"An advertising slump has hit local newspapers much harder than national papers or other media (see chart). The growing reach of national brands like Rightmove and Auto Trader means that local papers have lost their grip on property and car advertising. Most painful has been the disappearance of job ads. Public-sector recruitment has shifted mostly to official websites in the past few years, and recession has eroded the rest. In July 1999 an edition of the Echo carried 17 pages of job advertisements. The final issue had one-fifth of one page." Read More...