SIR Nicholas Winterton has raised the issue of the Macclesfield Express’s imminent office move to Manchester in Parliament.
It was announced last week that all of MEN Media’s district offices, including the Macclesfield Express building on Chestergate, will close and operations moved to the Manchester Evening News HQ on Deansgate, Manchester. The Express will continue to be published in Macclesfield.
Guardian Media Group, which owns the MEN and surrounding weekly titles, also announced the loss of 150 jobs, including 78 journalists across its stable of titles.
And Macclesfield’s MP in particular has expressed strong concerns about the loss of the paper’s office in the town.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday (March 12), Sir Nicholas called for a full Parliamentary debate on the plan, calling it "a crisis".
He said: "This week, Guardian Media Group announced the closure of all its local newspaper offices (including) Wilmslow, Accrington, Salford and Macclesfield, making a very large number of journalists redundant and taking local news away from an area (Macclesfield) where that newspaper has been printed for 198 years. That shows the seriousness of the issue. May we have a debate in this place ... so we can have the opportunity to express our concern about local newspapers."
A letter signed by Sir Nicholas and five other North West MPs criticising the announcement was published in the Guardian newspaper on Saturday (March 14).
MBC leader, Councillor Frank Keegan, said there would be a "gap in the lives" of Maxonians after the closure.
"Lots of people know when we as councillors have done something right or wrong through the newspaper. It is very much something that people focus on and would notice if it was missing. The Express is an important contact the public have with the council. They feel they get scrutiny and information."
He joked: "You have been a pain in the backside at times but the bottom line is that the paper has really been to the public’s benefit. I am concerned withdrawing to the centre of Manchester isn’t going to keep the spotlight on local council news, such as from next month with Cheshire East."
Leader of Cheshire East Council, Coun Wesley Fitzgerald, said: "I am sure every thinking person will feel regret. The local feeling is being removed. The Guardian group is having to regroup and I regret that we are the victims of that locally, because the source now of our news will be remote. I share the great concern of the effect the recession, towards depression, is having on businesses at large."
In a statement to staff released last week, Mark Dodson, MEN Media’s chief operating officer, said: "Our role within Greater Manchester is to produce great journalism for our readers, users and viewers. If we want to continue to do this we need to find a new, sustainable business model to support it. Doing nothing is therefore not an option. This has been a very difficult decision to make and I deeply regret that it has been necessary. Nonetheless, I do believe this is the right decision for MEN Media’s future and for the majority of staff who will remain with the company."
Of the 150 jobs to go, 78 will be journalists – 39 within the weekly titles and 39 at the MEN.
Sir Nicholas Winterton has joined 22 other MPs (as the Express went to press) in signing a parliamentary early day motion (EDM) expressing "regret and concern" at last week’s announcement. The motion asked that the House of Commons "deplores the move to close down all of the individual weekly newspaper offices which currently serve the Greater Manchester conurbation" and "believes that the proposed cuts in editorial, advertising, distribution and information technology can only be damaging to the future prospects of the titles concerned".
It also expressed concern at the 150 job losses.
