Roger Parry is known for being the go-to man for media companies in need of a turnaround. Parry has been involved with Clear Channel Outdoor, Aegis and Jazz FM, and has previously attempted to take over both HMV and ITV.
At present, as well as being executive chairman at media company Media Square, he is non-executive chairman of four media companies: specialist magazine publisher Future, internet market research firm YouGov, mobile content company Mobile Streams and theatre organisation the Shakespeare's Globe Trust.
Media Square is typical of one of Parry's projects. When he was called in two years ago, the business consisted of 43 different ad, PR and design agencies, some of which, Parry says, were losing money. But after a few years with Parry at the helm, Media Square comprises 11 different companies, including communications and marketing agency The Gate, and all are happily turning a profit.
So, when old friends John Fry, chief executive of Johnston Press, and Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, needed someone to help the beleaguered local newspaper industry, they turned to Parry.
After all, since he announced in January he was to step down as non-executive chairman of Johnston Press, he has had a little extra time on his hands. The project he agreed to undertake was the supervision of a one-off submission to "empirically" prove the rules preventing local and regional media mergers are out of date.
The Office of Fair Trading says the restrictions on media ownership are intended to prevent media mergers bringing about "undue concentrations of ownership, which may operate against the public interest".
However, Lord Carter's interim Digital Britain report in January asked the OFT to review whether any changes were "desirable or necessary". After the submission of initial views and the publication of a discussion paper, the OFT asked for evidence from local newspaper publishers to prove the merger laws are no longer needed.
Media alliance
Seven of the largest regional publishers - Johnston Press, Trinity Mirror, Northcliffe, Newsquest, Archant, Guardian Media Group and DC Thomson - formed the Local Media Alliance to provide this data quickly. Parry was asked to chair the LMA, which submitted its report on 31 March.
Former and present colleagues are confident Parry will deliver. Stevie Spring, chief executive of Future, who also worked with Parry at Clear Channel, says: "If anyone can coral the troops and get a result for the LMA, it is Roger. He's an ex-journalist, very good at finding his way around government and a wonderful persuader."
Parry is equally confident. "The way the local media market functions is now completely different," he explains. "It used to be that local papers were the only option when it came to classified ads, but the market conditions have changed. First you had the arrival of free newspapers, then advertisers started to use low-cost digital printing themselves and the past 10 years brought the development of websites."
The internet has revolutionised classified advertising and Parry thinks this is a good thing. "Websites are actually a better way of doing classified advertising because they're searchable," he says. Parry says regional media owners' main competitors are now often sites such as Right Move, Monster and Auto Trader. If this is true, whether one company owns all the print papers in a region is no longer a major issue.
However, not being able to merge is not the only issue the industry is facing. In March, the Daily Mail & General Trust posted a 37% drop in ad revenues at its regional publisher Northcliffe and last week US publisher Gannett posted a 38.7% drop in revenues year on year at Newsquest, its UK regional arm. Some commentators and analysts have suggested the issue of regional mergers is not significant in the face of the collapse in advertising.
But Parry insists it is not too late. He believes local media will "remain a very good business", but that the industry will change shape: "Local media companies like Johnston, Trinity and Northcliffe are already doing a great deal to develop a new business model based on a mixture of media. I am a great believer that local media has a bright future once the current transition is made."
New industry
This new local media industry will be ruled by the internet, which Parry believes local media companies still "have the opportunity to dominate".
"People gravitate to the better product," he insists. "If you put together a good local product, people will find it. When the web first arrived, everyone talked about it as a global medium, but there is no reason why websites shouldn't focus on local communities. People are interested in their schools and hospitals."
Over the next few weeks, Parry will be busy arguing the LMA's case in meetings with the OFT, the Competition Commission and politicians from across the political divide. "Then we will wait with bated breath for the Digital Britain report," he says. If the merger rules are relaxed, an even greater challenge will begin: determining which papers could benefit from being merged.
Parry is confident the work he has done as chairman of the LMA will be enough to persuade the OFT. But the jury is still out on whether the relaxation of the merger rules will be enough to save the regional media industry.
CV
2009 Chairman, Local Media Alliance
1997-2009 Chairman, Johnston Press
1998-2005 Deputy chairman, Clear Media
1998-2005 Chairman/chief executive, Clear Channel International
1997-2003 Director, iTouch
1994-98 Chief executive, More Group
1994-2003 Deputy chairman, Jazz FM
1994 Director, London Radio
1992 President, Carat North America
1990 Development director, Aegis
1988 Development director, WCRS
1984 Consultant, McKinsey & Co
1979 Reporter/producer, BBC TV, LBC and Thames TV
1977 Assistant to Saatchi brothers
Lives Kensington and Hampshire
Family Married with one son, aged 15
Likes Tennis, squash, swimming, croquet
Desert island media BBC iPlayer, National Public Radio, UK newspaper websites, wsj.com
Parry on...
Consolidation: Consolidation has been beneficial for regional media. When the Yorkshire Post and Halifax Courier titles were put together with other papers owned by Johnston Press, the company could invest in new printing facilities in Sheffield. More papers could print in colour, which creates a more attractive product for readers and advertisers.
The effect of mergers on editorial: Newspapers under common ownership take different editorial lines. For example, Johnston Press' Halifax Courier wanted the East Coast rail line opened up and the Yorkshire Post took the opposite view. Local newspapers expect editors to plough their own furrow.
Making money from media companies: I was lucky to "pass go" several times in the '90s. With More Group, I bought shares at £3.50 and sold at £11.10, and with Aegis I bought at 17p and sold at 85p.
Regional media businesses: Media owners have to change their business model; they will have to do sales in a different way. Their transition is made harder by the slump, but they are making more progress than many people think.