Desmond's legacy: Expresses derailed

Abstract

The proprietor slips down the media hot 100 and his papers have become irrelevant. These are sad times for journalists at the once-great Expresses, says a former Daily Express diary editor. "The trade has been diminished by the [Richard] Desmond revolution," writes McEntee, referring to cost-cutting and the downsizing of staff across the group's titles. "And the sorry decline of a once-great group has done nothing for Desmond's standing within the industry, despite abandoning his early support for New Labour and reverting to the Expresses' traditional pro-Tory stance. In the recent publication of the Media Guardian's 2008 top 100 movers and shakers, he tumbled 20 places to number 55." Lord Beaverbrook, great journalist and proprietor of the Expresses, would weep with frustration.