Finally all the rumours about the "Bath Chronicle ":http://www.thisisbath.co.uk have been quashed as they have now revealed that the title is to become a weekly paper. Paul Mullins who works for Montage (and used to be the Businesss Editor at the Bath Chronicle) broke the story at our rumour mill (by the water cooler) so well done him!

Sam Holiday, the Editor of the Bath Chronicle, confirmed the news in a series of interviews in the regional press and on BBC Points West towards the last week. He also penned an artile in the Media Guardian on Monday.

The move will leave the city without a local daily paper which I think is a great shame as the Chronicle is one of the oldest local papers in the country and has been published since 1760. But the demand for up-to-the minute online news and budget constraints mean that this ‘new look’ weekly rag will still be able to offer all the latest news daily via its website, and a weekly round up via traditional print.

The Bath Chronicle has seen sales fall from 13,871 in the second half of 2005 to 12,363 in the same period in 2006.

Following this week’s announcement, Editor Sam Holliday, said: “The staff have worked fantastically well to try and keep the Chronicle as a daily title but in a fast changing multimedia world we now feel the paper’s long term future will be best secured by converting to a weekly title. It is our belief that we will create the best weekly newspaper in Britain – and in our opinion Bath deserves the best.

“No-one else has ever attempted to do what we’re about to do and no-one else will end up with the high quality paper that we are committed to producing. This is a very exciting time and we know our readers and advertisers will support us as we make this important move to secure the future of our precious local newspaper.”

The paper, to be published on Thursdays, is due to switch to weekly on 27 September.

Northcliffe has predicted that the weekly Bath Chronicle will be up to 250 pages, making it one of the biggest newspapers in the industry. Daily news updates will still appear on the website.

Holliday said: “Not all of our readers have internet access, but the rise in our on-line readership is remarkable and it shows that whether people are reading in print or on-line there is a real hunger for the kind of quality journalism that the Chronicle provides.

“It is our intention to use every medium possible to make sure our readers and advertisers do not miss out – and the cornerstone of it all will be a fantastic new product which we believe will set the benchmark for the whole of the newspaper industry”.

It is a bold but necessary move and we wish them all the best. Online news and the age of the digital media really is having a strong impact on the way that media is reported and received and I suspect we may well witness other titles moving to the same approach over the coming months.

Author – Aime Southgate