Johnston Press

Edinburgh-based publisher Johnston Press, the owner of the Banbury Guardian and Daventry Express, on Friday unveiled details of plans for more than £360 million refinancing of the company.

The print media industry has been one of the hardest hit in the global recession, especially because of falling advertisement revenues, and the one way with which these companies have now decided to plug the loss is by charging for their online content. News Corp. has already hinted that it will start charging for online write-ups all its major publications and now Johnston Press has become UK's first newspaper firm to charge for the online content of 6 of its popular local titles.

With the aim to raise concerns about the treatment of staff more effectively and reach out to more and more firms, the National Union of Journalists has revealed plans to purchase a small number of shares in ITV, Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror. The move is a step towards the organization's drive to buy an interest in all public newspaper, broadcast and magazine firms in which its members are employed.

British regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press has approved a new three-year £485 million financing facility with its banks after reporting a fall of over 56 per cent to £27.5 million in the pre-tax profits for the first-half of the year.

The publisher of the Scotsman and Yorkshire Evening Post said its revenue stood at £218.6 million, down 25.4 per cent and advertising revenues dropped by 32.7 per cent.