Three Irish weeklies shut down

Posted by Clara Martínez Turco on September 1, 2010 at 6:11 AM

The Alpha Newspaper Group, which is the largest weekly publisher in Northern Ireland, on Monday closed the Roscommon Champion, the Longford News and the Athlone Voice, the BBC reported.

The company said the decision was taken after a severe decline of circulation and advertising revenue, RTE.ie informed. In recent months, several staff members were laid off and the design and layout departments were centralized to reduce costs.

In a statement partially reproduced by The Irish Times, the workers of the Roscommon Champion said they were "traumatized" by the news.

"These are difficult economic times and the staff understood the need to introduce efficiencies. However, no newspaper with foundations stretching back more than eighty years should have been allowed to close its doors," the staff said.

The secretary of the National Union of Journalists Seamus Dooley criticized the closures because they represent "a blow to media diversity as well as a significant blow to the economy of the Midlands," The Irish Times quoted.

He also accused the company of being "fully aware" of the market situation and the newspaper competition in the region when it launched the Athlone Voice in 2003, the BBC reminded.

Both the Roscommon Champion, which was founded in 1927, and the Longford News are among the oldest weeklies in the Midlands. The three newspapers, which have been put for sale, had a joint readership of 45,397 persons, according to RTE.ie.