Hartlepool Mail Circulation Drops Another 16% in Just Twelve Months

[steveL]

Interesting that rumours about the Mail have re-surfaced recently. The talk is of it going bi-weekly sometime around October. No idea if it's true or not.

[fred c]

Looks as though we will have to rely on Heartbeat for our Local News then..............

Will Ms Yates & her team just go & work for Alaister Rae direct then

[Tommy]

I just wonder if HBC has suggested it may be cutting or reviewing its annual spend with the newspaper.

It is quite sad to think that soon (if the rumours steveL talks about are true) what was once a great read will be going from its 6 day a week format.

Does anyone know exactly what the annual HBC spend is with the Sheffield Echo?

I do understand that the HBC public notices may be necessary, however over the last few years I have noticed what could be unnecessary overkill, basically throwing good money away, our money away, especially when the Sheffield Echos readership is dwindling down by thousands each year, like steveL I was told the readership here in the Borough of Hartlepool is as low as 6,000 (discounting sales in Peterlee, the villages, Sunderland, Billingham, Stockton, Middlesbrough and any other place outside of Hartlepool), a lot of HBC advertisements and promotions for the Indoor Market, Brougham Business Center,  the Fostering Service, those fun days down by the Art Gallery, Education Facility's, the swimming baths, Summerhill, Farmers Market, Maritime Experience, Halloween, Christmas fun, Seatons fireworks, I am sure there is more that I can list but I will be here all day!

My point being that if HBC targeted a more effective spend in advertising than the presumed 6,000 readers we could have a booming town and the Sheffield Echo would have looked at alternative methods years ago for continuation of the 6 day a week newspaper, Poor Business Planning by the News paper and a very bad choice by placing expensive adverts in that Newspaper by Councillors or Council officers.

With all that said, it will still be a big shame for it go in the format we know it to be today.

[mk1]

MDT recently popped up on a local board where he suggested the group might like to 'work' with the Mail. The response was 100% negative!

MDT is the initials of the person who deletes all the Labour-unfriendly content on the Mail site and is in fact Mark Desmond Thompson and you can find him on facebook. Be aware though he instantly blocks anyone who is les than 100% supportive of him and his employer.

[stokoe]

MDT recently popped up on a local board where he suggested the group might like to 'work' with the Mail. The response was 100% negative!

MDT is the initials of the person who deletes all the Labour-unfriendly content on the Mail site and is in fact Mark Desmond Thompson and you can find him on facebook. Be aware though he instantly blocks anyone who is les than 100% supportive of him and his employer.

Does not like the truth then mk1 mind you he has about 6 followers not a great catchment.

[craig finton]

MDT recently popped up on a local board where he suggested the group might like to 'work' with the Mail. The response was 100% negative!

MDT is the initials of the person who deletes all the Labour-unfriendly content on the Mail site and is in fact Mark Desmond Thompson and you can find him on facebook. Be aware though he instantly blocks anyone who is les than 100% supportive of him and his employer.

I don't understand what he meant by saying this. What group? What kind of work?

[mk1]

I don't understand what he meant by saying this. What group? What kind of work?

It was mentioned in regard to efforts to save Tunstall. Nothing specific really.  I suspect MDT was acting on his own  initiative and  trying to raise the Mail's profile rather than having any real intention of changing the subservient attitude of the paper to every council decision.       
Mark made a few  posts but soon gave up as the  mood was against him  and has not been seen there since.

[PostItNote]

This is therefore the best time for the Hartlepool Post to be posted through everyone's doors, at least five days per week!

Any plans guys?

[Tommy]

PostItNote, yes now would be a good time to have an honest non bias Local News Paper prepping itself for a launch as the current one dwindles yet further.

Whilst we are on about it, just bought a copy today (60p, I hate handing that much over as its so thin and full of out of town stuff) to see yet another desperate waste of tax payers cash been handed over by HBC Officers, this time they have pushed the boat out and treat the 6,000 or so people in town that purchase it to a whopping double, yes "Double" page spread over pages 34 and 35!

Please don't think that I am against HBC Officers spending money (our money) in getting messages out and telling the residents of our Town what is on locally, but a more cost effective strategy is what is needed.

Dear HBC's Officers, please take a look at the success of Putting Hartlepool First's local campaign during the last election and the small, in fact tiny budget that they had and what the achieved from it.

[PostItNote]

Oh my goodness Tommy, totally.  Not a better example could be had, the video should win awards for the students and supporters who developed it.  And it was made in the town, which is something I think town people in these hard times would appreciate.

It is such a shame that even though there is a fantastic readership of this site, many people do not know about it or access it because they have little or no internet. 

Even if the Hartlepool Post was something that circulated in a print out, to doctor's surgeries etc, where people can read it, be exposed to the information they need to make an informed choice about who they have running the council, paid, co-opted (or should that read corrupted) or allowance based?

[steveL]

It's a money thing. The Post is run on a shoestring with the Google ads paying hosting costs (almost) and contributors writing articles for free. We would have to take paid advertising to pay for any publicity campaigns and then everything would start to get complicated. I suppose we could always ask HBC for an enterprise start-up grant - what do you reckon to our chances? 

[PostItNote]

An excellent idea.  I am sure you would get some very good references!

Seriously, it is good that there is the internet ads paying towards your honorable efforts.  Disgraceful that there is a need to work relentlessly on highlighting bad practice, with an ease to find examples but a difficulty in getting the message out!

[Tommy]

I have been speaking to an ex employee of the Hartlepool Mail (with no real axe to grind) and this person mentioned the October date as a time when the newspaper is likely to become a twice weekly bumper addition, with a purchase price hike too. The trusted informant went on to say the Hartlepool Mail will contain more photographs and will focus on the towns community groups, however went on to say that the relationship between itself and a select few HBC Officers (those that hold the purse strings) will continue to flourish albeit from 6 additions a week to two.

The same person said that HBC's Public Relations Office is fully aware of this or at least one person in that office is.

There is an obvious opportunity here for any local entrepreneur, any takers? (no duff jokes about "takers" please! or have I just opened the back doors with my post).

[PostItNote]

I can imagine the Northern Echo will be ready to rule the world if no one takes up on this opportunity to deliver real news.

[Ted Bass]

The circulation figures have been published today for the local rags and The Fail is down to 8,820 - 16.2% down on the same time last year.  The Sunderland Echo isn't doing great as well, with a considerable drop.

They didn't replace a reporter who left last month and some of the spelling mistakes lately have been dreadful (haedlandbeing one).  As pointed out on another thread, the moderation of online comments seems to have disappeared.  I expect the workload on the small team is getting too much.

I can hear the axe swinging from here.