The future of the Birmingham Mail
Here we go... Friday night has arrived, a mad-busy week has flown past, and now is the time for a crucial note on the newspaper story of the week.
The above link was to a fairly straight report in the Birmingham Mail, so there are other, more detailed versions on media-specific websites here and here and here for those who want variety.
And to complete the circle for those who want full initial research, you can also read the official announcement by Trinity Mirror.
In summary: despite recent changes, closures and cost-savings, Trinity Mirror Midlands is making a loss as a region, and the company projects that this will continue in 2010 if more action is not taken.
Among possible ideas it has to save more money are: 1/ turning the morning Birmingham Post into a quality weekly newspaper; 2/ turning the Birmingham Mail from a live, evening newspaper into an overnight publication (produced the day before its dateline).
The company has stressed that no decisions have been taken, and its announcement explains that it wants to fully consult before any plans are made.
At the Post there are already preferred options, with one favoured by both the company and the editor, Marc Reeves. It is consulting on these options to make sure its thinking is right.
There are as yet no preferred options at the Birmingham Mail.
Yes, the company wants to explore the idea of overnight, but stresses it's made no decisions and atm has no plans.
It's announced a much earlier stage of consultation, and genuinely needs to be told people's views.
That's readers, advertisers, newsagents, community leaders, councillors, MPs, emergency services, schools, hospitals, government agencies... anyone with an interest in the Birmingham Mail.
Without strong views, insight and local background knowledge, either arguing for a status quo 'live' newspaper or 'overnight' publishing, the company can only base it's decision on basic facts.
The issue is much bigger, of course... the Post is a historic title but has less than a fifth of the Mail's circulation and revenues.
Changes on the Birmingham Mail, if any are made, have to be so carefully thought through before any decision. There's so much more to lose, or gain.
And because it's so early in the process, not much has been shared about the financial benefits or competitive risks of an 'overnight' Birmingham Mail.
So, at the moment, most (but not all) opinions on the subject are simply that... gut feelings (some passionate) with little or no evidence.
In some ways, that is not a bad place to start.
As the process continues, consultation and analysis between management, staff, unions and outside organisations/individuals will reveal more and more about the upsides and downsides of a 'live' or 'overnight' paper.
But for now, it's the beginning when the company is looking for initial reactions to its announcement that it wants to explore the option. And it needs them quickly as part of it's 30-day initial consultation that started on Tuesday August 25.
So, to amplify:
Should the Birmingham Mail continue as a 'live' newspaper, completed on the morning and early afternoon of the same day it is printed and sold?
Or should it change to an 'overnight' strategy, where the paper is 'put to bed' the previous afternoon and evening, then on sale the next morning?
As said, little data on either option has yet been discussed, but suffice it to say that the 'overnight' option is substantially less costly, and would therefore assist the Midland company's return to profit.
But at what risk re. readers/competitors?
Comments posted here will be taken on board (along with those on the previous, unrelated blog).
But for direct input, or to ask for more detail, email ideas@trinitymirror.com
Thank you for reading.
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Steve Dyson - Blog from the Editor on recent issues and events.
The question do you want the Bham Mail as a live paper or an overnight is a bit like asking do you want a stale cream cake or a fresh one. Another question that I suspect could be asked in a short while could be “would you buy a stale Mail or the Express and Star.” No brainer…
With the internet, broadcasting media and on-line news creating a rolling 24 hour a day supply of information, deciding to print an evening newspaper the night before can only accelerate decline. You take away its very reason for existence, its contemporaneity.
I agree with the first two contributors. Quality means live. A newspaper that is 24 hours old when on the street will be a dead newspaper. It is not easy finding a way forward in the current climate but becomng less topical is not the answer - it smells of less journalistic quality when only qualiity will shine through.
Long live the Mail!
Going to overnight production would surely reduce sales.Why would people bother to buy a newspaper containing 'news' already well-covered by other media? I can see the Express and Star's banner and promotion theme now, 'Today's news today'.
The Mail still produces live 'scoops' ahead of the morning nationals and it would take away it's main selling point, topicality. Also more and more are buying just one newspaper, would they buy the morning Mail before a national?
The Mail reader is a reader who takes the Mail as an evening experience.
It's part of the end of a working day, it's part of the process of winding down, it's a relationship with a paper that is consequently different to that of, say, the Post. It has to feel real, not a pretence of the evening after the night before.
The reader has probably already read a national earlier in the day and looks to a different angle, a different style. It's a bit intangible, a bit difficult to nail down, but it's an 'evening' style.
