by Stephen Slominski
The Hampshire Live news website has announced it will be closing on November 30, leaving staff jobless just before Christmas.
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This decision is part of a wider move by Reach Plc, the company that owns Hampshire Live, to shut down 13 of its local news sites across the UK, resulting in the loss of 450 jobs.
Despite making an operating profit of £601 million last year, Reach Plc has decided to prioritise its national and regional print online presence over its local digital news operations, leaving many dedicated journalists and support staff facing an uncertain future.
In a statement on the Hampshire Live website, Reach Plc, the company behind the Daily Express and Daily Mirror newspapers, blamed social media changes for making “life much harder for all media businesses”.
Hampshire Live was launched in June 2020 and by April 2022 boasted 1.5 million monthly users and three million pageviews. The website’s first editor Richard Duggan, posted on LinkedIn: “It feels like so much hard work down the drain. A huge letdown to readers who consumed content and journalists who put their heart and soul into the sites.”
The closure of Hampshire Live highlights the challenges facing news media in the digital age. To survive and thrive, publishers must adapt to the changing media landscape, prioritise quality content, and provide a user-friendly experience. Simply blaming external factors like social media will not address the fundamental issues that threaten the future of local news.
Graphic: Eastleigh News