Can't find much about Printweek / Haymarket. I rely on Google blogsearch. It turns up news sources and direct releases. Not so many blogs as some time ago, meaning reflection from an individual source. Just to recap, Printweek is the only UK weekly print publication for the printing industry. It is clear from the issue last Friday that Haymarket intends to move mostly online for detailed news and blog comment. For UK print media this is a significant event.

http://www.printweek.com/Business/article/1054331/printweek-online-new-look/

But I have studied Peter Preston on Sunday and the Media pages in the Guardian today and there is nothing about this item. Print journalists writing about print tend to avoid any alarmist conclusions. "The world is not coming to an end". "Print still has a pulse" etc. I am looking for some sort of event that would move the discussion onto some sort of urgency or development. Peter Preston seems to think the circulation numbers for newspapers are a positive story.

Less confidence in the regional press. Media Guardian reports that Daily Mail and Gerneral Trust have announced that the regional titles are up for sale. There will be no "fresh capital". Sean Dooley comments on the regional press that "few readers are seeing any mitigating circumstances as their cherished local papers are printed earlier and earlier, further and further away from home, carrying less and less news of any relevance to their communities."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/14/local-newspapers-northcliffe-media

Here in Exeter our local paper is now printed in Didcot. An election on a Thursday will be reported on a Saturday. We discover the results by word of mouth.

Strangely neither Mark Sweney's main report or Sean Dooley's comment make any mention of the internet or social media. My guess is that regional newspapers will not invest in social media or video on a scale to survive. Daily Mail is a global website with mostly celeb stories. There may be an overlap with the Western Morning News but it need some search skills to discover on a regular basis.

So back to Printweek. Whatever the content claims about the stability of print media, and these will probably continue, the actual form taken by Printweek shows a readiness to experiment and change direction. Also there is an explanation and encouragement for readers to be involved in the website.

The Guardian rarely explains what the policy is regarding print journalism. It is mentioned that regional titles were sold to Trinity Mirror, but no explanation as to why. Or what they think about instead.