The Grimsby Telegraph has announced a £100,000 annual investment in providing an extra 60 pages of print content per week.
The investment represents the cost of printing and paper. The changes follow last month's news that the Local World-owned daily had merged subbing and reporting functions with the loss of two editorial jobs.
The title now has 12 reporter/sub-editor 'content managers', plus a graphic designer, two newsdesk journalists and the photographic team.
Editor Michelle Lalor said that the investment in new print content came about as a result of feedback from readers that the paper was looking too thin on certain days of the week. It now runs to at least 60 pages every day, with a current cover price of 45p.
She said the rethink was a local initiative which followed the arrival of Mike Pennington as managing director in February.
In recent years more than ten regional dailies have turned into weeklies.
When asked how the Grimsby title is managing to move against the trend, Lalor told Press Gazette: “Grimsby is a massively strong area and deserves to keep a daily. It’s very much like Hull with a very non-transient community and people like the daily paper.”
She said that the changes in editorial work practices are “allowing us to be more flexible with the resources that we have and more creative in the content that we use”. The paper is also making more use of reader-generated content and archive material.
Sales of the Grimsby Telegraph stood at an average of 22,343 per day in the second half of last year, down 8.2 per cent year on year.
But Lalor said that with online, total readership has grown "significantly" in recent years.
She said: "We are the only local newspaper investing in so many extra pages in the current economic climate but we are confident it is the right thing to do.
“We want it to offer exceptional value for money every single day of the week. The print version of the Grimsby Telegraph is now bigger and better than ever before and when combined with the website, we are committed to being the only source of news that people in North East Lincolnshire need to read.”
The new content includes:
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A 12-page bygones section on Mondays and a new consumer feature on money-saving
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On Tuesdays the Young Stars youth sports section is increased from eight pages to 20. There is a also a new community features called ‘Down Your Street’
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The Wednesday what’s-on section has been relaunched as the Midweek Guide and runs to eight pages
- A 28-page Weekend Guide on Saturdays including TV listings, cinema information and local shows and gigs
- Saturday will see the launch of our brand-new, 28-page Weekend Guide, including seven-day TV listings, local cinema, shows, gigs, travel, food and much more.
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