Network: 
News - Another victim of the economic downturn. British publisher MPG, publisher of GT (Gay Times) and DIVA magazines, decided to suspend the fortnightly print and distribution for its free LGBT newspaper Pink Paper with effect from the end of this month. Cause of this is the current economic climate for newspaper advertising.
Tris Reid-Smith Pink Paper Editor, commented: "We proudly boast the biggest readership of the free gay press for the newspaper and it is very sad that we aren't able to continue in our print format for the time being. However, I hope our readers will stick with us, visit the website often and sign up to our weekly email newsletter, Pink Paper Xtra. In return we promise to deliver the country's premier news and features website for gay, lesbian and bisexual people."
Kim Watson, MPG Media Director, added: "The decision to suspend fortnightly print and distribution of Pink Paper has been one of the toughest we have had to make in a long, time but in order to ensure that we can continue providing a service to the LGBT community in future we have taken the decision now, rather than when the situation has worsened to a point that we would need to cease Pink Paper all together. We are looking forward to increasing delivery of our weekly newsletter and ensuring that our website continues to grow in its visitors and interaction. We are also glad to announce that all existing staff will remain with the company to work on Pink Paper online and our other titles."
Pink Paper was launched as a weekly LGBT newspaper in 1987 and was acquired by MPG in 2005 after it had gone out of print as a magazine. MPG re-launched it as a fortnightly newspaper. The main focus will now be on www.pinkpaper.com, the paper's website, which reaches an average of 33,000 unique visitors per month and Pink Paper Xtra the paper's weekly newsletter which is e-mailed weekly to more than 5000 recipients, a list which is set to treble in the next year as more site visitors sign-up for the newsletter.
