The ''Walsall Observer'' was a weekly
newspaper, published in
Walsall in the
West Midlands of
England from 1868 to 2009.
History
Founded October 24, 1868 by brothers John and William Griffin as ''The Walsall Observer, and General District Advertiser'', it became a regional weekly. By 1962, as the ''Walsall Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle'', it was the only surviving paper in Walsall, having absorbed such competitors as the ''Walsall Advertiser''. By 1990 it had become a
free newspaper
Free newspapers are distributed free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. They are published at d ...
. By 2006, it had gone from nine journalists on staff twenty-five years earlier (i.e., circa 1981) to one senior, one trainee, and an editor shared with two other weekly papers; and, the
National Union of Journalists charged, was reduced to a situation where "the paper largely regurgitates submitted material and press releases with little or no challenge.".
[House of Lords Select Committee on Communications. "The ownership of the news: Evidence, Volume 2" The Stationery Office, 2008; p. 106, 146] In 2009, owners
Trinity Mirror closed it down along with several other
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
weeklies.
Former reporters for the ''Observer'' include
David Ennals, Baron Ennals;
Steve Green;
Jane Kelly; and
Richard Tomkins
Richard Tomkins, born 4 September 1952, was a senior writer and commentator on the staff of the Financial Times. He took early retirement in 2009, after 25 years on the newspaper.
History
Richard Tomkins attended King Edward's School in Birmi ...
.
References
Publications established in 1868
Publications disestablished in 2009
Culture in the West Midlands (region)
{{UK-newspaper-stub