As many as five national newspapers could fold in the next two years – casualties of the global economic crisis and the structural changes hitting the media industry – according to the Guardian’s director of digital content, Emily Bell.
Speaking last night at Polis, the journalism think-tank, Bell said she believed large parts of the British media industry could be rendered extinct and predicted “two years of carnage” for the industry.
“In the UK five nationals could go out of business and we could be left with no UK-owned broadcaster outside of the BBC. We are facing complete market failure in local papers and regional radio,” she said.
“This is systematic collapse – not just a cyclical downturn. Even the surviving brands will have to go through a period of unprofitability.”
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