Guardian 'seriously
discussing' end to print edition
The publisher of the
Guardian and Observer newspapers is close to axing the print editions of the
newspapers, despite the hopes of its editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger to keep
them running for several years.
By Katherine Rushton,
Media, telecoms and technology editor1:46PM BST 17 Oct 2012
Senior figures at Guardian
News & Media are seriously discussing the move to an entirely online
operation, it has been claimed, leaving Mr Rusbridger increasingly isolated.
The longstanding Guardian
chief wants to develop the Guardian’s digital-only US operation before pulling
the plug on the print edition, in the hope that it will provide a useful
blueprint for the online business in Britain.
However, trustees of the
Scott Trust, GNM’s ultimate owner, fear it does not have enough cash on its
books to sustain the newspapers for that long, according to More About
Advertising, the website run by former Marketing Week editor Stephen Foster.
The Guardian publisher has
spent the last few years battling to stem losses of £44m a year. However, it
has been slow to make savings and any money that it has clawed back has been
spent on expanding its US and online operations.
The investments helped to
fuel a 16pc increase in digital revenues to £45.7m last year, but this was not
enough to balance GNM’s operating losses which widened from £31.1m.
Guardian Media Group,
GNM's parent company which also owns stakes in Autotrader's publisher, Trader
Media Group, and Top Right Group, the magazine and events company formerly
known as Emap, fared even worse. Its operating losses more than doubled to
£129.1m after nearly £55m of write-offs.
Meanwhile, the company has
been forced to steadily shrink the Guardian newspaper, getting rid of some of
its flagship supplements. GNM has also pledged to axe up to 100 of its 650
editorial staff, but has struggled to find enough people willing to volunteer
for its pay-off package.
Last year, GNM also looked
at closing the £80m printing plant it opened seven years ago, and moving its
Berliner printing presses to Trinity Mirror’s Watford plant.
However, it now seems more
likely to stop running the presses altogether.
Earlier this year, Adam
Freeman, the Guardian’s outgoing commercial chief, admitted that the Guardian
is on a “mission” to be able to stand alone as a digital-only publication, and
was mixing its stable of traditional journalists with enthusiastic citizens who
would work for free.
Last week, Andrew Miller,
chief executive of GMG, told a conference that GNM was trying to "optimise
the economics of the paper," something that would involve cutting costs
and "format changes".
A GNM spokesman denied
that it intends to stop printing newspapers, saying they would “remain the
foundations of our organisation for many years to come”. The newspapers
generate three quarters of GNM’s revenues but do not turn a profit.
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