If it feels like a stale reworking of what could have been morning news, then the whole buzz of the paper is lost and it will show. Taking the paper to a morning would effectively kill the very title itself.
You might as well simply start afresh with a new morning title, new brand, new approach....and, of course, new readership.
I fully support the birmingham mail being a live paper. We need to support our local paper and its certainly worth advocating for. Keep it live!
Totally agree with Mr Olley and everyone else! Of course it's a no brainer. Management at the Express and Star must be rubbing their hands together with glee & praying the Mail goes overnight.
You only have to look at the circulation of the existing morning paper to know that people don't rate 'yesterday's news'.
So, lets imagine it does go overnight and income continues to fall - which is inevitable in my view - what's the solution then? Will Trinity Mirror be so quick to tell us that the only viable way to save the paper will be to make it a weekly once the Post is dead and buried?
If TM are concerned about falling circulation why don't they pay attention to the figures which show that when the Mail breaks good live news - something it was once well equipped & well known for - the circulation figures shoot up!
Why on earth will people want to buy the Mail when the Express and Star moves into Birmingham and starts hitting the streets with real live news as they're leaving work? It just doesn't make sense!
So, if anyone at TM is actually reading this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE see sense and don't hammer the final nail in the coffin for the Mail.
The Trinity Mirror in its quest for profit will squeeze the paper out of existance at an even greater pace if it forces it to become an 'overnight' entity.
This would signal that the 'news' is yesterday's rather than today's! What will that do to the market? Well it will accelerate any decline and help to remove any influence the paper has in the City as a 'mover & shaper' of public opinion.
It also gives even more ground to local competition in the electronic markets especially. Be brave Dyson, do what a long line of previous editor's would have done. That is follow their instincts and support what the readers want.......News today not history tomorrow!
Don't forget trinity mirror is the company which sold the mail's old office in the city centre for £5 million - £9 million less than the previous deal which fell through when the developer went bust. They sold at the bottom of the market in order to get a few quid in the short term. Waiting till the market would have picked up would have produced 3x as much.
Steve Brown the former md who was in favour of on-day publishing and is now at the rival express and star will be rubbing his hands with glee - it's a great opportunity for them to stick the knife in and expand properly into Birmingham.
Recent ABC figures suggest the Mail is a title that needs to be invested in, not scaled back. Giving up the ability to provide on the day news does not smack of a media company serious about the future of newspapers. This is Britain's second city for heaven's sake. Overnight publishing will simply further diminish the crebility and reputation of a great brand. I wonder what the key people, the team (the Editor and his troops) really think ? They are the ones who have to 'believe'. They are the ones who have to nurture and cherish the title. I hope their voice is listened to properly as part of this consultation process.
Recent ABC figures suggest that the Mail is a title that needs to be invested in, not scaled back. Not having an on the day news service does not smack of a media company serious about the future of newspapers. This is Britian's second city for heaven's sake. Overnight publishing will further diminish the credibility and reputation of a great brand. I wonder what the key people, the team, (the Editor and his troops) really think? They are the ones who have to 'believe'. they are the ones who have to nurture and cherish the title. I hope their voice is really listened to as part of this consultation process.
Printing the Mail the night before would give the reader the same experience as picking up that morning's Metro in the evening - news now stale and 36-hours old.
What was the point in investing in 'state of the art' systems and printing technology to break live news fast if it's not used expressly (ha ha excuse the pun) for this purpose?
Fill the paper with features and life style stories - do me a favour, the reader doesn't want to read that cover to cover.
If on-the-day printing is stopped, you may as well just relaunch the paper as the Morning Mail and be done with it.
Mike Olley and John Clancy sum it up perfectly. The Mail has two choices - 'live' or 'dead'. Keep it live. If the Post goes weekly, which I welcome as a way of preserving and developing a quality business paper, that leaves an especially important role for the live local daily paper.
The Metro already has the food-processed style sell-by-date newspaper market wrapped up (with cling-film, sorry for the pun) - and it's free.
Rather, keep it live, or see it die.
The key issue is how advertising revenues can be grown to pay for such a high-quality, daily, live paper. Here the public sector has a key role to play - the council for example could easily advertise in local papers and support a key pillar of our democracy rather than spend money printing a free rag that comes through our doors advertising jobs. Take note, please, Mr Whitby.
