The future of the Birmingham Press, a weekly paper launched with high hopes and great fanfare in April, is in doubt.
According to one report - by The Business Desk - its publisher, Chris Bullivant, has written to advertisers asking them for their support.
According to another report - here on holdthefrontpage - Bullivant has even offered estate agents a slice of his business in order to keep his paper afloat.
Bullivant has blamed Trinity Mirror - which launched a free rival title, Birmingham Post Lite, at the same time - for driving him out of business.
He argues that Trinity offered estate agents heavily discounted rates to advertise in its publications in "an attempt to remove us from the marketplace."
He said: "A number of my customers have been lured back to Trinity Mirror, and if that continues, we'll have to close...
"We cannot compete with such rates, as they are below the cost of production, and as a small, new business, we cannot continue to sustain the impact that has on our company."
Trinity responded to the claim by saying: "We don't engage in anti-competitive practice."
Bullivant is reported to have invited Birmingham estate agents to a meeting next week to discuss forming a consortium that would own a part of his business.
Jon Slattery reminds us that from the outset there was scepticism about the Press's viability.
Former Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves, who now edits the West Midlands branch of the online The Business Desk, wrote on his blog at the time of launch: I give it six months.
Sources: holdthefrontpage/Business Desk/Jon Slattery
