Construction News drops a brick with repeat spread

Posted by Axegrinder on 28 July 2009 at 20:58
Tags: Construction News, Emap Inform, Nick Edwards, Simon Middelboe, Uncategorized

It was was red faces all round at the usually yellow-topped Construction News this week as a production error led to the previous edition’s page 2-3 spread being repeated.

Readers had the questionable pleasure of wading through editor Nick Edwards’ leader for the second week on the trot, while the contents page certainly had a sense of déjà vu about it.

The mistake was particularly embarrassing for Emap Inform chief executive Simon Middelboe, who has been at the forefront of centralising all production desks across the division.

His dream of sub-editors beavering away in isolation from the reporting teams has cut costs but has now resulted in the worst rick in the mag’s 140-year history.

Axegrinder understands a furious Edwards tried to get the edition pulped and reprinted but thousands of copies made it out to bewildered readers.

UPDATE: A regular reader of Construction News contacted Axegrinder on Thursday to reveal a fresh twist to the unfortunate saga: “They have now sent out a replacement issue for last week’s magazine, which has just landed on our desks along with this week’s issue. If, as you suggest, they knew that they had messed up and decided not to pulp and reprint the issue, why did they do it afterwards, adding postage costs to their woes?”