How about this for lateral thinking? A newspaper publisher is launching a free weekly on the back of having won an exclusive contract to run a council's advertising.
Neil Speight, editor of a range of free Enquirer titles in Essex, will add the Thurrock Enquirer to his stable tomorrow.
It follows Thurrock council's decision to place its advertising, worth �130,000, in the new paper over the next year.
The ads provide what Speight calls "skeleton funding" for the new title, which will be distributed for free at stations, newsagents and libraries in the borough.
Initially, the print run will be 25,000 copies, but it is hoped to raise this to 75,000 as other advertisers (possibly) come aboard.
Clearly, the council's unprecedented move is due to the coincidence of the coming restrictions on council-run publications (see here) and the current requirement to cut costs.
Thurrock council expects to save around �60,000 in its advertising bill and will save yet more by scrapping its own publication.
A council spokesman told Press Gazette this was the first time the authority had agreed to "bundle" its advertising, which includes recruitment ads and statutory notices (such as planning and licensing applications).
But there is, evidently, no quid pro quo in terms of editorial coverage in the Enquirer. Speight - hard at work this morning to get out his first issue - is at pains to point out that his paper will remain independent.
It will not, he says with some passion, carry Thurrock council "propaganda." Just the reverse. He expects to publish critical stories when necessary.
There is a measure of scepticism about that claim within Speight's former paper, the Thurrock Gazette, the paper founded in 1884 that I remember from my primary school days in South Ockendon in the 1950s.
The Gazette, now owned by Newsquest/Gannett, also bid for the council advertising contract, but was undercut by the Enquirer.
A Gazette source told me it was undoubtedly "a blow to us", but its editorial staff remained confident of the public's respect for the paper.
Over 52,000 copies are distributed free every week, though some are sold at 45p a time.
This is, of course, a one-year experiment. The council, the Enquirer and the Gazette will be carefully monitoring how it works out.
I now wonder whether Thurrock council's move will be imitated by local authorities elsewhere. Speight clearly thinks the idea might take off.
He is hoping to approach other Essex councils to secure similar deals. So more Enquirers might well be on the way.
Hat tips: Press Gazette/holdthefrontpage
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/feb/16/council-run-newspapers-local-newspapers
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