The Buteman weekly newspaper to close after 165 years

A weekly newspaper that has been serving an island community for 165 years is to close after a fall in readership.

The Buteman will publish its final edition later this month after its circulation dropped to below 550.

Owners JPI Media confirmed the closure of the paper but did not make any further comment.

It is understood the decision will be explained to readers in next week's edition.

No jobs will be lost as a result of The Buteman's closure.

Its sole reporter and its editor are both based in Edinburgh where they work for other titles in the group.

The weekly, which was first published in December 1854, had recently launched a plea for readers to help fill its pages with "local stories".

The last time The Buteman was audited in 2018 the circulation stood at 730, while the population of the Isle of Bute stood at 6,144 as of 2017.

Its closure comes in the wake of one of the biggest stories to hit Bute in recent years - the murder of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail in July last year.

JPI Media, the publisher of The Scotsman and other Scottish weeklies, took over the title last year after former owners Johnston Press went into administration.

The newspaper print industry has been struggling globally in the face of competition from digital media.

Last November, The Sunday Herald published its final edition after 19 years amid a fall in sales.

Despite falling circulation, the Scottish Newspaper Society said news brands were "able to reach and influence audiences on a greater scale than ever before" thanks to their own digital platforms.

The Scottish media industry contributes £1.2bn to the Scottish economy, with around £770m (64%) of that coming from the newspaper and publishing industry, according to the society.