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October 22, 2015

Further Johnston Press newspaper closures emerge: Northern Ireland loses two weeklies

By William Turvill

Another two Johnston Press newspaper closures have emerged, this time in Northern Ireland.

The merging of the Ballymena Times and Antrim Times and closure of the Sunday Journal in Derry means the publisher has closed 15 titles in recent months.

Johnston Press announced on 7 October that it had closed eight free newspapers and folded another three into paid-for titles.

But it did not mention the merging of four Yorkshire titles – for Todmorden, Hebden, Dewsbury and Mirfield – into two, nor the Northern Ireland changes.

Press Gazette research shows Johnston Press has now closed at least 26 newspapers since 2012.

Press Gazette understands the Antrim Times was folded into the Ballymena Times at the end of the summer.

The Derry Journal's Sunday edition, meanwhile, was published for the last time on 4 October.

When last audited by ABC, in the second half of 2012, the Ballymena Times and Antrim Times had a combined paid-for, weekly circulation of 3,357.

During the same period the Sunday Journal recorded an average circulation of 2,125. 

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