The Argus today unveiled a revamp under new editor Mike Gilson.
The Newsquest-owned Brighton has been redesigned through and new sections have also been added including: Spotlight Argus – in-depth analysis and investigation of a big story; Debate Argus – an expanded letters and columnists section; and Life Argus – covering human interest stories and the “quirky things in life”.
The redesign comes after Gilson took up his position seven weeks ago, having departed as editor of the Belfast Telegraph last year. He said: “I’m immensely proud to be heading this great publishing institution in its 135th year. This week we take another step in our evolution. With the relaunch, we’ve given it some new bold features and a fresh lick of paint.”
The Argus has a daily circulation of 13,648 according to the latest ABC figures, for the six months to December 201, and 46,747 daily unique browsers to the website.
Circulation of the newspaper has declined steadily over recent years, from 38,223 in 2005. In the same period, it has gone through numerous redesigns.
Last year, UK regional dailies declined by an average of 10 per cent year on year. The Argus fell by 12.3 per cent year on year.
Gilson told Press Gazette: “Everything’s an attempt to slow the decline in readership.
“New designs in themselves don’t do that but we have set ourselves the task of improving the quality of the news as well.
“I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t believe we could slow the decline, but it’ll take hard yards of journalism, day in day out.”
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