Aberdeen Journal’s broadsheet title the Press & Journal has unveiled its last ever full-size paper in a bid to modernise.
The newspaper was founded 265 years ago in 1747, and has seen declining sales (in-line with the industry, nationally) continue despite this change.
Its head office in Mastrick, west of Aberdeen city, employs over 2,000 people. It was at the forefront of the downfall of unionised workforces in the Scottish newspaper industry.
Their average daily readers remain, however, at an average of 71,004. Their ‘Energy’ supplement, published the first Monday of every month, in particular, services the massive oil industry in the city, with an average monthly readership of 238,000.
It (287,000) dwarfs readership figures for the Scottish Daily Record (58,000), the Scottish Daily Mail (92,000) and even the Scottish Sun (169,000).
Given the affluence of the north-east, being the second most desirable location for the super-rich in Scotland, its readership is amongst the oldest, with 44% of its readers being over the age of 55.
Furthermore, the demographic make-up of its readers’ figures is 60% of ABC1s.
The change was phased-in eight years ago, appearing only in its compact format every Monday.
At the time Press & Journal editor Damian Bates, said: “Today sees the Press & Journal go compact on a Monday with a new lifestyle section and significantly more sports coverage.
“But you will also find it maintains its gravitas and analysis of the news so that you can keep up to date with all the happenings in your area and further afield.”
Aberdeen Journals was sold by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) in 2006 and the paper, now part of the DC Thomson newsgroup, is ready to make the change permanent.
Damian Bates, who replaced the longest-serving editor of a daily Scottish newspaper, Derek Tucker, two years ago, said: “This move towards a compact newspaper has been driven very much by our readers.
“Any market research we‘ve undertaken, and we do undertake a vast amount of market research, has suggested that the vast majority want to see a compact newspaper.
“It’s easier to handle, and it’s what the readers want. We are very confident, the reaction we have received so far has been positive.
“I don’t think it’s a gamble, I think we’re taking a bold step – we’re taking an innovative step – but this is an investment for our future.
“It’s part of an evolutionary step, we’re continuing to progress the newspaper all the time.”
Andrew Jones, journalism lecturer at The Robert Gordon University, said: “This is where Aberdeen Journals have been very smart. They’ve been fortunate to be in an area with a strong economy, but they’ve also been very careful not to give their content away.
“What they are now trying to do is create something that is a bit more dynamic, which will keep them going certainly into the medium-term.
“So they have been able to secure a much bigger share of the market than many their competitors, but – in common with all newspapers – they’re having to manage long-term decline.”
Media commentators have dubbed it the past as Parochial & Journal for its local news focus, because just one week after 9/11 the paper’s ‘World News’ section was barely half a page.
Some things they are willing to discount, however is the following: that the paper, covering the Titanic story, carried the headline ‘North-east man lost at sea’.
The actual headline, in fact, was ‘Mid-Atlantic Disaster’.
Still, despite falling circulation, the oldest, most-read and best-selling broadsheet newspaper in Scotland has to have some, relative key to success.
Andrew Jones added: “They’re operating in an environment which is economically very strong, and they have a very strong brand of concentrated and local journalism.”
Last year, sales of the Press & Journal dropped nowhere near as sharply as other national titles, only slipping from 88,000 to 73,000.
Figures from 2011 also showed Scotland’s bigger city evening papers faced some of the bigger falls over that time, including the Evening Times in Glasgow which fell 7.8% to average sales of 50,900.
In Edinburgh, the Evening News fell 7.2% to 38,700, with the decline in sales accelerating over the last six months.
The Herald, Scotland on Sunday, and Dundee Courier in Scotland have, so far, resisted similar changes, though.
However, The Scotsman, The Times and The Independent have become ‘compact’; with The Guardian and The Observer following similar suit.
Broadsheets were not always the preserve of the intelligentsia. The Daily Express and even the now defunct News of the World were originally printed in broadsheet format.
Ironically enough, the News of the World was also printed on the Aberdeen Journal’s presses until March 2006.
AS WOULD BE WRITTEN FOR ‘Press Gazette’ (B2B)












