Former Archant staff are behind a new free weekly launched this week in competition with the Eastern Daily Press and the Lynn News.
Your Local Paper has a full-time staff of five and is funded by private investment. It has a circulation of 20,000 in King’s Lynn, Downham Market and Hunstanton.
Managing director Alan Taylor has previously worked for existing Norfolk paid-for titles the Archant-owned Eastern Daily Press and the Johnston Press-owned Lynn News.
He said: “We have had fantastic support for the paper from advertisers. Readers are keen to have an alternative to paying for their local news and free papers have changed, they are no longer the poor relation to their paid-for counterparts.
“We are very much a part of the local community where we all live and the emphasis is very much on the word local – hence the name.
“There is definitely room in the market for us – advertisers are telling us they want an alternative and the readers don’t always want to be paying around £1 for their local newspapers.”
Editor Donna Semmens has worked as a journalist for 25 years – most recently with the Eastern Daily Press. She is a former news editor of the Lynn News and deputy editor of the Diss Express.
She said: “This is a great project to be a part of – we are completely independent so don’t have to dance to anyone else’s tune. We will produce a local paper serving our community and creating a viable platform for our advertisers. West Norfolk is a great place to live and we want to reflect the good things going on as well as reporting the traditional, harder news stories.
“We know there will be people out there who maintain that printed papers have had their day – well we know that’s not the case here and we know our community wants to pick-up a local paper for a good read.”
The news editor for the new title is Daisy Wallage.
The title will be distributed at supermarkets across the area.
Your Local Paper is half-Berliner size and is being printed by Guardian Media Group in London taking advantage of spare capacity on the Berliner-size Guardian presses.
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