Blame Barrymore

I address you during the deepest of troubled moments for Press Gazette, the journalism trade magazine I have famously written for in recent times. Well, famously, only if fame can be measured in the tiniest of fractions. PG is certainly not famous for its circulation, so my work has been at the extreme outer orbital limits of readable existence in its printed versions. To be honest, if ever a hard copy is actually spotted, I always expect a breathless David Attenborough voice-over to play. "Ahhh! And here we have that rare specimen...Press Gazette."

Well, as of tomorrow - Thursday - it could indeed be extinct. There are three potential buyers still interested, but it is going to the wire. If they have a genuine rescue package it needs to appear, like now, or it's liquidation time for the 41 year old magazine. A sad day that would be.

At least I have an interview for no-one to read running in what could be the final edition, available almost nowhere tomorrow. It is with Michael Barrymore with his views on the press coverage he has, er, enjoyed over the years. He has had a tough time, not least over the tragic death of Stuart Lubbock in his swimming pool. He has been castigated by the newspapers for that and much else besides, so he gets to have his say in the article.

When I met Barrymore last weekend, I told him that our interview might well be in the obituary edition of the journalists' trade bible. "Just think, Michael," I told him. "An interview with you could help kill the magazine. Then all the press can blame you for that as well!"