The Scott Trust, which controls the Guardian group, is to sell many of its regional titles and websites to Trinity Mirror. This includes titles such as the Manchester Evening News.

The Scott Trust claims that Trinity Mirror is best placed to develop regional and local newspapers – ignoring the fact that Trinity axed 44 titles and 1600 jobs last year. More closures and job losses are in the offing around the country as Trinity make huge losses.

The recession is leading to even greater concentration of media ownership with a handful of multinationals owning the vast majority of UK  newspapers and websites.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ deputy general secretary, warned over fears to “editorial independence” which should concern government,  local communities and the media industry.

Lawrence Shaw, NUJ assistant organiser in the North West and Midlands, said: “Public services such as local papers are becoming ever more distant from the communities they serve.”

He was concerned over the sale and whether Trinity would just use the takeover to make quick profits, he said. “If you want a product that people want, you’ve got to invest in it…Manchester has a need for a daily newspaper, so there is absolutely a commercially viable product there.”

The NUJ Left believes that the media owners should be investing far more into newspapers and that there needs to be a serious debate over different forms of ownership such as co-operatives, not for profits,  social firms, and nationalisation under local control.

Posted by Keith Sellick