SHETLAND'S only weekly newspaper is being put up for sale with fears it may face closure.
Staff at the 153-year-old title were told last week that The Shetland Times Ltd, a company which also operates a publishing arm, a bookshop and a printing company, was being put up for sale by owner Robert Wishart.
Wishart, whose family has been involved in The Shetland Times since 1894, said that the future of the paper was "far from certain" and new owners had to be found within four weeks.
“If new owners cannot be found for the newspaper there is a risk that Shetland will lose its only weekly newspaper,” he said.
“I think this would be catastrophic for the community and, of course, for all the employees of the company.”
The Shetland Times employs around 35 staff, with several leaving the paper in recent months.
The newspaper is printed in Lerwick, and there are fears that without the ability to print a paper in the isles, the community could go without papers on a weekly basis amid bad weather and ferry or flight delays.
The paper was the first weekly newspaper in Scotland to go online in 1996.
In an editorial piece on Friday, the paper stated: "Despite shifting trends, not everyone prefers to read their news on a mobile phone; some still enjoy taking the time to sit down and read a paper from cover to cover.
"That could all be lost. Recent years have been tough on newspapers everywhere.
"The rise of social media and a presumption that news should be provided for free online, has seen sales of paid-for print publications plummet.
"Few things sum up the challenges facing print media better than this morning’s online report from our BBC-subsidised competitors Shetland News, which based its story on material from today’s newspaper, shared it online for free and used a photograph taken from The Shetland Times Bookshop’s Facebook page to illustrate it.
"Despite the challenges, The Shetland Times has fared better than many newspapers.
"We have managed to survive where others have not – and that is thanks to the support from readers like you.
"But despite weathering the pandemic, inflation and changing trends, paper sales and advertising are not what they once were and it has become increasingly difficult to balance the books.
"The fact is unless people buy the paper and take out adverts, the costs of printing it cannot be justified.
"So our appeal to you, our readers, is that you keep supporting the paper. 'Use it or lose it' is the message we’ve reported when highlighting the plight of country shops and other struggling businesses. Now, that message applies to The Shetland Times as well."
