My Ruislip News.
We are bucking the trend. Why?
Well in my opinion it’s because of three main things:
- CONTENT: We are hyper local. Where the Harrow Observer and Watford Observer cover many areas our titles focus on covering individual towns and villages. Each of our titles is dedicated to the area it serves.
- STYLE: The glossy, full colour, compact style of our magazines mean they get kept longer and don’t end up in the recycling or as fish and chip wrapping.
- COVERAGE: My News is delivered directly to 85,000 homes every month. We have a readership of more than 200,000 every month. That’s enough to fill Wembley Stadium more than two times over. This gives our advertisers a massive audience for an affordable spend.
I’m proud to say we are now the biggest independent publishers of news media in Middlesex and Hertfordshire.
I’ve just come back from Las Vegas where we celebrated my son’s 21st birthday. It’s a magical place where the emphasis is on being bold and thinking big.
What started off as a couple of casinos in the Nevada desert is now the World’s premier entertainment destination.
For a ‘small’ company we are also thinking bigger, better and bolder and looking to expand even further next year.
Local news isn’t dead it’s just changing.
Thanks for reading,
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