Why is the government backing a Sinn Fein paper in Northern Ireland?
Some months ago I wrote about the plans of a publisher loyal to Sinn Fein to launch a new daily newspaper in Northern Ireland. Part of me was inclined to cheer at the prospect of a new title, but the cry of joy was stifled by the realisation that the group behind the project has already received financial support from the government, and is angling for further handouts. Andersonstown News Group and a subsidiary, Preas an Phobail, have pocketed some £750,000 from government bodies since 1999. The publisher has applied for further funding from the government agency Invest Northern Ireland for its new title. Almost unbelievably, it seems it may get its money. The launch of Daily Ireland, which will also distribute in the Irish Republic, is planned for next February.
Let us set aside for a moment our distaste that a group which may be little more than a front for Sinn Fein should be receiving public funds. Even more outrageous is the effect that a government-supported title might have on existing newspapers, particularly the nationalist Irish News. This paper, which sells about 50,000 copies a day, has a largely Catholic readership, and has traditionally supported the SDLP. It is investing millions of pounds in new presses. (One of the very few publishers in the United Kingdom that can print a ‘Berliner’ or Le Monde-size newspaper, it has decided to adopt a tabloid format.) Obviously a paper with such a modest circulation would be vulnerable to a new entrant appealing to largely the same audience. If Daily Ireland were wholly funded from private sources, there could be no objection. But in effect the government is contemplating interfering in the market to back a paper that would be very likely to take some sales from the Daily News.
As we all know, Tony Blair’s much vaunted ‘peace process’ has the effect of encouraging the extremist DUP and Sinn Fein, while squeezing the more moderate Catholic SDLP and the official Unionists. Now Downing Street seems hell-bent on achieving a similar effect among newspaper readers. The moderate Unionist (and highly profitable) Belfast Telegraph would probably lose very few readers to Daily Ireland. This paper sells nearly 100,000 copies a day. The Irish News, as I have said, is much more at risk. Even taking into account the government’s desire to sweeten Sinn Fein, the idea that it might promote Daily Ireland is preposterous. So far only a few Northern Ireland MPs at Westminster have even noticed what is going on. Could this be a cause that the Conservative party, which appears largely to have forgotten about the existence of Northern Ireland, might take up?
The appearance of a free edition of the London Evening Standard, available at lunchtime at some locations in central London outside the City, has baffled almost everyone. The first issue of Standard Lite on Tuesday looked like the Evening Standard on the outside, much more like the (also free) Metro on the inside. It is shorn of the Evening Standard’s columnists — not in every case an absolute tragedy — and has no City coverage.
What is going on? I suggested to one Standard executive that Standard Lite might have the effect of encouraging readers to buy the real thing. He seemed doubtful. In fact his worry was that Standard Lite might be so successful that it would take circulation from the Evening Standard itself, which sells at 40 pence. The thinking seems to be that Standard Lite will boost the combined circulation of both editions, and thus make the Evening Standard a more attractive proposition to advertisers. The paper has been slowly losing readers for years, a process that has accelerated alarmingly over the past year. Classified advertising revenue has been badly affected, partly as a result of advertisers migrating to the Internet. Significant losses have caused palpitations at Associated Newspapers, the parent company, which also publishes the highly profitable Daily Mail.
Afternoon newspapers in big cities have been closing or losing sales around the world. Forty years ago London had three afternoon newspapers. The Evening Standard was the paper of the City and the West End, and the most upmarket of the three. When it gobbled up the Evening News over 20 years ago, its sales stood at more than 600,000. Now they are south of 400,000. One problem in editing the only afternoon London paper is that you have to appeal to readers of the Sun and of the Financial Times at the same time. This is a very challenging task for any editor of the Evening Standard.
I remain pretty baffled by Standard Lite, but whatever happens I doubt that it provides the key to the future of the newspaper. The obvious danger is that if it is successful it might damage the main title, partly by stealing readers who at the moment are paying 40 pence a shot, and also by denting the proper paper’s relatively upmarket profile. (The very title Standard Lite is decidedly downmarket.) Over the long term I am not sure that anyone in the world can completely staunch the circulation decline of the Evening Standard, given the flight from afternoon city newspapers. The future of the Standard surely lies in its being true to its roots as the lively and fashionable paper of the West End, appealing to a generally upmarket readership. I suspect, though, that if the newspaper is to prosper again, its management will have to take another look at its cost base.
The Guardian and Private Eye are sponsoring a new prize for investigative journalism in honour of the late Paul Foot. May I suggest the first nomination? Since he succeeded Nigel Dempster in October 2003, my highly esteemed Daily Mail colleague, the diarist Richard Kay, has been producing one scoop after another. During this relatively brief period he has used the phrase ‘I can reveal’ at least 207 times. The almost equally momentous ‘I can disclose’ has made a more modest number of appearances. Even so, this incredible number of revelations and disclosures demands the very earliest consideration by the judges.
As Christmas approaches, I have the sense of a general depression throughout what used to be called Fleet Street. The sales of many newspapers are down. There is talk of a general malaise, with some people pointing out that hardly anyone under the age of about 20 can read or write, and predicting that newspapers are doomed to a slow decline. This seems to me to be pretty unlikely. It is a theme which I intend to address in the new year.
Meanwhile, as the old one fades away, I would like to wish absolutely everyone a very happy Christmas.
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