Friday 5 August 2011

Exeter latest Northcliffe daily paper to go weekly


The Express & Echo in Exeter is the latest Northcliffe daily to announce it is switching to weekly publication, following the Torquay Herald Express and the Scunthorpre Evening Telegraph.

The last daily edition of the Express & Echo , which sells about 17,000 copies, is due to be published on 2 September with the first weekly going out on Thursday 8 September.

Exeter Express & Echo editor Marc Astley said the decision to go weekly had been made "in response to significant changes in the marketplace and readers' lives.

"Although the newspaper still has a large readership, the number of people choosing to buy a copy every day has fallen in recent years."

Astley said the decision to publish weekly was in response to these changes and was also viewed as the best way to secure the long-term future of the newspaper. He added: "Exeter is a much different city from the one that first embraced the Express & Echo in 1904.

"The population has become increasingly diverse with many of our readers now leading ever-busier lifestyles.

"It is clear to us that they value local news and their local newspaper but the majority of them simply do not have the time to buy it every day. We therefore feel that a weekly title would be much better aligned with the needs of our customers."

Astley said: "As well as our new print edition of the Echo, we will be keeping our readers informed via our website www.thisisexeter.co.uk."

He added a number of jobs were likely to be affected in the editorial department as a result of the changes but everything possible was being done to mitigate any compulsory redundancies.

It is also anticipated that Northcliffe's Lincolnshire Echo may switch from a daily to weekly format.

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