To move the Birmingham Mail to an overnight morning paper would be a huge loss to the readers and would be a financial disaster for the company. Readers want to read news that happens during the day and the ability to provide different editions is the great sales push for the Birmingham Mail. The Birmingham Mail is a vital part of the media of the Midlands and provides strong, independent journalism which is written to inform and entertain its readers. It is both a newspaper and a campaigning tool to keep the interests of the citizens of the City at the forefront. To make it an overnight morning paper would be a mistake for the owners and a very bad decision for its readers. I hope that Trinity Mirror do take the right decision and keep the paper as it has always been.
It is vital for the Birmingham Mail itself, for its hard-working and locally knowledgeable journalists, printers etc and indeed for the city and people of Birmingham that the Birmingham Mail remains a live newspaper. Readers want a newspaper that is different to the nationals, one that can react quickly, dynamically and sensitively to local, regional, national and international breaking news in the day time.
An overnight newspaper would not be sufficiently different to the national morning newspapers whilst it would lose its ability to break daytime news.
I fear such a move would lead to a significant drop in sales and more job losses - something that needs to be avoided.
By going overnight the Birmingham Mail would also lose influence locally and regionally. Its weakening would diminish the standing of Birmingham. This city needs a strong, campaigning, popular and local newspaper that is at the centre of proactive democracy.
The Birmingham Mail must remain as a live newspaper and I believe that we should form a group to push strongly for this option.
I was discussing the future of The Birmingham Mail with my mum, over dinner, last night. My family has had the Birmingham Mail delivered for as long as I can remember and my mum said last night there would be no point in continuing to buy it, if the paper ended up containing the same stories as the national papers on sale in the mornings.
No-one wants to read old news especially on a local level. Regional papers like the Birmingham Mail have always lead the print news agenda, with the nationals picking up on the best of their stories the following day, it'll be a very sad day when that is no longer the case.
Trinity Mirror - do not ruin a great local paper!
The fact that Trinity should even be considering this move to overnight shows their incredible lack of vision.
The Mail will fade and die as an overnight. As will the Post as a weekly.
Get a clue Trinity...
The real tragedy for the Birmingham Mail is that it's owned by a company that has no emotional bond to Birmingham, no ties to anchor it to the city's past - or its future.
I doubt that the Trinity Mirror decision makers care about the differences between the cities that form their newspaper empire - from Newcastle and Liverpool to Cardiff and Coventry and now Birmingham.
Old fashioned though it may look, the independently-owned Express & Star seems to be faring better and that's possibly because it's had only one owner since it began.
To produce the Mail overnight will take the guts out of the Mail overnight as well. No more chances to splash on a cracking local live story or scoop the nationals.
Steve I know this is the line drawn in the sand for you - good luck!
A city as important as Birmingham needs a daily paper. And it needs one that reports today's news, not just yesterday's. That is why the Mail should stay live.
But willing the ends also requires us to will the means. David Bailey is right about the importance of advertising income to papers like the Mail and aboout the role which the public sector can play. Birmingham City Council should indeed look at advertising its jobs more extensively in the Mail rather than spending so much on its promotional Forward free sheet. By helping to secure the future of the Mail, the Council would be backing Birmingham.
Keeping the Mail live also requires commitment from Trinity Mirror. I urge them to make that commitment.
Hmmm... So the the 'plan' is to turn the morning daily into a weekly because it's simply not paying its way, and the evening into, erm, well, another morning, I guess. Unless Trinity Mirror are suggesting some of us are daft enough to fork out for yesterday's news on the way home from work today. I don't think so. It's difficult to imagine quite what this company's 'vision' for the Mail is. As a previous correspondent suggested, as a weekly? A freesheet? It's not worth dwelling on old ground and the dubious decisions made in the name of cost-cutting already, but wouldn't it be wonderful it this were more than simply a 'consultation exercise' in name only (for once) and Trinity Mirror accepted that Birmingham deserves the same-day, content-rich, exclusive-packed newspaper currently produced (heaven knows how) by the (sadly depleted) dedicated, professional, passionate team holed up at the Fort. Pigs, I suspect, might...
I've read the Mail since I was a child and as a loyal reader I can say now that I will simply stop buying it if it becomes a morning newspaper. But if the Mail is to remain an evening paper, where are you going to find the cuts (and lets be honest, it will be a cuts driven business plan, not one based on investment and increased revenue) to save the millions Trinity are demanding? I think it is obvious that you, personally, want the Mail to remain "live". I hope you have a plan up your sleeve that will quench the thirst for savings while keeping the life-blood of the newspaper. Otherwise, as many have already said, the newspaper will disappear and die.
As someone who decided to train to be a Journalist because he grew up reading the EVENING Mail, I think this would be a bad move for media in the region. As a very respected journalist on the Mail told me years ago "they won't be happy until its an eight page paper" it looks like they might get their own way.
