Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 21 August 2008 at 16:26
Tags: Journalism
The BBC’s political editor for the North-West, David Woodthorpe, has left the Beeb after two years in the role, reports How Do.
Woodthorpe previously worked for Anglia Televison in Norwich as well as putting in stints at the Herald Express in Devon and the Eastern Daily Press in Norfolk.
The post will be kept open for a successor and will be advertised imminently…
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 21 August 2008 at 15:47
Tags: New Media, Regional Newspapers
Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson has given a spirited defence of Trinity Mirror Midlands’ radical re-organisation of its Birmingham, Coventry and weekly newspapers.
Dyson explained the thinking behind the changes on Tuesday and has weathered some rather strong criticism in the form of mostly anonymous comments.
The Birmingham Post & Mail and the Sunday Mercury are to have a merged reporting team writing to one converged web and print production desk, much like at Trinity’s Media Wales centre in Cardiff, home of the South Wales Echo.
But, as a result of the changes, 65 jobs will go across Trinity Midlands and 300 staff will have to reapply for the changed roles. Incidentally, Post editor Marc Reeves says that many staff with changed jobs will be get more money.
Dyson admitted it was “a sombre day indeed for me as an editor in having to announce changes that will require fewer journalistic staff”.
The response was angry: one poster, fittingly calling him or herself “Angry”, said: “Fact: This essentially means the end of the Sunday Mercury. Shame on you Steve Dyson. You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself…”
Dyson’s response this afternoon is worth quoting at length: “I understand yours’ and others’ anger. I expected it…I’m under no illusion that some of the changes that are taking place are unpopular. And I realise some affected will need a target, (Fire away. It’s good for me soul).
“What I’m focused on is the staff who want to develop their roles …those who want to the smartest media in the UK and those who want a future in UK journalism in 2009.
“I want to ensure that as as those staff as possible have a part in this future. I’m very much less concerned at those who stick their heads in the sand.”
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 20 August 2008 at 12:19
Tags: New Media, Regional Newspapers
If nothing else, Trinity Mirror’s radical plans to re-organise the way its Midlands titles work has certainly made some waves.
Neil Benson, Trinity’s editorial director, described the move to bring the Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail and Sunday Mercury into one unified editorial structure as a “pioneering approach” and said that journalists would benefit from extra skills.
Nigel Hastilow, former editor of the Post, is not quite so convinced. He accuses Trinity of “disemboweling” the Birmingham papers and the Coventry Telegraph, which will have its own integrated content desk.
Mail editor Steve Dyson wrote of the difficulties of telling staff of the 65 jobs to be cut across the Birmingham and Coventry papers. He explains the reasoning: “I’ve seen the figures and we can simply no longer afford to exist as sister Midlands titles in silos…having their own management, writers and production departments working separately.”
The NUJ is also concerned, with General Secretary Jeremy Dear accusing Trinity of chasing “short-term, share-price-driven goals”.
With NUJ action already underway at Johnston Press, and some kind of group-wide action expected at Newsquest (Dear says “watch this space…”), it could be a lively few months ahead for regional papers.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 14 August 2008 at 11:29
Tags: Broadcast
Well done to ITV News, the proud bearers of a nomination for an international Emmy for its coverage of the famine and brutality in Zimbabwe.
The only UK broadcaster to be nominated, ITV goes up against al-Jazeera, who feature for the first time.
The winners are announced in New York on 22 September.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 14 August 2008 at 10:47
Tags: Regional Newspapers
Adrian Sudbury, the Regional Press Awards Digital Journalist of the Year, has caused quite a few waves with his campaign to raise awareness of leukemia and organ donation.
He has met cabinet ministers, received a letter from Prince Charles and even a had sit-down chat with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who called him up out of the blue last night.
Brown called to say that he had personally written to Sudbury’s suggested list of celebrities who might back his campaign to make lessons on blood and organ donation compulsory for school leavers.
Sudbury’s petition on the Number 10 website attracted over 10,000 signatures.
Sadly, Sudbury, a digital journalist for the Huddersfield Examiner, contracted two rare forms of leukemia in November 2006. Last month he refused any more treatment for the terminal illness and is now spending time with his friends and family.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 14 August 2008 at 10:07
Tags: Law
Wealthy businessmen and celebrities are using the UK’s stringent defamation laws to silence their critics, according to the UN’s Committee on Human Rights.
According to the Indy, the committee warned in a report yesterday that the laws had halted debate and exposure of matters of public interest.
The reports cites the case of Dr Rachel , the US researcher who was sued by a Saudi businessman in London - despite the book not being published in Britain. Just 23 copies were bought and read by UK readers, all from the the online bookstore Amazon.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 13 August 2008 at 11:46
Tags: New Media, Online, Regional Newspapers
The Express & Star and Shropshire Star, two of the country’s biggest regional newspapers, have launched mobile phones site aggregating news and sports stories from the papers.
The sites were developed by owner Midlands News Association’s digital wing NMA Digital in partnership with mobile technology firm Wapple.
They were built by the Midland News Association’s online arm MNA Digital, working with mobile technology partner Wapple, based in Bromsgrove.
The simple text-based sites give five or six current news and sport stories and contain links to pictures.
David Ratcliffe, MNA Digital head of digital, said: “The number of readers accessing the MNA websites using mobile phones has grown steadily in recent months, particularly since the launch of the iPhone.
“Print customers are used to being able to take their MNA newspaper anywhere, now the digital audience can access content on the move. The new mobile sites offer an exciting opportunity to better understand the dynamics of this channel.”
Expressandstar.com is claiming 1.2m visits from nearly 380,000 unique users in July, with 6.6m page impressions. Shropshirestar.com had 2m page impressions, with 120,000 uniques and 280,000 visits.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 13 August 2008 at 10:23
Tags: Media Business, National Newspapers
The FT today turns its spotlight on the continued struggle for public media companies to maintain a healthy share price.
