The Salford Star is holding an auction today in a last ditch bid to survive.
Its editor, Stephen Kingston, said that unless it raises some funds, it will be out of money by the end of January and be forced to close.
The paper is the country’s longest-running community publication. “Fiercely” independent, it was established 13 years ago and has around 40k readers every month.
Today it will be holding an auction at Charles Taylor Auctioneers with lots donated from Salford artists, memorabilia and celebrity one-offs.
On Sunday, the paper will be hosting a further auction at the Salford Shopping Centre, with further “unique” items, not least a “A Holiday With The Salford Star – spend a night in a real Salford tower block covered in dangerous Grenfell style cladding!”
“I know it’s a bit extreme charging over £1million for items that people may regard as worthless but for us they are our treasure…our memories, our pieces of a city fast disappearing into speculators’ pockets” explained Salford Star editor and co-founder Stephen Kingston.
“To stay alive we have no money, only these precious artefacts. There is no media fair trade in the UK so we literally have to sell the Salford Star’s soul. How much is independent news worth? We believe it’s worth a million quid. Hopefully really nice people will buy something at a lesser price and look after it, knowing that they have played a part in keeping the D.I.Y. media spirit alive.”
Nigel Pivaro, a long time contributor to the Salford Star, added:
“Dig deep for that fluff covered pound coin, or even better, those dyed stained twenties, because we at the Salford Star love digging. We dig where others like the Council, the developers and big business would rather we didn’t. So help us to keep on digging to uncover what you, the readers, deserve… the facts. It’s the most we can do for you; it’s the least you can do for us.”
Originally set up to promote investigative journalism and highlight what was happening in the local area, it has been a rocky ride for the Salford Star. It’s had run-ins with local government – the council didn’t speak to it for more than 4 years. It went online only at one point, only to return to print when Salford’s weekly paper from (the then) Trinity Mirror closed down.