Keep it in the evening, its a staple part of people's lives - the late breaking sport and current affairs news make it a must purchase paper on the way home from work.
I could pretty much say that if it goes to a morning paper, you could start kissing goodbye to the readership. i dont want to read news written 24 hours ago.
keep the mail an evening paper - you might have started the ball rolling to this by re-branding it the Birmingham Mail.
Fight to save the mail, then once that's done, re-brand it back to the evening mail - putting that back into it's title re-inforces it into people's minds of when it comes out.
Keep it to the evening.
I hear what Anne Heeps says, though according to former colleagues still at the paper they have been openly told that the Mail itself, despite falls in the recession, still makes a handsome profit. It’s just that TM want it to again make more to supplement those parts of the business making none. To me, that is the mammoth of a strategy currently blundering about For Dunlop towers searching for extinction!
Having worked with you, Steve, when previous management were trying to persuade you to agree with overnight, I know what you must be going through again. Unless, that is, you’re now convinced this is the only course of action? Whatever, speaking to you or, if not needed, direct to Trinity Mirror, I want to make a few points.
1. SAVINGS. Yes, you will save money on an ‘overnight’ paper because you won’t have as many vans and distribution costs. This has happened in places like Worcester, Coventry, etc. So, on the ‘why not?’ side, all the above contributors have to concede there is an argument.
2. LIVE NEWS. But none of the places where the change has happened are as big as Birmingham. Worcester and Coventry, to keep to the above examples, are distant, self-contained places, they are ‘small towns’ and, if I remember the quote from Alan Kirkby, the Coventry ex-editor, when he experienced a Paul-like conversion and went bravely overnight, “There’s rarely any live news in Coventry anyway, so what’s the point of a live newspaper?”. That’s just not the case in Birmingham; there’s live news happening all over the city… fires, murders, shootings, club signings/rows (Villa, Blues, Albion), major political events on the largest council in the whole of Europe, and so on.
3. SIMILAR CITIES. You can only really compare Birmingham with other large, metropolitan cities: Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and London, for example. And unless my ‘quick-glance’ research is incorrect, ALL those towns still proudly boast live, evening newspapers. Why? Because they feel they are of the size and import, with the lively news and sports scene, to require one. They would be out of date if not. I would suggest Birmingham is no different.
4. COMPETITION. Birmingham is in an extraordinary situation with regards to the neighbouring Express and Star newspaper, based in Wolverhampton. This newspaper is the largest regional evening in Britain, with sales more than twice the size of the Mail. It does not only exist in Wolverhampton. Its tentacles spread to all large neighbouring towns and cities. It has operations or editions covering Stafford, Lichfield, Bromsgrove, Walsall, Sandwell… you name a town or city within 20 miles of Wolverhampton and it’s there. Most poignantly, it has a particular edition called the Birmingham Express and Star. This is sold in many newsagents in the north and west of Birmingham city itself, as well as all over Birmingham city centre. It’s a live paper, late editions, covering any live story in the region. To be honest, the Mail is already in its shadow, though it’s own live editions keep loyal Mail readers buying. Close Birmingham’s ‘live’ paper, and there is a real threat that the Express and Star would expand into the live news space left behind. It could double the number of newsagents it delivers to and double its supply just to see what happened. With no ‘live’ Mail and big stories breaking every day, it wouldn’t take long to increase its foothold in Birmingham. It’s been mentioned above, but the new Express and Star chief, Steve Brown, who Trinity Mirror sacked, knows the Birmingham business as well as anyone. It doesn’t take too much to imagine that he might, just might, be tempted to roll the tanks in.
5. READERS. Any product worth its salt gives customers what they want. What do Mail readers want? Have they been surveyed? Are they phoning up moaning that they can’t buy the paper at 9am? Have you heard the kind of things said above by named readers and community leaders? Make a move without knowing what your readers want, especially in a competitive market place, especially in the UK’s 2nd city, and you risk hemorrhaging sales of the biggest, most profitable paper you’ve got left in the Midlands.
6. DECISION TIME. So, Steve, and your bosses, you asked for consultation, you asked for views and opinions. You would be irresponsible now not to listen. Or at least not to delay any decision until you know the answers and have risk-assessed all the above.
