In an article which revealed an upturn in UK regional newspaper property advertising (Johnston buoyed by property ads), the Financial Times quoted an optimistic Johnston Press which predicted that the "total advertising revenues [should] fall less than 3 per cent in the third quarter of 2010, compared with a nadir of 32.7 per cent declines in the depth of the recession last year".

Douglas McCabe was asked for his view. He said: “It’s hard to share Johnston’s optimism that job or property advertising are going to improve or even stay flat in the next year.”