Uncertain future for The Shetland Times

Cartoon by Smirk. 

After more than a century and a half, the future of The Shetland Times looks far from certain.

Staff were told this week by company director Robert Wishart that the business was being put up for sale.

Mr Wishart, whose family has been involved in The Shetland Times since 1894, said that finding new owners to take on the challenges faced by the newspaper industry was the best way forward.

“If new owners cannot be found for the newspaper there is a risk that Shetland will lose its only weekly newspaper,” he said.

“I think this would be catastrophic for the community and, of course, for all the employees of the company.”

Over the past 153 years, the newspaper has strived to be a voice for the community, sharing its news – good and bad – and holding power to account.

The same ideals hold true today. From human interest features, court reports and council matters, through to sports, opinion and business – we try to bring readers as much of the goings on from our community as we can.

We may make mistakes and there may be differences of opinion in the way stories are reported.

But we believe Shetland would be worse off without its printed newspaper.

Despite shifting trends, not everyone prefers to read their news on a mobile phone; some still enjoy taking the time to sit down and read a paper from cover to cover.

That could all be lost. Recent years have been tough on newspapers everywhere.

The rise of social media and a presumption that news should be provided for free online, has seen sales of paid-for print publications plummet.

Few things sum up  the challenges facing print media better than this morning’s online report from our BBC-subsidised competitors Shetland News, which based its story on material from today’s newspaper, shared it online for free and used a photograph taken from The Shetland Times Bookshop’s Facebook page to illustrate it. 

Despite the challenges, The Shetland Times has fared better than many newspapers.

We have managed to survive where others have not – and that is thanks to the support from readers like you.

But despite weathering the pandemic, inflation and changing trends, paper sales and advertising are not what they once were and it has become increasingly difficult to balance the books.

The fact is unless people buy the paper and take out adverts, the costs of printing it cannot be justified.

So our appeal to you, our readers, is that you keep supporting the paper.

“Use it or lose it” is the message we’ve reported when highlighting the plight of country shops and other struggling businesses.

Now, that message applies to The Shetland Times as well.

This week’s newspaper is out today at shops throughout Shetland. 

The digital version is also available to buy here.

If you would like to have your say about the future of the newspaper, email editorial@shetlandtimes.co.uk.