Following the announcement, by Daily Mail and General Trust, that regional publisher Northcliffe Newspapers is to be sold (see previous posting), staff facing redundancy at The Western Daily Press in Bristol have placed an add on e-bay offering themselves up for auction.

The advertisement describes the condition of the product for sale as “Used. A succession of careful owners over almost 150 years, followed by one neglectful one (Viscount Rothermere). Sold as seen. In full working order. Some minor defects offset by an abundance of creative brilliance and willingness to work hard."

The add asserts that the staff at the paper have greatly enjoyed working together over the years and wish to continue to do so, and that they are thus seeking a new employer who will keep them working together: "we are a talented and dedicated staff and wish to continue working together producing great newspapers. The winner of this auction, subject to our terms below, will have won the right to employ every redundant member of staff to produce the newspaper of your choice."

The terms and conditions are set out as follows.

"This is an auction of the journalistic services of every Western Daily Press journalist who gets made redundant by Northcliffe within the next two months ... The winner of this auction must agree to employ us at the same salary, job title, benefits and working conditions as we enjoy now without requiring us to relocate out of the South West UK."

The Bristol journalists have used the internet in an innovative way; as a tool to express their feelings about the sale of their paper and appeal for a certain type of buyer.

Source: Press Gazette, E-bay