A message from the editor
The last few years have been a time like no other. And I know that all of you – like me – hope that we can return to a period of calm soon.
The Covid-19 pandemic, the ousting of a Prime Minister, the Ukraine war, and now the spiralling cost of living have impacted on all of our lives. It does feel like we are existing in an exhausting, bewildering perma-crisis.
Throughout this whole period – and for almost 275 years before that – the Press and Journal has been at the side of its readers, bringing you trusted, relevant and timely local information about stories that matter to you.
This week, our hard work was recognised at the prestigious Scottish Press Awards, where we won a host of accolades including the title of Scotland’s daily newspaper of the year, beating luminaries such as The Herald, The Scotsman, The Times, Daily Mail and Daily Record. While awards are gratifying, the most important opinion in the newsroom is that of our readers.
Today, I am regrettably highlighting a price rise on the P&J and asking you to continue supporting the vital role we play as the Voice of the North.
Our production overheads have soared over the last 12 months with paper, printing, energy and distribution costs rising significantly.
Raising the cover price is not a decision that is taken lightly. But it something we must do in order to protect your newspaper and ensure we can continue to provide the mix of local news, features, sport, business and farming coverage that you tell us you want and enjoy.
From September 26 the price of the P&J will increase by 15p to £1.65. Our Saturday paper, which comes with three supplements – Your Life, The Menu and Farming – and weighs in at more than 150 pages, will increase to £2.10 from October 1.
We understand this may be difficult news, especially for those struggling to juggle their finances. I would urge you to take a look at our full suite of products both print and digital to find the best option for you – please visit pressandjournal.co.uk/subscribe to find out more.
My promise is to continue to invest in high quality local journalism and make a positive contribution to the communities which we care so deeply about. Our teams are driven by a common passion to see the people, place and economy of the north and north-east thrive, whatever the wider environment.
I am extremely grateful for your continued support.
Frank O’Donnell
Editor in Chief, The Press and Journal
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These increases will take effect from Monday September 26 and The Press and Journal will increase from £1.50 to £1.65 on weekdays and from £1.70 to £2.10 on Saturdays.
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Like most businesses, we’ve seen our costs soar over the last 12 months, with our paper, printing and production costs continuing to rise significantly.
It’s never an easy decision to change prices but for us to continue to produce the quality newspaper that you would recognise as The Press and Journal, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to increase the price of your newspaper.
For 274 years, The Press and Journal has been about people and community. We have invested in employing local news teams, all driven by a common passion to see our communities and homes thrive. We have been trusted to bring you inspiring and relevant stories through our reporting and our aim is to continue to do that to the highest standards now and into the future.
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Like most businesses we’ve seen our production costs increase significantly and have been hit by surcharges from many of our suppliers who are facing the same pressures.
We use multiple paper suppliers with the average increase of our paper up 80% compared to last year and continuing to rise. Other production costs including printing plates and ink have also risen significantly in the last 12 months.
This has come at the same time as the considerable energy price rises, which have had a big impact on our costs as well as those of our suppliers.
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Cost increases, driven by inflation and higher energy prices, have an impact on the running of our newsroom in the same way as everyone is experiencing at home.
In common with other businesses, we have seen our production costs, including running offices, increase significantly.
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The cost of the Home News Delivery service will also be affected in line with the paper price rise. What this means is that the monthly cost of customers’ Direct Debits will increase but the service of having the paper delivered each day, in all weather conditions, will remain free.
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In order to give you access to the news that you need, we have dedicated local news teams to serve you and our extended local communities across the North and North-East of Scotland.
In the paper, we will continue to bring you all important stories affecting our communities, as well as all the latest sports coverage, opinion columnists and our special obituaries celebrating the lives of people in our communities.
Our website will deliver you more content, live news as it happens, as well as breaking crime news and the latest from court, together in one place. We have also found new ways of telling our stories online, from in-depth investigations through to
full-length documentaries and podcasts. -
We have done extensive research to understand what our readers would like to see in their weekend paper. In line with that research, we have redesigned our Saturday paper with new content that is centred on what our readers want.
Our new Weekend edition will have over 150 pages of content across our main paper and supplements will deliver a wide range of content, from big interviews, talking points, family advice, entertainment and plenty of ideas on how to get the most from your weekend in the North and North East of Scotland.
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We are committed to producing outstanding, original local journalism and we have 125 local people in our newsrooms working for our newspapers across the North and North East.
We have local area editors covering the Highlands and Moray and Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. We have journalists based in our main offices in Aberdeen and Inverness as well as the Western Isles, Wick, Fort William, Orkney, Oban and Elgin.
While other newspapers report from offices in London or Glasgow, we are truly invested in telling local stories employing local writers, photographers and editors.
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Our ePapers are a full replica version of the newspaper, published online, six days a week. You can access The Press and Journal and the Evening Express ePaper via our dedicated ePaper apps where you can save and share stories, access all the paper supplements easily via a dedicated menu and even play interactive puzzles.
If you would like to find out more about subscribing to The Press and Journal or the Evening Express ePaper, please contact our Digital News Subscriptions Team on 0800 029 4956 Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm or email pjdigital@ajl.co.uk.
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Yes, the price of the ePaper will also be increasing. New customers will now be charged £19.99 a month for The Press and Journal, an increase of £4 from £15.99.
The Evening Express ePaper will increase from £8.99 to £10.99 a month.
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The cost of the Web Pack subscription is unaffected.
You can still get access to all our website content, including subscriber exclusives and Premium Content for only £1 for your first month*.
Find out more at: pressandjournal.co.uk/subscribe
(*renews at £5.99 a month thereafter)