Local weekly papers and regional dailies show continuing decline
in print sales
However there is increase in the viewing of regional press websites
In a post prior to the Senedd (National Assembly for Wales) election and
also the June 23rd 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, I discussed what helped to account for the fact that the level of interest
shown by the people of Wales was considerably higher for the referendum ( 82%)
than the Senedd election (59%).
Without
doubt a major reason was the nature and content of news coverage in Wales, including which
sectors of that medium predominates in our country.
When one tunes in to the latest UK political news, it is often dominated by the news and
events surrounding the Westminster ‘village‘. This is natural, but unfortunately
at a time of elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland such
preponderance of Westminster news clearly impacts on people’s exposure to the campaign
issues in those countries.
Put simply, the people of Wales are not regularly exposed and certainly not over-exposed to news coverage about Senedd
matters.
One of the
most striking findings of the 2016 survey was the significantly low number of
people reading a newspaper produced in Wales – 5% or fewer.
The Western
Mail carries the most comprehensive coverage of the Senedd, but the survey
revealed that fewer than 4% regularly read it. When people were asked to name their main newspaper,
just 1% of respondents selected The Western Mail.
The Daily
Mail, by contrast, is almost ten times more likely to be named as a main daily
newspaper and is read regularly by four times more people in Wales than The
Western Mail.
Broadcasters
in Wales, on the other hand, reach a far greater proportion of people than
newspapers..
BBC Wales
Today is the most widely consumed – 37% of people frequently tune in – while
17% and 13% of people in Wales regularly watch ITV’s Wales Tonight or listen to
BBC Radio Wales respectively.
But UK wide
news is the predominant source for Welsh people’s news.
The BBC News
at Six or Ten is watched by nearly 37% of respondents regularly, while 30% of
people tune into the BBC News channel. ITV’s Evening News or News at Ten and
Sky News are viewed less often – 11% and 13% respectively – but still rank as
key sources relative to other news produced in Wales.
Added to the specific news programmes, such as above, is the impact of a range of other regular daily or
weekly news-bearing productions such as Daily Politics, Newsnight, Panorama,
Question Time and the like, which taken all together really do ‘swamp’ the
coverage provided by indigenous programmes produced in Wales.
Recently I have
come across further updated data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) which shows a continuing decline in the readership of the local weekly
newspapers and regional dailies.
Local weekly newspapers in the UK lost print circulation by an average of 11.2 per cent year on year in
the second half of 2016. The figures suggest a quickening in the pace of
print decline in recent years, possibly fuelled by cover price rises, editorial
cutbacks and readership moving to online.
Weekly Newspaper
|
Average. Circulation
|
% Decline Year on Year
|
|
Wales on Sunday
|
11,608
|
N/A
|
|
Western Telegraph
|
11,089
|
10.0
|
|
Carmarthen Journal
|
9,759
|
13.1
|
|
Llanelli Star
|
7,747
|
15.5
|
|
North Wales Weekly News
|
6,408
|
18.0
|
|
Glamorgan Gazette
|
5,637
|
22.4
|
|
Newport Advertiser
|
4,970
|
N/A
|
|
Tivyside Advertiser
|
4,756
|
9.4
|
|
Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald
|
4863
|
24.7
|
|
Holyhead and Bangor Mail
|
4,130
|
18.7
|
|
South Wales Guardian
|
4,157
|
8.3
|
|
Merthyr Express
|
3,607
|
30.1
|
|
Penarth Times
|
3,313
|
11.4
|
|
Barry and District News
|
3,229
|
10.3
|
|
Free Press Monmouthshire & Pontypool
|
3,466
|
14.7
|
|
Rhondda Leader
|
2,625
|
24.7
|
|
Pontypridd & Llantrisant Observer
|
2,024
|
28.6
|
|
Cynon Valley Leader
|
1,975
|
24.6
|
|
Gwent Gazette
|
1,646
|
28.8
|
|
The grim performance was marginally
better than regional dailies, which fell by an
average of 12.5 per cent in the same period according to ABC.
Daily Newspaper
|
Average Circulation
|
% Decline Y on Year
|
|
South Wales Evening Post
|
28,477
|
14.90%
|
|
Daily Post
|
26,348
|
4.90%
|
|
Western Mail
|
21,911
|
N/A | |
South Wales Echo
|
21,370
|
17.60%
|
|
Wales on Sunday
|
15,656
|
15.70%
|
|
South Wales Argus
|
13,197
|
33.20
|
|
A redeeming feature is that nearly every regional newspaper website audited by ABC recorded strong growth in the second half of 2016.
Newspaper on Line
|
Average Daily View
|
% Increase Y/Year
|
Wales Online
|
292,824
|
13.1
|
Daily Post Wales
|
81,125
|
5.1
|
South Wales Evening Post
|
51,222
|
N/A
|
South Wales Argus
|
40,662
|
N/A
|