The paper reports that while publishers like Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror have suffered, major local newspaper companies with big exposures to an anemic advertising market, B2B publishers like Reed Elsevier are not immune either.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 29 July 2008 at 11:05
Tags: Regional Newspapers
Crain’s Manchester Business, the weekly business newspaper launched by the US publisher, is claiming 35,000 monthy unique users and 125,000 page views to its website.
Publisher Arthur Porter, who started the title in January after running Crain’s Tampa Bay version in Florida, tells North West Media site How Do the site is enjoying a 25 per cent month-on-month increase.
This may change in the coming weeks however, when the paper’s content - currently free - is made available to the paper’s subscribers only.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 24 July 2008 at 09:47
Tags: Regional Newspapers
Regional newspaper company Newsquest has invested £40m - the equivalent of 10 per cent - into two hedge funds,
Newsquest pension scheme, which like most other local newspaper companies’ schemes is closed to new members, has a deficit of around £65m. Last July Newsquest’s 9,000 staff were told they would have to increase their contributions from six to 10 per cent to receive the same pension - with the company contributing 12 per cent.
Chairman of the fund trustees David Coates said the plan was to get “superior returns” for members.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 22 July 2008 at 11:37
Tags: National Newspapers
Jonathan Brown, senior reporter at The Independent, has been made the paper’s northern correspondent, reports How Do.
He replaces Mark Hughes - the 22-year-old winner of Press Gazette’s Student Journalist of the Year awards in 2007 - who moves to the Indy’s HQ in Canary Wharf.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 3 July 2008 at 08:59
Tags: Regional Newspapers
In a Press Gazette interview in April he said he would be happy if he never wrote about Ken Livingstone ever again.
But it seems Andrew Gilligan just can’t help himself. Over two pages in the Evening Standard last night the reigning Journalist of the Year probed Livingstone’s new HQ in Manor House and the likelihood of him running for mayor again.
In a possible mellowing of relations between the pair, however, Ken took the Standard man’s call and even answered a few questions.
Will Gilligan be called into action for a series of investigations in 2012?
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 3 July 2008 at 08:45
Tags: National Newspapers
Guardian and Sunday Times columnist Simon Jenkins has been elected chair of the National Trust.
Among the former Evening Standard editor’s jobs will be to to safeguard Stonehenge - he describes previous consultations on the historic site as “racing madhouses”.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 2 July 2008 at 12:25
Tags: Regional Newspapers
It may be a radical step, but some in the City are talking of a merger between two of the country’s biggest press companies, Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror, to counteract tough market conditions, the Independent reports.
ABN Amro said yesterday: “These are desperate times and they call for desperate measures: we believe a Trinity/Johnston combination makes sense.” Shareholders and management of hard-pressed companies would, ABN said, “will press for industry consolidation”.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 1 July 2008 at 08:56
Tags: Media Business, National Newspapers, Regional Newspapers
Trinity Mirror’s advertising slump of between 12 and 14 per cent in May and June was the worst since the aftermath of the terror attacks of 11 September 2001 according to The Times. The news led shares in publisher to slump by 42.5p to 109p yesterday - a 28 per cent one-day fall.
Though chief executive Sly Bailey is confident that Trinity won’t be the last to report such figures, with Newsquest’s US owner Gannett already having reported a 14.7 per cent ad revenue drop in May.
The Times business editor David Wighton says it’s too late to “talk ourselves into a downturn”. “It looks suspiciously like we are already there”.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 1 July 2008 at 08:26
Tags: Law, New Media
A businessman is suing a former friend for creating a false Facebook profile using his personal information in what is thought to be the first defamation case involving the social networking website.
The Daily Telegraph and Daily Telegraph report that Mathew Firsht is suing for libel and misuse of private information in the High Court after camerman Grant Raphael put false information about his political views and sexual orientation on the page.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 27 June 2008 at 10:36
Tags: Magazines
Stevie Spring, CEO of Future plc, will be the new chair of BBC’s Children in Need charity from the end of July.
Spring will head a board of trustees tasked with bettering year’s £36m of grants. She is stepping down as chair of the Groundwork Federation.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 27 June 2008 at 10:17
Tags: Law, National Newspapers
Neil Entwistle, who murdered his wife and child in America has been banned from selling his story.
The Times reports that Entwistle, who has been given an immutable life sentence for first degree murder, was arrested at a West London tube station with a note about his plans to sell his story to a newspaper but has been banned from speaking to the press.
The story may yet come out, however: the ban does not extend to Entwistle’s parents, who have hired a Boston lawyer to represent them.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 23 June 2008 at 16:00
Tags: National Newspapers
A memorial service will be held this Wednesday for former Times and Independent columnist Miles Kington who died in January aged 66.
The ceremony begins at 3pm at St Martins-in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square London and will be feature readings from Joanna Lumley and Terry Jones. Doors open at 2.30pm. Readers and fellow journalists alike are welcome.
Posted by
Patrick Smith
on 23 June 2008 at 15:17
Tags: Regional Newspapers
Crain’s Manchester Business, the weekly business newspaper, will be given away free to passengers on Virgin Trains from Monday.
All first class passengers traveling to London Euston from Manchester Piccadilly will get a complimentary copy every Monday morning.
The business weekly will also be made available to visitors to the Virgin First Class Lounge at Manchester Piccadilly.
Publisher Arthur Porter said: “We are delighted to be associated with a company such as Virgin Trains.
“It is powerful testimony to the quality editorial the Manchester business community has come to expect every week from Crain’s. It makes traveling first class on Virgin an even more attractive proposition.”