7. IDEAS. Cut your costs if you need to, but don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Leave the Mail ‘live’, look elsewhere for savings. The idea of turning the Post weekly seems popular, though don’t spend too much resource on a product that has teetered on the edge for decades (ie: no cat-killer with no ads.... make the Post high-quality business and politics, not reams of press releases). Maybe continue delayering your senior management. Do you really need three ad directors, two operations/IT directors, two managing directors, or whatever you’ve got these days? Just an idea. You’ll need more, but start at the top, not at the bottom end. What else is in loss? Cut that. And listen to some of the voices above. I dearly hope you realise that they are voices of reason are trying to help you from making a huge mistake on the one product that still has the mass appeal and revenue-streams to drive the company.
To make the Birmingham (as was Evening) Mail go overnight would basically kill it off. It has history, tradition and a feel for our city. Trinity Mirror are faceless, blood thirsty suits who don't give a toss about this city, its people or the staff on the Mail for that matter. It would be an absolute disgrace and the end of newspapers as we known it in Birmingham if these mad men and women followed this course of action. Investment in the title, quality of reporting is what's needed not cut, cut, cut, cut. Trinity Mirror are cutting so much there's nothing left. Unbelievable.
Don't let it happen Steve, fight tooth and nail to keep the paper 'LIVE'. An evening paper printed the night before is no longer an evening it's just another morning. The thing people like and enjoy about evening papers is the fact they can read things that have just happened overnight or first thing in the morning. As a previous commenter has said most major cities still have a live evening paper. Even your old paper in Middlesbrough, anothet TM title, is still hanging on as a live evening. Good Luck
Steve this must not happen. It's one thing TM allowing this nonsense to occur in Coventry but the Birmingham/Black Country Mail is in the unusual position of also being served by a newspaper from another group.
If the Mail becomes an overnight paper then you can guarantee that the Express and Star will swamp the entire region and make mileage on the fact that it is the region's only evening newspaper.
Allowing this to happen would be a bit like switching off the life support machine to a critically ill patient and 'hoping' it survives. It won't survive and it'll be the beginning of the end not only for the newspaper but also a team of dedicated and talented staff who care for the brand they serve.
Good luck on this one Steve. I and many others are right behind you.
It's crazy to even think about the Birmingham Mail becoming an overnight newspaper or morning newspaper if you prefer.
As a Brummie I am proud of Birmingham and proud of the Birmingham Mail, a paper that I and my family have read for over 30 years.
To make it a morning newspaer would make it out of date, especially on it's USP the local football coverage.
The Express and Star must be rubbing their hands with glee while their management will almost certainly be considering bringing out a Birmingham Edition again.
Whoever thought of this as an option has no concept of what a local newspaper truly is all about.
I understand that Trinity Mirror have to save money due to the financial situation however to make the "Mail" an overnight newspaper will eventually end up making the long term financial situation worse.
Lets hope commonsense prevails.
Are the people who run your newspaper aware of the strength of feeling and all of the above? I won't bother buying the Mail if it comes out at 7am and I can get it filling up on my way to work. I love the analysis I get from the football for midweek games as I am unable to get to them all down at St Andrew's. If the Mail is printed the night before does that mean you won't be able to get manager and player comments? I love reading those. These Trinity Mirror people won't have any readers of the Mail if they do this.
I completely agree with all the comments above, but playing devil's advocate for a minute, the paper's circulation has dropped from about 70,000 three years ago to about 55,000 now. Many people say the city "needs" an evening paper, and I agree, but if fewer and fewer readers are believing this to be the case, where does this argument actually stand?
Is there any mileage in the idea of reducing the paper to one edition printed on the day of the masthead, rather than three? This could save printing and distribution costs and the paper would remain an evening.
Making the Mail an overnight newspaper would be just one more ignominious retreat in a long line of such actions from Trinity Mirror.
Is there anyone in the senior management team at Canary Wharf with a progressive, strategic thought in their heads beyond "Where do we make the next cut?"
Mr Dyson, as an Editor, stand up and say what you think of these proposals if you think they are wrong tell the the people at the top that you don't agree with them. Do you believe Trinity Mirror are the best people to run your newspaper? Come on lets here what you really think, or are you too scared to stand up to them? Since they have owned these titles all I have heard from your colleagues during my time in the City is cut, cut, cut, trinity mirror this , trinity mirror that!
A Swedish newspaper operation found a model a while back which is hyper-localised news.
More > http://paulcanning.blogspot.com/2008/06/google-reader-clips-catch-up.html
It is easy to see how this would appeal to very lcoalised advertisers.
