The Northcliffe-owned Leicester Mercury today launched a new paid-for weekly edition covering the Loughborough area of Leicestershire.
The Loughborough Mercury has an initial print run of 7,000 and will be published on Wednesdays with 10 pages of local pictures and stories provided by two dedicated journalists working primarily from home.
The pair will gather the content and also produce the local pages.
The Mercury said in a statement: “This model gives the Mercury the ability to launch the new edition within the cost constraints prevailing in the industry.
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"The Loughborough Mercury has been produced to meet a clear demand in the area for grassroots news which has been expressed by retailers and local people.”
Leicester Mercury editor Richard Bettsworth said: “We know that people want hyper local news; what is going on in their communities and down their street. What we are doing is trying to provide that news in a different way than in the past. The traditional approach to producing an editionalised paper with an area office is just not affordable in these times and we have to be innovative if we are going to build a future for the publishing industry.
“This is an investment in a print product at a time when the industry is generally contracting. It is a bold move to find a new way of delivering the news that people want, building our readership and providing advertisers a great opportunity to engage with the local community.
“The Loughborough Mercury will be a bright, informative and entertaining new local paper. It has the strength of the Leicester Mercury on Wednesdays: a high-quality sports section; an eight-page jobs supplement; entertainment listings; general news, Mr Leicester and our popular Mailbox pages.
“On top of this it gives people 10 pages of specific news about their area. We think this is a positive statement about the future of print and we are excited to be making it.”
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