I was otherwise engaged yesterday or I would have reported that a new organisation has been created to represent the national, regional and local press.
The Newspaper Society (NS), the trade body for local and regional papers, has been merged with the Newspaper Publishers' Association (NPA), the nationals' equivalent, to form the News Media Association (NMA).
I think it fair to call this, as one NS executive did in an email to me, a long overdue merger. She reminded me that I suggested it in December 2006 when the NS and NPA first moved in together.
Now the NMA will represent the interests of all its member publishers on a range of issues that affect an industry which refers to itself as "a £6bn sector" with an audience of 42m people a month.
The inaugural NMA chairman, Adrian Jeakings, said: "Newsbrands – national, regional and local newspapers in print and digital - are by far the biggest investors in news in the UK, accounting for more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of the total spend on news provision. The NMA will provide this important sector with a clear voice on the issues which affect it."
Murdoch MacLennan, the outgoing NPA chairman - and Telegraph Media Group chief executive - said: "I am confident that the industry has a long and vibrant future ahead of it and that the NMA will play a central role in helping the sector develop and prosper."
The NMA's chief executive, David Newell, said: "Press freedom is under attack on multiple fronts and defending this fundamental right to free speech will be central to the NMA's mission.
"The new organisation will work to clearly articulate the position of the news media industry on this and other important issues which affect the industry."
Under the NMA's umbrella will be the Independent Publishers' Forum, which existed previously as part of the NS. Its chairman, Jeremy Spooner, who is chief executive of the Maidenhead-based Baylis Media, welcomed the formation of the new body.
He believes its launch will provide independent newsbrands with "a more powerful voice on the issues that matter to the sector."
For the record, a bit of history. The NS was launched in 1836 as a trade association representing both local and national newspapers. But, in 1906, the NPA was formed as a separate organisation to represent the nationals alone.
In my experience, the NS has been vibrant, hard-working and pro-active. Its legal advice alone has made it a valuable resource for its members. The NPA has been, well, the opposite - a largely supine body, at times virtually dormant, at other times riven by internal conflict.
Source: NMA