As Head of Regional Media for Cancer Research UK (the UK's largest fundraising charity), I would be extremely concerned to see the Evening Mail lose its 'live' edge and become an overnight newspaper. Cancer Research UK has long enjoyed an excellent relationship with the Mail to mutual benefit: we supply a constant stream of great human interest and 'scientific breakthrough' stories and the Mail affords us a strong platform for our vital messages and campaigns. While I am sure that relationship would continue to an extent if the Mail were to be transformed into an overnight paper, we would inevitably have to give serious consideration to working more closely with existing 'live' media competitors when it comes to live news. For instance, if we discover a significant breakthrough in the fight against breast cancer, we would want to get the story out on TV, radio, online and in print. Knowing that an overnight Mail would be carrying the story a day after its competitors would prompt us to question the level of impact and 'clout' that the Mail's handling of the story could have. Mindful of this, we might need to think strategically when deciding which media outlet to grant exclusive access to a powerful Birmingham-based case study or which outlet/s we would give want to invite into our Birmingham labs to interview our senior clinicians whose time is so precious.
Cancer is a disease that affects every family and Cancer Research UK has a duty to inform people across the community of the progress that is being made to beat the disease and the steps individuals can take to reduce their risk. As a press office, we are obliged to reach our audiences in the most effective ways and we can't be driven by sentiment or historic associations with one newspaper over another.
I'm sure a lot of other influential organisations would take the same view.
I urge Trinity-Mirror to think very carefully and consult widely.
It would clearly be a commercial mistake to take the Birmingham Mail overnight as it would then lose one of its marketing advantages.
It is important to take the actions to maintain the history of the Birmingham Evening Mail, but this step would not be one likely to achieve that. Even if in the short term there are financial advantages, the long term outcome would be counter-productive.
Hi Steve,
The Mail and the Post clearly need to be looked at in conjunction. Financially I think the proposal for the Post and the Mail overnight make absolute sense. You have to restore profitability to survive long and maybe medium term.
Unlike my friend Mike Olley I personally do not see the Express and Star as an issue other than for those City centre dwellers or those closer to Birmingham Council House politics (a minority sport)!I guess that Express and Star have their own problems anyway.
Both the Post and the Mail provide unique local community coverage on a City wide and to a lesser extent, regional coverage. This coverage is in print with photos, includes features and is not headline driven.
In particular, the local SME business community depends on both papers. There are no serious alternatives.
As you know, I believe that the Mail could do more on this front and the changes to the Post would make this an imperative. Large companies can always get coverage. SME's can't - and there has never been a time when we need SME's to thrive more so than now.
If the overnight Mail can be as up todate as the Post currently is I do not see a problem. Unlike Mike I do not regard it as a debate over 'stale news'. If you want up to the minute news you go online.
I believe that the strength of the local print media is that they provide in depth coverage to local news stories that don't get aired anywhere else. Without them, charities, community groups, businesses, Local elected representatives, trade unions and employers organisations would have no voice - and in 90% of cases, it really doesn't matter on which day the item is printed as long as it gets printed (if you see what I mean!)
Best wishes
Ray Woods
Ray Woods Business Development and PR
As the Minister for Creative Industries, I have Ministerial responsibility for publishing and news. As such, it wouldn't normally be the done thing for me to comment on this kind of question.
As a Birmingham MP, though, and as a Brummie and as a consumer, I feel that I have a right to express a view.
In which latter capacity - and not my Ministerial one - it almost goes without saying that I support the general wish to keep the Mail as an evening paper for the city. It is a part of our cultural heritage which it would be a great shame to lose. I share the general hope that Trinity Mirror bosses can find the needed savings elsewhere.
Whatever happens, though - whether the paper remains an evening or becomes a morning one - it seems to me that redoubled investment in the online platform will be crucial to its future success.
Having worked for several years on what I considered to be one of the best evening papers in the country, I think this would be a disaster for the Mail.
Becoming an overnight operation would be disastrous both for the readers and for the staff.
The USP of the evening paper is its ability to react to live breaking news, and sometimes to do that over two or even three editions. I've been on the newsdesk of the aforementioned paper when the splash has changed three times, and it's pretty exhilarating.
The news value is unquestionable, but it also has the effect of sharpening up the journalists responsible for the filling the pages - there's nothing that focuses the mind quite like a splash that has to be written in 20 minutes flat.
In his excellent Flat Earth News, Nick Davies writes of the dumbing down of journalism, of its gradual conversion into little more than 'churnalism'.
This is yet another step in that process - don't let it happen.
