Oh dear Argus........

[AK74]

As an aside, the NME - whose circulation was declining year-on-year for, er, years - halted this trend by relaunching as a free paper.

The Argus, however, feels like a lost cause. And as for The Leader, I only ever look at it while waiting for my order in The Canton.

 

[AZ Gull]

Yep - they will just pare staffing numbers as circulation goes down, will linger on particularly as online paywal not an option. It costs a third of a cup of coffee so why wouldn't you buy it if you were interested in the community

In October I paid $46.34 for a YEARLY subscription of the electronic edition of the Argus (that is about £38, for about 300 editions of the paper, or 12p per copy). That price hasn't gone up for four years.

Despite living 5,000 miles away I not only get to keep up-to-date with all the news and match reports from the Albion, but also Sussex football in general (their non-league coverage is, generally, excellent) and of course news from the Brighton and wider Sussex area.

I'll happily criticise Naylor (when deserved) and the spelling/grammatical mistakes in the Argus as much as anyone, but it represents incredibly good value in my book.

 

[rippleman]

Would never waste my money on it but read it now and then down the cafe at lunch.

Standard of journalism is appalling. Irritatingly poor use of the English language. And the sods are too bloody lazy or arrogant to even spellcheck what they have written.

Used to be a good linen too. Where once we had John Vinicombe, we now have Andy Naylor. Need I say more?

Probably not long for this world ....

 

[TheJasperCo]

I liked the Sports Argus. Every Sunday I'd spend 50p (then 60p) on a copy with my paper round money. I particularly enjoyed reading the grassroots stories and of course the in-depth Albion match reports the morning after each match. It had a lot going for it IMO but then it just died a death without so much as a bye-your-leave.

 

[London Irish]

In October I paid $46.34 for a YEARLY subscription of the electronic edition of the Argus (that is about £38, for about 300 editions of the paper, or 12p per copy). That price hasn't gone up for four years.

Despite living 5,000 miles away I not only get to keep up-to-date with all the news and match reports from the Albion, but also Sussex football in general (their non-league coverage is, generally, excellent) and of course news from the Brighton and wider Sussex area.

I'll happily criticise Naylor (when deserved) and the spelling/grammatical mistakes in the Argus as much as anyone, but it represents incredibly good value in my book.

I confess I didn't know there was a digital sub - I thought they threw everything out for free, guess that's not the case. Fair play to them if they can make it work, the pendulum will swing and I'm convinced paid-for local journalism will rise again in one form or another once we are through this change period.

I still hand over my 65p a day and am happy to do so despite the gradual dip in what the paper offers

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Please don't call it a 'presser', you're not 12....are you?

This! I've been to hundreds of press conferences and not ONCE have I ever heard anyone refer to them as a 'presser'.

I've boycotted The Arsegas since 24th August, 2015, the day it published one of the most ludicrous, insensitive and factually incorrect front pages I've ever seen. The final straw was when someone from the paper tried to defend it as 'reporting the story'. I don't think so, mate – jog on, and take your worthless rag with you.

Having said that, Arsegas isn't alone – there are major problems at plenty of local papers and the business model is a busted flush. Online is seen to be the way to go in publishing these days, the trouble is, very few people know how to make decent money out of it...

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Everyone thought the Evening Standard was dead until it became a freebie, maybe the argus should do the same.

 

[ROSM]

Having had dealings with Lucy Pearce there's a certain part of me that would have liked her to stay and completely flounder. If it wasn't for the fact it would have led to more negativity for the remaining hardworking staff.

Newsquest doesn't want a daily paper in Brighton unless it's produced by enthusiastic amateurs and filled with photos and stories from members of the public.

Reckon Weekly or twice weekly with remainder online is the likely next step.

 

[So.CalGull]

On nonsense, plenty of the younger generations do, just not in the same numbers. The Argus will be around for a good number of years yet.

Unfortunately it is not the amount of people that buy the paper that keep it alive, the biggest income of revenue is, and always will be advertising. The income from Newspaper sales is fairly minimal within the big picture of the operation. I worked for the SPCo from 1986 to 2000 in the Pre-Press Production side of things, with one role being the company tour guide for about 2,000 visitors over the years.

The biggest day of printed Newspaper was the Grand bombing in October 1984, with a total print run of around 110,000 the day after it happened. Since then the circulation has decreased while reflecting the changes in technology and advertising trends. By the mid 90's circulation was down to 60,000 and with the internet taking off since then, the number has continued to slide down to the 11,000 today.

The days of selling full page color adverts for 5k pounds a go, are long gone, especially when you can get something that is cheaper and lasts longer on the mass media options available on line today. As soon as the main source of income starts to decline, so does the process of change begin.

One of the questions that was frequently asked by the tour visitors was "what do you think the future of newspapers will be?" without a solid answer at the time, and trying to make things look better than they were, the answer was "the day you can sit on a bus with a small computer, and get live information, that is when things will change".

Pre Hollingbury, the workforce in North Road was 600+, with a huge fleet of the memorable red and white small sales cars and delivery vans that would surround the factory. The costs and overheads for that amount of people and machinery and materials was huge, but Westminster Press who owned the SPCo were still able to turn huge profits. I don't know the figure, but I would hazard a guess that the number of staff today (not including the print operation in Southampton which services Newquest in the South) is scarily minimal, with Editorial, advertising departments and a small number of Newspaper Sales bodies still working.

Unfortunately, I believe the writing is on the wall for the the whole of the local cold web offset print industry, as the end result is dated before it leaves the press. There will be online newspapers and media outlets, but newsprint is fighting a losing battle. It pains me to say it, as in hindsight, those were great days of working with some cool people from every walk of life.

 

[London Irish]

This! I've been to hundreds of press conferences and not ONCE have I ever heard anyone refer to them as a 'presser'.

I know the point is never to interrupt a Timmy pile-on but that is actually fairly common lingo

 

[AK74]

I know the point is never to interrupt a Timmy pile-on but that is actually fairly common lingo

Concur.

 

[Wozza]

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/brigh...ion-weeks-after-taking-over-from-mike-gilson/

and circulation down to just 11,000 per day.

Where's Timmy when you need him?

On a subbing course, where we need him.

 

[The Birdman]

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/brigh...ion-weeks-after-taking-over-from-mike-gilson/

and circulation down to just 11,000 per day.

Where's Timmy when you need him?

always sold out I'm my local shop

 

[Murray 17]

Years ago very good paper with 90% Brighton Hove news and events. Now tries to be national paper covering all of Sussex. Should concentrate on Brighton Hove. Eastbourne,Mid Sussex, Hastings and Worthing all have papers concentrating on there areas.

I think this is a big problem. They merged the 'regional' editions to cut costs, but unfortunately this meant you could be reading about something happening in Hastings, when you live in Chichester.

 

[brakespear]

Does it still have 'Spiderman' in it?