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More tough news in the commercial media sector.

Johnston Press has announced another grim set of advertising figures.

It could be worse for the Edinburgh-based newspaper and online publisher, in that the rate of decline has slowed slightly. The third quarter of this year is down 5%, while it was down 6% for the first half of the year.

The Scotsman's owner, which is the third biggest local newspaper publisher in the UK, says jobs advertising is down nearly 30%, nudged downwards by a fall in public sector recruitment.

That's another company finding that government cuts are hurting. Shares fell 6% to a grim 11p.

That explains why another £20m is being stripped out of costs this year, and a printing plant in Limerick is to join the Edinburgh one in closing.

Across on the Clyde, there's a different problem inflicted by government policy more than government spending cuts.

Jeremy Hunt, the culture, media and sports secretary, has undermined the hopes of STV that it could branch out into independent production.

The idea was that the Channel 3 licences it holds in central and northern Scotland are not going to provide much of a future.

And being in dispute with ITV, its hugely dominant partner in Channel 3 broadcasting, is not helping its case in providing more for network broadcasting - even if there is more commercial life to be found in its murder-strewn Taggart plotlines.

So if STV could be designated as an independent programme-maker, it would be able to bid for the work that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and Channel 4 are required to put out to tender.

The previous Labour government at Westminster thought that would be a good way of helping the survival and reinvention of STV and UTV in Ulster. The regulator, Ofcom, agreed.

But the smaller independent producers disagreed, fearing STV would be too big a competitor when things are already rather fragile for the sector in Scotland.

Jeremy Hunt has agreed with those smaller companies, and today said STV cannot consider itself an independent programme-maker.

The company has already been making some programmes for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ - Antiques Road Trip, for instance - and took on Alan Clements, one of Scotland's best-known programme-makers, to lead its drive into the field.

So the knock-back will hurt that plan.

What happens next for STV? It's still waiting to find out what Jeremy Hunt will have to say about the future of commercial television news.

With advertising revenue down, STV says it can't afford to continue meeting its current obligations. So it's waiting to find out if it can either avoid its current obligations or get additional funding for them.