Dorset Echo’s Tolerance Of Vandalism Hides Something Much More Sinister

We know that much of the media is becoming much more populist. It does not challenge the ignorance or prejudice as much as reinforce them to increase readership and profitability. Hence, content that does not expose the lawbreaking or vandalism because many agree with it further emphasises this. Because it will garner the likes and the views, the illegality of the behaviour is shoved into the long grass, as it may lead to open criticism and negatively impact those profits.

This is certainly the case with the Dorset Echo’s coverage of what is being called ‘technical vandalism’ by some on their Facebook page. No, it is not technical vandalism; it is actual vandalism, and the Echo has a responsibility to correct this.

However, this populist article merely hides a much more uncomfortable issue that the Echo has. That of its American corporate ownership. Newsquest. Who are known colloquially as the parasite of local journalism and to whom vandalism has become engrained into their business model.

Newsquest likes to present itself as a guardian of Britain’s local press. In truth, it has behaved less like a custodian of community journalism and more like a corporate parasite, feeding off the very institutions it claims to preserve. With its American parent company, Gannett, pulling the strings, Newsquest has systematically gutted local titles, stripping them of staff, quality and trust, all in the name of—yes, you guessed it—profit.

The evidence is damning. Time and again, Newsquest has slashed newsrooms to the bone, throwing experienced reporters out of work while piling impossible workloads on those who remain. In Cumbria, entire teams were decimated after the takeover; in South London, journalists have declared their newsroom “at breaking point,” covering multiple titles with barely enough staff to produce one. Communities are left with hollowed-out newspapers and websites that resemble spam farms more than public watchdogs.

And for what? Not to safeguard jobs or strengthen journalism, but to funnel millions back to American shareholders. The company boasted pre-tax profits of £34 million while showering executives with six-figure bonuses and coughing up £22.5 million in dividends. Meanwhile, the reporters tasked with holding councils, courts and corporations to account were tossed scraps—pay rises that barely touched inflation, accompanied by the constant threat of “fire and rehire”. It is the corporate equivalent of asset-stripping a heritage building while insisting the rubble is progress.

The damage does not stop at staff morale. Quality has collapsed. Newsquest’s papers are now riddled with clickbait, intrusive advertising, and regurgitated press releases masquerading as journalism. The company even devised cynical competitions to coax unpaid content out of reporters, a degrading race to the bottom that cheapens the very craft of journalism. Readers, unsurprisingly, have noticed: complaints about amateurish writing and ad-clogged websites are rife.

But perhaps the greatest scandal is not the betrayal of journalists, nor even of readers, but of democracy itself. Local papers exist to scrutinise power. They are supposed to attend council meetings, sit in courtrooms, and shine light on decisions that affect people’s daily lives. When those reporters are made redundant and their papers reduced to click-harvesting shells, it is not just an industry in decline, it is democracy itself that suffers. Councils often act unchallenged, officials often go unscrutinised, and corruption has room to flourish in silence. Newsquest’s boardrooms may not care, but the price is paid by every community left in the dark.

Of course, the company will point to exceptions, titles like The Impartial Reporter in Northern Ireland, which bucks the trend with investigative work and modest success. But these rare outliers only highlight the wider betrayal. If quality journalism can survive with investment and vision, then the wider collapse under Newsquest is not inevitable; it is deliberate. It is the product of corporate greed dressed up as economic necessity.

Newsquest’s defenders call this pragmatism. Let’s call it what it really is: vandalism. A wholesale pillaging of Britain’s local press, carried out with spreadsheets and shareholder demands, leaving behind ghost papers, demoralised staff, and communities starved of truth. Far from preserving the future of journalism, Newsquest is hastening its extinction. And unless it is challenged, the silence it leaves will not just be a media crisis, but a democratic one.

Thus, the enlightenment that should be at the heart of their content is absent. If racism and faux patriotism bring views, then why challenge them and lose profits? Let’s legitimise it and even celebrate it and be thankful we still have a job, eh? This is now what corporate journalism at a local level and a national level has become. Do the master’s bidding, keep your head down, and don’t upset the apples in the cart. No matter how rotten some may be.

Key Newsquest Operating Companies & Their Major Titles

1. Newsquest (London & South East)

• The News Shopper (covering areas of South East London and North Kent)
• The Wimbledon Times
• The Sutton & Croydon Guardian
• The Richmond and Twickenham Times

2. Newsquest (Herald & Times)
This is one of Newsquest’s most significant divisions, covering Scotland and Northern Ireland.

• The Herald (Glasgow-based national quality newspaper)
• The National (Glasgow-based pro-Scottish independence newspaper)
• The Evening Times (Glasgow evening newspaper, now online-only as Glasgow Times)
• Greenock Telegraph
• The Irish News (Belfast-based daily newspaper – Newsquest holds a significant minority stake)

3. Newsquest (Yorkshire)

• The Telegraph & Argus (Bradford)
• The York Press
• The Craven Herald & Pioneer (Skipton)
• The Harrogate Advertiser

4. Newsquest (North West)

• The Lancashire Telegraph (Blackburn)
• The Bolton News
• The Carlisle News & Star
• The Lancashire Post (Preston)

5. Newsquest (Southern)

• The Oxford Mail
• The Swindon Advertiser
• The Bournemouth Daily Echo
• The Dorset Echo
• The Salisbury Journal

6. Newsquest (Midlands)

• The Shropshire Star (a very prominent title in the region)
• The Worcester News
• The Hereford Times

7. Newsquest (Essex)

• The Essex Chronicle (Chelmsford)
• The Colchester Gazette
• Basildon, Canvey, Southend Echo

8. Newsquest (Sussey & South East)

• The Argus (Brighton & Hove)
• The Worthing Herald

9. Newsquest (Manchester)

• The Warrington Guardian

It is very important to be aware of the following too:

• Local Weeklies: Each of these regional companies also publishes a large number of smaller, hyper-local weekly papers (e.g., the Dorking Advertiser, Hexham Courant, Darlington & Stockton Times). It is not practical to list every single one.
• Digital Assets: All these companies run major local news websites, often the primary source of online news for their areas (e.g., oxfordmail.co.uk, thetelegraphandargus.co.uk).
• Parent Company: Newsquest Media Group Ltd is itself a subsidiary of the large American media conglomerate Gannett Co., Inc.

Hopefully now, many people are beginning to understand the vice-like grip that companies like Newsquest and their venture capitalist owners, Garnett, have on our local media and understand some of the consequences.