'Indy price hike backfired', guardian.co.uk

Monday, November 24, 2008

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Independent's price rise was a mistake, says Roger Alton, by James Silver

Raising the cover price of the Independent to £1 was a mistake that has made the paper "very vulnerable", the paper's editor, Roger Alton, has admitted.

Alton said Independent executives were aware of the risk when they raised the paper's cover price in September, but that since then the "ice cold winds of recession have increased to gale force".

Speaking in the wake of Independent News and Media's announcement that 90 jobs - including 60 editorial posts - would go at the Independent and the Independent on Sunday, he also described the current climate for newspapers as "horrific".

"There's already been carnage, and I expect there'll be more," Alton told Sky News Online.

"I'd be amazed if some newspapers didn't fail [during the recession]. It's a very, very inhospitable time for newspapers. A lot of papers are in trouble, but we're in a more vulnerable position because we're smaller."

He admitted that the Independent - already an ultra-lean operation - would have to "recalibrate" as a result of the cuts.

"[The Independent] clearly can't be the same. If you were staging the musical Carousel and you had a cast of 13 instead of 33 it would be a very different thing, and you'd have to stage it differently," Alton said.

"We're going to have to recalibrate and I'm exploring it with everyone at the paper."

Asked if he regretted the decision to raise the Independent's cover price in September, he said: "Take a wild guess! We were aware of the risks when we did it and the ice cold winds of the recession have increased to gale force more or less from that day.

"From the bottom of the market to charge the most was always very risky. It's made us very vulnerable.

"If I could do anything to reverse [the ensuing circulation fall], literally anything - I'd saw off my right fucking forearm - I would."

The loss-making Independent titles have seen dramatic falls in circulation, with the Independent down 16.29%, year on year last month, and the Sunday down by 21.41% - something for which the former editor of the Observer was disarmingly quick to take personal responsibility.

"I feel a terrible personal failure, it's very chastening. I feel like I've let down all the staff - and it's a tight, lean staff, who work fantastically hard," Alton said.

"I feel like I haven't been able to deliver either to them or the senior management.

"I don't want to sound like I'm about to put a bullet in my head - but it's not nice, it's very discouraging. The events of the last few months would shake anyone's confidence frankly."

Commenting on a report that the Independent has been up for sale - with potential buyers reported to have included the environmental campaigner Zac Goldsmith and cash-buyers from the United Arab Emirates - Alton said: "Simon [Kelner] is the managing director of the paper and if anyone comes to him with an approach, he would be insane not to look further.

"I think eventually the thing with Goldsmith broke down, because I'm not sure [Goldsmith] was on safe-enough financial-footing ... The Abu Dhabi thing, I know nothing about ..."

When asked if he ruled out a sale in the immediate future, he said: "Absolutely, yes, totally. 100%."

(mediaguardian.co.uk, 24th November 2008)

UPDATE: This interview was picked up widely in the industry, here in Press Gazette, but also on Brand Republic, The Association of Circulation Executives and The First Post.

Posted by James Silver - On Monday, November 24, 2008

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