The Birmingham Mail and its sister paper the Birmingham Post are vital to our city and the thousands of people who rely on them every day for their news. Local newspapers such as the Mail allow people to stay connected with their communities and give them a voice at a time when they may otherwise not be heard. And I think that any moves to turn the Mail from a "live" newspaper into an "overnight" newspaper would have a detrimental effect on that, especially in a world where people want their news “here and now”. The Mail is a part of our heritage and we must do all that we can to protect it.
Poppy Brady says: "The real tragedy for the Birmingham Mail is that it's owned by a company that has no emotional bond to Birmingham, no ties to anchor it to the city's past - or its future."
But that doesn't sum up the problem does it. Look at the ABCs from recent years and the Birmingham Mail has fallen faster than a lot of other papers. Why is this? Surely part of the blame has to fall at the feet of those who relaunched it several years ago. I remember Steve boasting about £1million being spent on it then. That investment didn't work did it?
It would be helpful to these discussions if Steve could give an indication on how often the Mail's news agenda is turned on its head by an event taking place on the day. The Post and Mail are by far the biggest news organisation in the city and therefore a lot of what they produce will appear first in their papers, and not be reactive to events. If this isn't the case, then why not?
The Birmingham Mail needs to rediscover the communities which feel they don't relate to the Mail anymore. The Mail should be able to set the agenda and therefore it doesn't really matter what time of day the Mail is produced. (Steve should also point out that the majority of the Mail will be produced the day before anyway). It does, however, need the option to be able to print on day but if the Post does go weekly, it makes sense to have an early edition of the Mail on the news stands first thing with a refreshed edition later in the day.
Steve: What role will the web site play in the future?
I now live in Shropshire but many years ago used to live in Birmingham. Until about a year ago it was possible to buy the Mail in many places in the wider West Midlands region but now it is only available the day after publication except on a Saturday when I presume it is already printed overnight - I'm sure that this has contributed to the recent circulation decline.This day after distribution not only applies to rural areas but to places like Tettenhall and Birches Bridge very near to the centre of Wolverhampton - I remember when there was a Wolverhampton edition of the Mail!
I understand the cost implications of a wider circulation but the former strength of the Mail was its regional position as well as seving the core Birmingham city area.
Perhaps the answer is an overnight printed regional edition with a City edition printed in the morning to be available at lunch time.
I have to make the point to Ray Woods after he said that "charities, community groups, businesses, Local elected representatives, trade unions and employers organisations would have no voice" without local newspapers. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant to this debate. Readers don't buy newspapers so they can hear these organisations' voices, and newspapers do not exist just to give them a platform on which to make their voices heard. The point is that this is only going to be a commercially sensible move to make if readers and advertisers are not going to be put off by it. If they are put off by it then these organisations will have less of a voice for obvious reasons. But you cannot sum up that overnight printing won't have an effect on the paper because it might not have an effect on stories coming from these organisations. What about the countless stories from other sources? The argument just does not work.
I have no sympathy whatsoever anymore with this joke of a newspaper, having worked on this title for 14 years up until last November I have seen numerous Editors, Management & Owners come and go. Re-launch after Re-launch fail with Millions if pounds wasted, years and years of mis-management have brought this paper down to where it is today! The sinking ship has almost sunk!
Congratulations on yesterday's (Sep 2) live breaking newspaper. A first ed front page live breaking story on the release of cctv images of wanted race rioters in Birmingham, which the paper would not have had first had it been printed overnight, followed by breaking coverage of the Ashley Blake sentencing. Well done and I hope the sales figures are good.
It seems to me this question over the future of the Mail has been on the cards for some time. The cynics among us might even look at the decision to remove the word "Evening" from the title a few years back as the start of it. Perhaps it goes back even further. The fact is that rebrand didn't work - most people I know still call it the Evening Mail. It's part of many people's day on the way home - and that's where it should stay. It's a big city and an evening paper is part of that city life. Otherwise, who should the local populace turn to for coverage of what's going on in their area that night? Let's see .... Central News - cutback after cutback has left a once fine tv news programme an embarrassing shadow of its former self. Local radio has all but abandoned locality in favour of hours upon hours of networked programming - and I speak as a former reporter and editor at Heart, where we took pride in getting out and about covering the area. What are you left with? The BBC. Our once thriving, plural media is slowly being pecked away at by cost-cutting senior management who see the bottom line before all else (partly understandably) but who, in my view, see the notion of doing news properly for the area in which they operate as nothing more than an inconvenience to the business of making money. What they should see is that for newspapers the two are inextricbly linked.
