He's consistent and that's where he has an edge on [David] Yelland [editor of The
He's consistent and that's where he has an edge on [David] Yelland [editor of The Sun] and [Piers] Morgan [editor of The Mirror]. Every now and then, they'll get involved in some serious issue or a rant about the euro, and that's when their readers get bored and come to us for some fun."The Star is big on celebrities, goals and tits - although not as much as in the past It's a cheeky-chappy paper for lads who go to Blackpool. Ask yourself this: If Freddie Star ate someone's hamster today, who'd be most likely to splash on the story? It would be the Star."The paper may survive by default simply because its finances are so intertwined with the Express titles. When Lord Matthews dreamt up the idea for a new red-top tabloid - famously, while taking a bath - part of its function was to soak up excess printing capacity. That relationship may yet save it.United News & Media, which owns the titles, does not publish figures for individual papers, but staff say the Star contributes more to printing costs and other overheads than the Express titles, making them appear more viable."It's something that constantly riles us, that we are treated like the poor relation but without us they'd be in trouble," said one senior Star journalist.
"All we've experienced in recent years, particularly under Lord Hollick, is cuts and asset-stripping. We don't even own our own building any more; we rent from one of Hollick's companies."Whoever inherits the Star will find a shrunken team desperate for investment and demoralised from years of watching The Sun and The Mirror racing farther ahead. "We used to have more than 20 general reporters," said the insider "Now there are six on the daytime rota and one at night. The Star and Express and the Saturday and Sunday magazines used to cover more or less all of the nine floors of the Blackfriars building; now we're all squeezed into two so the rest can be rented out to other companies.
The Star used to have a whole floor to itself; now we have to share with personnel, circulation, marketing, promotions and both the Saturday and Sunday Express magazines."In spite of everything, there is an indomitable spirit about the place; it still rings true that the Star reporter on any job is often the most cheerful. And there is a belief among staff that, given a little investment (for example, they have no political editor), they could take on The Mirror and The Sun again."During round after round of redundancies, we've seen some great talent go into fantastic positions on other papers," said the Star journalist. "If they were still here, or if we could get them back, we could challenge anyone We still have some very talented people here. The trouble with this market is that you have to get exclusives and - whether buying pictures or celebrity stories - that costs money We're already getting readers back. Imagine what we could do if we have a bit more help from the top."In the final analysis, the bean counters will determine the fate of the paper that brought us bingo and colour Starbirds.
It would be sad, however, if were sold off as a vehicle for phone-sex advertisements and cross-promotion of porn mags at a time when, against all the odds, it seems to be turning a corner.. The owners of the Daily Mail have put in a formal bid of nearly £125m for Express Newspapers, sources close to the Mail confirmed yesterday. The owners of the Daily Mail have put in a formal bid of nearly £125m for Express Newspapers, sources close to the Mail confirmed yesterday. The sum is understood to include a premium the Daily Mail and General Trust believes it must pay to beat an offer of £90m to £100m from the Hinduja brothers. The premium is deemed necessary because a Mail bid would be referred to the Competition Commission, while a Hinduja sale could be concluded without referral.The source said: "Reports that the Mail will also inject £50m a year into the Express papers over a five-year period are correct." A high level of investment would contrast greatly with the management by Lord Hollick's United News, which has been characterised by a severe cost-cutting regime.The Mail's desire to buy The Express papers sends the battle for ownership of the publications and their sister Daily Star on to a new plane.
Until recently, buying interest seemed lacklustre, with an earlier Hinduja bid of around £75m being rejected, and the Barclay brothers walking away from a deal of complaining that they had received insufficient information about the papers' finances.The very idea of the Mail buying The Express would have been inconceivable until recently. The Daily Express was founded 100 years ago by Arthur Pearson before becoming the property and propaganda creature of Lord Beaverbrook. Apart from a brief period of co-operation between the two titles to promote Empire Free Trade, the papers spent the rest of the twentieth century as deadly circulation rivals.The Mail is said to be motivated by fear that its arch-rivals at the Hollinger group, which owns The Daily Telegraph, will bid for The Express. Yesterday there was no confirmation Hollinger had made an offer but its owner, Conrad Black, is sitting on a big war chest after selling all his North American papers If he wanted, he could easily outbid the Mail. A Hollinger takeover would make particular sense in business terms, as The Express and Telegraph share the West Ferry printing operation in London's Docklands.David Montgomery, the former chief executive of The Mirror, has also expressed interest in buying The Express.Yesterday sources close to the Mail confirmed the group considers The Express, without West Ferry, to be "barely profitable".