Swansea Bay media big guns' new jobs offensive

The local newspaper industry is campaigning to cling on to its valuable but diminished employment advertising.
Situations vacant columns, including those in the Swansea Bay media, have been hit hard by the internet, the recession and competition from increasingly sophisticated employment agencies.
But titles such as the South Wales Evening Post and the Western Mail are fighting back. And that's a good thing for staff hunters, not least because most newspapers now offer a decent editorial vehicle with jobs pages. Wales on Sunday offers a good example of this.
Trade body The Newspaper Society is currently on a nationwide tour flagging up the results of a study which showed that nearly twice as many jobseekers turn first to local media when looking for a job than second choice source Jobcentre Plus.
Society sages are delivering that message to media agencies and advertisers across the UK, with at least one session being hosted in Cardiff by Western Mail parent group Media Wales.
It'd be wise of the local media to flag up the results of this study in their own news columns.
More info - http://bit.ly/ar5MDp

Swansea Bay media chiefs mull over figures

The shifting sand that is the local news business, including that of the Swansea area, was illustrated dramatically this week.
Six-monthly circulation figures saw online readership rocket but print readership continue to decline significantly.
For instance, although the website of the South Wales Evening Post, Llanelli Star and Carmarthen Journal was more than 25% up, the print titles fell 8.8%, 4.3% and 5.3% respectively.
The picture from the industry standard ABC was similar for those media folk over in Cardiff, with Swansea-interest titles The Western Mail and Wales on Sunday rising in e-form but sliding in print.
The situation has already seen Establishment-baiting blog Inside Out inquire as to whether it’s time to consider a print equivalent of the BBC in Wales - a nationalised Welsh press power.
Unlikely, I would say – but there’s certainly a case for new, independent operators to start looking at business models which don’t demand large profit margins for people in Lond.
Incidentally, the web and print audience trends of South Wales newspaper publishers are reflected across the UK. Challenging times all around. Who’ll hire – or nurture - the visionary who can convert web traffic into riches?

Audience figures (Jun-Dec 09)

Online (average daily unique users, average monthly unique users, change year on year)
www.walesonline.co.uk (35,570, 758,276, 3.3%)
thisissouthwales (11,524, 196,703, 25.5%)

Print (sales, change year on year)
Dailies
South Wales Evening Post (43,644, -8.8%)
Western Mail (30,133, -10.6%)
Weeklies
Carmarthen Journal (18,576, -5.3%)
Llanelli Star (13,880, -4.3%)
South Wales Guardian (7,028, -12.4%)
Sunday
Wales on Sunday (32,268, -10.3%)

Swansea Bay media loss mourned by Neath rugby's Deenna

Neath RFC's Deenna Barton was quick to once again mourn the death of the Neath Guardian when we met this week.
Her town's principal news and events chronicler ended 84 years of publishing in the autumn.
Owners Media Wales - they of the Western Mail and Wales on Sunday - blamed the recession.
It was the Swansea Bay media's highest profile loss of these tough times.
Deenna, the Welsh All Blacks' business development manager, told me at a trade fair hosted by her club: "We were shocked when the Guardian went. It had been a strong supporter of Neath rugby and we miss it greatly."
Which is why a very worthwhile community event in which she's involved needs all the publicity help it can get. Once it could have relied upon the Guardian - now it can't. So please spread the word.
The event is a charity clothes auction at The Gnoll from 6.15pm on Thu Feb 25.
Tickets are only £2 and there'll be great bargains to be had in areas such as bridal, kids, sport and lingerie.
Neath's independent fashion stores are to be applauded for their efforts. They include The Edge, Kitch, Replay, Rascals, Girlie Things and Elegant Occasions. Good lookin' RFC shirts this season by the way, Deenna.