The high-profile owners of Press Gazette, faced with considerable losses, decided after only one year in possession to abandon the magazine and the awards that are made under its name and which provide the Fleet Street Diaspora, as well as the provincial press, one of few excuses in the modern media world to meet and drink as a group. Press Gazette Ltd went into administration – overseen by Robert Allen, of the accountancy firm Vantage – and, as it had been trading at an estimated £15,000-a-week loss, ceased publishing.

Fortunately, with a gallop to the rescue that would have done credit to the 7th Cavalry, the specialist information group Wilmington bought the title just when it looked ready for the administering of last rights and announced its immediate return to the newsstands. We wish Wilmington and new editor-in-chief Tony Loynes – a former PG editor – good luck. They are certainly going to need it.

The recent history of Press Gazette is depressing and extraordinary in that an industry devoted to publishing news appeared unable to sustain a weekly journal of news about itself. Journalists are, on the whole, generous souls, traditionally ready to spend the housekeeping money on buying a drink for an impoverished friend. Yet they are notoriously parsimonious when it comes to forking out the relatively modest cover-price of their own trade paper. Senior journalists earning handsome salaries show a similar reluctance to put their hands in their pockets for the BJR, a more expensive purchase, although one which contains more food for thought. Fortunately, in our case generous corporate subscriptions enable what is an inexpensive operation to continue. Even The Journalists’ Charity, which supports those in need and is currently raising money to cover the cost of its new, state of the art care home in Surrey, has struggled to attract individual support from within the trade, with only a small percentage of those in work prepared to part with the minor investment required for life membership.

The competition facing PG (and, editorially, this journal) has become intense. Newspaper media sections and global coverage of the industry on the web have provided blanket coverage of media news and, more importantly, plundered trade advertising, making what was never a smooth path even rougher. Indeed, as its new owners doubtless realise, in recent years PG as a business has seen emphasis switch dramatically from the being print and electronic conduit linking outlets of journalism throughout the country to a revenue-earning platform for the distribution of various awards.

The continuation of the British Press Awards – in disarray after the withdrawal of several groups last year – and those for the regional press feature prominently in Wilmington’s plans; indeed, Loynes was quick to assure the trade that next year’s main awards are “firmly on schedule” for March 26, 2007. Putting them back on track will be a considerable achievement: getting the various national newspaper groups to follow a common cause can be more difficult that obtaining unanimity at a G8 summit.

Ian Reeves, editor of the publication when it went into administration, knows this only too well, having worked vigorously to gather enough support from the major newspaper publishers to establish a trust to fund PG’s future. Although he reported some success, overall acceptance of the idea was never remotely in reach.

The press release announcing Wilmington’s successful takeover burbled that CEO Charles Brady was “very enthusiastic about the acquisition” and quoted him as saying: “We intend to deliver to the journalist and press community publications, events and other information products that will not only enhance their professional lives but that they can identify with and be proud of.” Previous owners have said much the same before getting out of town.

What PG needs is greater support from individual journalists. Glitzy awards are not enough for the magazine itself to re-establish its one-time position as a vital component of the media industries and the newspaper industry in particular. If a significant number of those working at every newspaper, television or radio station, or web news or feature operation, had regularly bought what has become a lively and informative trade publication, the crisis would have been averted. Now – those evenings of dinner-jacketed self-glorification and extravagant carousing aside – PG can fulfil its primary purpose only through the largesse of the trade’s practitioners.

It continued to attract a great deal of goodwill, observed Robert Allen, when thanking suppliers, contributors and the magazine’s printers for their continuing support as the magazine limped into print for several weeks after going into administration. The words “working journalists” were noticeably absent. If the BJR is not at some point permanently to find itself the only trade-dedicated publication in journalism, the responsibility for Press Gazette’s demise will be the mean spirits that displayed wilful indifference in the past.