Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tablet Haemorrhaging Money


Shops seem to be closing all over Brighton, more of my people are unemployed but there is one good thing about the recession, maybe just one The Tablet is haemorrhaging money, according to Ttony - thousands of pounds each week according to the latest accounts it has eventually posted. Admittedly the accounts are pre-recession.
It claims it has a circulation of more than 22,000 copies each week, though in common with other British Catholic papers that probably means that is how many are printed whilst in fact only a small proportion are sold or read. Ttony repeats the claim that the Tablet makes that each copy is read by three people, I have never seen how that can be substantiated, it appeals to diminishing niche market.
Unfortunately it has vast resources laid down from when it was a bastion of mainstream Catholicism.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am no fan of the 'Bitter Pill'myself, but I find it extrodinary that a Priest would happily rejoice at this news publicly.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Really?

You think I should be saddened that a publication that seems to rejoice in rubbishing the Magisterium at every opportunity is loosing readers and falling on hard times.

Anonymous said...

Your are entitled to your own opinions as I am Fr. Ray. It is your blog. But two wrongs don't make a right.
As a Blogging priest you do have a responsibility to lead by example.
crowing that The Tablet is losing money is hardly charitable.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Tablet losing money is an indication that its tired 1970s views don't any longer sell papers, if that is crowing, then that is what I am doing.

Fr William Young said...

It seems disgraceful to me that the Tablet can simply afford to print its propaganda regardless of how well or badly it sells. It calls itself Catholic. Why do the bishops continue to permit this?

Anonymous said...

If the guys at the tablet were experiencing hardships through no fault of their own, then yes, "crowing" would be inappropriate. Not so here, they have a choice to change or remain stubborn and go down the drain with their error-ridden philosophy. That that philosophy is finally circling the drain ought to be a cause for rejoicing.

AHJ said...

As flagged on the Ordinariate Portal, I note from the website of St. James', Spanish Place, that The Tablet has suggested that St. James' itself might be a good location for the base of the Ordinariate. Alternatively, perhaps there might be some space going in The Tablet's offices?

Richard said...

Father,

According to their published accounts, their subscription income for the latest year was just over £2.5 million. With a cover price of (I think) £2/week (say £100/year), that's 25,000 subscribers.

Some of that income will be for other publications, so the number of Tablet subscribers will be a bit lower. But it does seem that their claim of 22,000 subscribers is probably accurate, and is for paid copies only (i.e. it doesn't include the extra copies printed and left lying around in the back of churches).

A pity; I'm sorry to see that so many people are being led astray. But the only people I know who read it are liberal Anglicans, so perhaps it isn't causing too much damage.

Richard said...

Interestingly it isn't a story of constant decline. Looking at the last few accounts, their subscription income has been up and down:

2007: £2.4 million
2008: £2.5 million
2009: £2.6 million
2010: £2.5 million

Their expenses are around £2.6 million, so a small fall in subscription income gives them a big loss.

I'm afraid we would have to watch their accounts for a few years yet to see if they are really collapsing.

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