Liverpool Daily Post to go weekly
LIVERPOOL’s Daily Post newspaper will be cease to be a daily title from the New Year, publisher Trinity Mirror revealed today, ending 156 years of history.
The new weekly product will hit the newstands on Thursdays and has a working title of “The Liverpool Post’. Six editorial jobs will be lost as a result of the switch, the company said.
The newspaper, like many others, has seen circulation slide. In the year to June 2011 paid for circulation was down 2.1% at 8,217.
Post editor Mark Thomas said today: ‘‘We are lucky to be custodians of one of the great brands in journalism and we’ve been serving our city for 156 years. This change sets us up to serve it for the next 156 – in print and online and through whichever channels readers seek to receive it.’
“However, we appreciate that the world is changing and people’s buying habits and news consumption requirements are very different.”
Thomas said the new 100-page-plus weekly title would be better for readers and a “more appealing vehicle for advertisers”.
He added: ‘‘This move enables us to maximise brand potential in what are extraordinarily challenging times for the media industry and for business in general.’’
Readers, he said, would be served daily news via the newspaper’s website.
The change has no impact on the sister title, the Liverpool Echo.
Separately Trinity as also announced that its free Liverpool weekly titles – The Bootle Times, Merseymart (South) and Star (Anfield & West Derby plus Maghull) – are to be merged into two new community newspapers – The Star and The Merseymart.
These two new editions will be carried to the market within the Tuesday edition of the Liverpool Echo.
Managing director of Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales, Warren Butcher, said: “We recognise that the proposed changes are fundamental and that they affect long-lived and much-loved brands.”
“However, a change in approach is vital. Our business has been built on the ability to be proactive and to continually adapt our portfolio to reflect market conditions and changing consumer trends.
“We are convinced these changes will strengthen and add greater relevance to our portfolio in the long term and in turn improve the service we provide to both readers and advertisers.”
