Good morning, I was thinking about the ripple effects of moving Downing Street to Manchester. Andy Burnham’s decision to relocate Number 10 here could grow the city’s media ecosystem, as national news titles consider expanding northwards. Beyond Manchester, the local press landscape needs serious rewiring if devolution is to work.

The city’s national press presence was once thriving, but technology overran printing operations and unions, leaving landmarks like Withy Grove’s Printworks as echoes of the era. Since the early 2000s, sell‑offs, office closures and redundancies have eroded the sector, and local outlets struggle to find a viable business model. hver local BBC radio network that held Liz Truss to account in 2022 has been slashed, while new online newsletters such as Jim Waterson’s London Centric and Joshi Hermann’s Manchester Mill attempt to fill the gap.

Financial models of major owners like Reach are precarious; private‑equity buyers threaten asset‑stripping, mirroring the 1980s press barons. The government’s Amplify strategy includes a £6mn fund to help publishers go digital, but it does little to stop Google’s ad‑revenue hordes. A shadow of its former self, the local press must rebuild alongside mayoral budgets, especially as mayors gain tax powers.

If Burnham’s plans are to work, an increasingly vibrant media landscape cannot be one of them.