Is Sir Digby Jones, the former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, about to become a press baron? According to a Financial Times report, Jones could emerge as the leading figure in a consortium to bid for Trinity-Mirror's Midlands newspaper group that includes the Birmingham Post.
He told a National Union of Journalists debate: "People have asked me to chair a bid if they can put one together, and I have said that I would love to." Though he did not identify the "people", the article mentions Chris Bullivant, the owner of the Observer Standard media company that publishes 15 local newspapers in the Midlands, as a possible participant in what could well be a £200m acquisition. Or, of course, Bullivant might just launch a solo bid.
If Jones's appearance on an NUJ platform was surprising, then what he had to say was even more eye-opening. A union press release quotes him as saying: "One of the greatest commitments for any new owner has to be more resources for quality journalism and journalistic integrity. Quality journalism doesn't come cheap but it is central." He also called for any new owner to have "concern for more than the bottom line".
This is music to journalistic ears, of course, and will surely attract applause from the staffs of the Post and its 45 stablemate titles, such as the Birmingham Mail and Coventry Evening Telegraph. A cynic might suggest that Jones was playing to the gallery in the hope of winning support for a bid, but if we accept that he was being sincere then it is a fine sentiment. I'm also heartened by the fact that he said it while attending one of the NUJ's excellent "journalism matters" events.
He would therefore have heard Barbara Goulden, a Coventry NUJ member, and Martin Warrilo , a Birmingham member, explain how the cuts made by previous owners of their papers had resulted in a reduction in the quality of journalism.
Jones, who hails from the West Midlands, knows the Post well because he has regularly featured in its pages. The paper is widely read by the Midlands business community, though its circulation has fallen from 60,000 in the 1970s to a mere 12,450 today.
The FT report refers to Jones's "imposing physical presence and talent for off-the-cuff prognostication" which "make him a natural for the role of a Brummie Lord Copper". It then provides an example of his talent to amuse, pointing out that he once warned Birmingham city council to "piss or get off the pot" over the city's regeneration. He is also claimed to harbour ambitions to take on the as-yet-notional job of elected mayor.
He does seem to have the style of a Beaverbrook, does he not? And let's remember that the Daily Express owner famously loved journalists and journalism. Could this be a good omen?