Arguments have been expressed above about falling circulations. This is a problem. Partly it will be due to people getting their news online, partly it is due to a fall in quality. I don't make the critism lightly - I have huge respect for the reporters who work - and used to work - on both the Post and Mail, many of whom I covered stories alongside for years. But how many of them are left? What happened to the small, but vital, regional offices? It's a wonder the paper can even get to print with the low level of staffing it has. A lowering of staffing levels may produce the cuts an organisation says it needs to survive - but only at the expense of quality and morale. Fewer staff means less time to be a reporter properly - and the readership aren't stupid. They will see that for themselves and stop buying. As they have.
I remember covering the Aston shootings trial at Leicester Crown Court. There was always one journalist from the Mail there - sometimes more. Could that be even attempted now? I suspect it would be a struggle.
There is a threat to local papers from online news sources - but threats are also opportunities. It is clear that as time goes on, more people will use the web to get news as well as from a paper or local tv and radio. The Birmingham Mail must embrace that technological change - but not use it to simply reproduce online what is in the paper, but offer something else, added-value (horrible expression though that is). Doing so will keep the Mail vibrant and essential for Birmingham.
I believe the paper must be continued as an evening paper to provide the service it should be providing, lest it lose that evening readership to the E&S. It won't get readers in the morning - there is simply too much competition for it to survive. Not least from a free Metro on the bus/train which people will read on their commute - and give them the morning update they want.
But if the BM is to survive - it has to address the decline in sales by improving its quality and maintaining its USP as the only live paper in Birmingham - and embracing the opportunities of the digital age.
Good luck
An overnight Birmingham Mail would be a very unfunny sad joke. Readers ran a mile after the rebranding and they will again when they are getting 'Yesterday's news Tomorrow'.
But surely the question is not overnight or not to overnight but how the hell are you guys going to produce a decent paper when you sacking another job lot of decent reporters, subs and snappers???
Although I work in PR, I firmly believe that the interests of democracy and society at large are best served by a strong, vibrant and dynamic media. That is to say less people like me, and more journalists!
To say that going ovrenight would damage the Mail's quality and ability to fulfil its historic role in the city as a watchdog is a gross understatement.
If the intention is to sell off the paper and make some quick cash for shareholders, let's be honest about it. Going overnight would destroy the Mail, make no mistake.
It's a fantastic newspaper run by a dynamic editor who is one of the best journalists of his generation.
Don't destroy it.
Many thanks for all the opinions, questions and ideas.
Unusually, for me, I’ve stood back from answering each and every comment until now as I haven’t wanted to stifle the flow. This is a consultation and we need to show we know we have one mouth and two ears...
But after seven days, I’d now like to close this blog subject with a general response, and one that provides a little balance to clarify what I see as possibly misplaced or over-stated concepts.
1/ First and foremost, some have presumed that should the Birmingham Mail go overnight it would become second-rate. I’d like to make it clear that, whatever the decision on the ‘overnight or live’ question, the editor and journalists will strive to produce a paper of the highest quality possible. Why, only this week, we began a top-notch, exclusive 3-day part work on the life story of local BBC presenter Ashley Blake, jailed on Wednesday. The quality, readability and newspaper sales-worth of such journalism can be created regardless of publication times.
2/ We’re not talking about the possibility of the whole paper changing. The Birmingham Mail, like all evening newspapers still printed on the day they sell, is c. 20% ‘live’, with many overnight pages laid down the day before. It’s only the first seven and last seven or so pages, plus race cards and share prices, that are completed on-day, often with stories developed the previous day.
3/ Some say a morning Mail would be like reading the Metro or a national paper, but of course the Mail would largely be filled with LOCAL stories not found anywhere else.
4/ Many say they fear overnight would hit sales; but while readers’ and newsagents’ views should and are being considered, it’s worth pointing out that other newspapers in other towns and cities that have made this move do not report a worsening circulation trend because of this change. Some state that earlier availability has helped.
5/ There is a fast-growing audience on birminghammail.net, and this provides the ability to add the "up to the minute" dimension.
Of course, both live and overnight strategies have advantages and disadvantages, and we all have opinions on those.
But those opinions have to be weighed up against the economic reality that the company is in, and judged against the various factors involved.
And again, whatever the decision, those who edit, write and produce the paper will proudly work at making it a brilliant read.
This blog post is now closed to comments.
Anyone with ideas or further comments on the issue can email ideas@trinitymirror.com.
As a PR professional in the city I believe it to be crucial that the Birmingham Mail continues in its current live state.
The paper is a major part of my current media strategy - mainly due to the Mail's ability to get the stories that I need out there in the quickest time.
...and the future of the Birmingham Mail is...?
What of the Post?