Join Save Reading’s Local Newspapers group on Facebook
The big story of the week has to be the Guardian Media Group’s alarming announcement that the Reading Evening Post is to become a twice weekly newspaper.
Furthermore, up to 95 redundancies are planned across the Guardian Media Group’s Surrey and Berkshire Media division, with closures of two weekly titles (the Esher News & Mail and the Aldershot Mail).
The National Union of Journalists’s head of publishing Barry Fitzpatrick said of the decision
It is deeply worrying that in Reading the commitment to local news is being cut from a full week of papers to two days a week
Councillor Tony Jones agrees, saying on his blog:
I say that even in this fast moving age of websites and blogs, there must be room for strong daily and weekly local newspapers. Reading will be all the poorer if these cuts go ahead.
Encouragingly, a Facebook group has been created by Tony to help save newspaper journalism in Reading. To date, 75 members have joined Save Reading’s Local Newspapers, including Cllr Richard Willis and Cllr Daisy Benson, who posted:
Well done for setting this up Tony – this came as a shock to me and will be a real blow to regular reporting of local issues that matter to people in Reading.
You can add yourself here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69050419902
Oranjepan’s succinct analysis on his blog Reading List is worth a read also.