National President Kieran Mcdonnell said: “It seems the News of the World is not dead but is getting a free ride to market inside News International’s other titles.
In another shameful and cynical abuse of news retailers, NI has decided that Fabulous will be inserted in a polybag and distributed to retailers in the Saturday Sun. This, of course, is to maintain NI’s advertising revenue, all of which is being kept to itself.
The move will significantly increase the weight of the Saturday Sun and impact on the cost of home news delivery as retailers will need to increase their delivery resources to cope with the additional weight.
So how much are retailers being paid to compensate for the heavier delivery on a Saturday? The answer – nothing!”
On hearing the news, Mr McDonnell immediately contacted News International but the company has refused to reconsider its decision.
Since the news was announced the NFRN’s telephone lines have been red hot with irate members saying that they have had enough of being abused by News International, following its percentage margin cuts last year, claims the NFRN. Some are taking matters into their own hands by separating Fabulous from the Saturday package and advising HND customers that it is available for collection in the shop.
Mr McDonnell said: “Whilst, for legal reasons, this is not something that the NFRN can condone, we will not condemn it either since one can argue that it is either fair or right to expect newsagents to incur extra delivery costs without payment. Why should they?
“The message to News International (and any other publisher considering similar action) is “No Pay, No Play!” If that means that advertisers start getting twitchy about investing in Fabulous Magazine (which may or may not reach readers), then so be it.”
