Trinity's unholy outlook

Bad news has been a feature of newspapers since the industry began - it sells papers don't you know.
Today, the fact that the doom-laden messages now focus on the news business itself was brought into sharp focus. Trinity Mirror - a margin-hungry nationwide PLC which recently announced an operating profit of almost £50m - has announced the closure of South Wales twin titles the Neath and Port Talbot Guardians.
It'll mean the loss of 15 jobs, a fight by National Union of Journalists members to highlight their heartfelt concerns for print's future ... and the drastic diminution of the crucial local information network for two great Welsh towns.
Neath (population around 47,000) and Port Talbot (35,000) deserve better than the cold, distant relationships offered to them by regional dailies the Western Mail and the South Wales Evening Post. They've enjoyed the warmth of the Guardians for 80 years; the journals have been a cornerstone of their communities.
Which non-Establishment enterprises will now hold in close check the tax-heavy goings-on at the local council and in the courts? Which media will genuinely celebrate the next rugby trophy won by Neath RFC, Aberavon RFC - or by the neighbourhood under-11s? How many ticket sales will be lost at the local cinema, theatres and operatic society presentations? When the hospital wants to publicise news of new visiting hours, the politicians of their surgeries and the police of their Pact meetings - what effect will the loss of the Guardians have?
The demise of the Neath and Port Talbot Guardians - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8273676.stm - is alarming. And they won't be the last local rags to go in these trying times; if you live in a smallish town with a tidy looking weekly newspaper please look after it, support it, buy it.
Good luck to anyone in line to lose their job, best wishes to the Trinity Mirror journalists fighting their corner and all strength to any ... body energetic enough to work hard to rebuild the crucial local media network in those two great Welsh towns.
As newspaper-loving townsfolk are denied their own local papers, here's where Trinity Mirror stood in their latest half-yearly financial report (June 2009) - group revenue £383m, digital revenue £18.6m, operating profit £49.1million.
Have a word, someone!