# Is CITY LIFE worth saving [manchester edition to close, and soon!]



## Throbbing Angel (Dec 1, 2005)

Well, is it worth saving?   As a magazine I mean, not as a concept, not because about 20 jobs are going to go, one of them a old mate of mine.  When I lived in MCR cntr I used to get it rammed thru my letterbox every week for 2 years-for FREE!  Why, I dunno, maybe to try and pull in more advertising.  Personally I think it's been on the slide for ages now and the 20 page property pullout got on my tits too.  Listings, hmm, ok, but so has the guardian and the Mcr Evening News

are we bothered?  Is it an institution?  Shuld it be saved? Should it be changed?

the below was emailed to me earlier by a mate:

*Nine days to save a Manchester mag*

Guardian Media have announced that City Life - Manchester's entertainment and listing magazine - will publish for the last time on 7 December. Thirteen journalists' and designers' jobs will go.

30/11/2005

NUJ members will be leafletting the London offices of the Guardian newspaper in Farringdon Road [streetmap], from 1-2pm on Friday 2 December. If you could make it along to the event, to show your opposition to the closing of this magazine, that would be greatly appreciated.

Colleagues in Manchester will leaflet Guardian Media Group's Head office in Deansgate [streetmap] at the same time. 

The magazine started as a workers' co-operative in 1983 and was bought by Guardian Media in 1989. The company says that over the last four years it has lost around £1,000 per week. Last year Guardian Media Regional made more than £30 million.

The Manchester Evening News and City Life National Union of Journalists chapels met yesterday afternoon and vowed to carry on their campaign to save the magazine. Many people including theatre and cinema managers, music impresarios and performers, have already protested to the company. 

The chapels reaffirmed an earlier decision that they would ballot for industrial action if any journalists face compulsory redundancy.

The company announced yesterday that a further 35 jobs are to go in non-editorial departments as part of a cost cutting package.

Please send protests about the closure of City Life to the chief executive of Guardian media regional at mark.Dodson@men-news.co.uk

If you can volunteer to hand out Save City Life leaflets at any cultural event in Greater Manchester please email to say so.

For more updates see www.nuj.org.uk 





LONDON AND MANCHESTER UNITED… 

…Simultaneous demonstrations will be held outside

Guardian Media offices in London and Manchester at 1pm

on Friday to protest at the closure of City Life

magazine. 



…The Guardian and Observer chapels will meet on Friday

too to discuss solidarity. 

…The Manchester demo will be utside the Evening News

offices at 164 Deansgate, Everyone welcome. 

…Please keep sending protests to the Guardian Media

Regional chief executive at mark.dodson@men-news.co.uk <mailto:mark.dodson@men-news.co.uk>



…Legendary Manchester journalist and pop impresario

Tony Wilson has pledged his support for the save City

Life campaign. Tony - played by Steve Coogan in the

film 24 Hour Party People - is happy to be interviewed

about the campaign. Hit reply for contact details.


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## farmerbarleymow (Dec 2, 2005)

To be honest, I'm not bothered either way.  Never buy or read the thing, so don't really know what merit the publication actually has.


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## Jambooboo (Dec 2, 2005)

My ma is a journo for Guardian Media and she's concerned about job losses.

 

As for City Life I think because of the free dailys and Fridays edition of the MEN which now has an extensive 'going out' section and only costs 10p (at least it did on a Friday), the people of Manchester are better served than they were years ago in terms of knowing cultural and social goings on within the city. So obviously there's less need to pay a couple of quid for a magazine when you can get a lot of the stuff covered for free/negligable cost.


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## Throbbing Angel (Dec 2, 2005)

good point

hope her job is safe


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## laptop (Dec 2, 2005)

Jambooboo said:
			
		

> My ma is a journo for Guardian Media and she's concerned about job losses.



You know what papers or websites we're talking about here?




			
				Jambooboo said:
			
		

> As for City Life I think because of the free dailys and Fridays edition of the MEN which now has an extensive 'going out' section and only costs 10p (at least it did on a Friday)



So Guardian Media has been competing with and undercutting itself, then? 

Smart move. 

By the way, the OP is pasted from www.londonfreelance.org/fl/0512man2.html which I presume will be updated when there's news...


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## chio (Dec 2, 2005)

I voted "screw it", purely because the magazine's become very poor recently. Too much of this _lifestyle_ nonsense.

It does, however, go without saying that I'm not "screwing" the thirteen people losing their jobs. Just to clarify.


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## mancboy (Dec 3, 2005)

I know a lot of the people who'll lose their jobs this week. They're talented enough to get more interesting work. Away from something that's gone so downhill and bottom-line driven in the past couple of years that it's not worth saving no more.


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