Personnel Review 30,1 22 Personnel Review, Vol. 30 No. 1, 2001, pp. 22-41. # MCB University Press, 0048-3486 Received October 1998 Revised June 1999 Accepted October 1999 Industrial relations under new ownership The case of provincial newspapers in Britain Gregor Gall University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK Keywords Industrial relations, Publishing industry, Trade unions, Takeovers Abstract This paper examines changes in industrial relations in a large number of provincial newspapers (existing and acquired) following expansion through acquisition by previously medium-sized newspaper groups. It considers whether acquisition leads to forces for change or continuity, diversity or uniformity, resulting in differing industrial relations outcomes. It concludes that while there are severe difficulties in evaluating the consequences of acquisition on industrial relations, the degree of change is much less than might be expected. Introduction The provincial newspaper industry has experienced over a decade of continual change, if not upheaval. Beginning with the introduction of direct input technology in the mid-1980s, the industry has experienced the exit of the highly unionised and well-organised compositors, the challenge of ``free sheets’’, declining circulations and the widespread derecognition of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) (Gall, 1993; 1998; Smith and Morton, 1990). The industry in the mid- to late 1990s then experienced a further bout of restructuring. After many years of attempting to control and offset declining circulations and the recession-linked advertising revenues through strategies such as changing format, centralising production and reducing the workforce, five of the six major multi-media groups have sold their entire portfolios of provincial newspapers to concentrate on others areas of publishing which produce higher returns such as scientific, legal and electronic publishing. Table I outlines these changes. Thus Northcliffe Regional Newspapers, owned by Associated Newspapers who own the Daily Mail , is not only the last remaining large traditional group in provincial newspapers but it has also recently expanded through acquisition, recently buying a Scottish daily and evening newspaper producing centre. With these acquisitions the pattern of ownership in the industry has changed considerably; former medium-sized groups and new entrants have now become the major players. The purpose of this article is to examine the effect of this change in ownership on the industrial relations (IR) of the existing and new centres of production within the newly expanded companies in three groups (Trinity, Newsquest and Johnston). These companies now represent three of the four biggest groups in the industry. In doing so the focus will be on the editorial area rather than the areas of advertising, printing and distribution. The research register for this journal is available at http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emerald-library.com/ft