Southport-based Independent publisher Champion Media Group has launched a new title as it looks to take advantage of Trinity Mirror’s decisions to merge the Bootle Times, Maghull & Aintree Star and Anfield & Walton Star into a single title called The Star.
CMG’s Bootle Champion will come out on Wednesdays, a day after the The Star is distributed in Tuesday’s Liverpool Echo.
CMG was set up 18 years ago and now publishes seven other titles across Merseyside and Lancashire including the Aintree & Maghull Champion and the Crosby & Litherland Champion. Its titles have a combined circulation of 166,540.
No jobs will be created following the launch and the Bootle Champion will be put together by the group’s existing staff.
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Managing director Betty Drummond was quoted on how-do.co.uk saying:
We still believe passionately in the value of local newspapers and the vital role they play in supporting the local economy.
When a business wants to reach local customers there is nothing in this world that can match a local newspaper delivered with consistent reliability into every home every week.
In December Trinity announced a restructure that will see the Liverpool Daily Post turned into a weekly paper and the closure of the Huyton & Roby Star, West Derby & Tuebrook Merseymart and the South Liverpool Merseymart.
Meanwhile, another independent title has launched in Norfolk – the The Great Yarmouth & Gorleston Gazette.
According to Jon Slattery the title is being produced by MGMT Media, a company based in Great Yarmouth describings itself as Norfolk’s “newest media company offering a wide range of products and services to the local community”.
The Gazette will be a free weekly paper with a planned distribution of 50,000 and will be in competition with Archant’s paid-for Great Yarmouth Mercury and free Yarmouth Advertiser.
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