Freddy to take the Johnston out of Johnston Press

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 8 March 2010 at 16:23
Tags: Media Business, People, Regional Newspapers

Freddie Johnston is to retire next month after 51 years on the board of Johnston Press.

It will be the first time in 243 years that there has not been a family member on the board of the company, the Sunday Times reports.

Johnston, 75, is currently a non-executive director. In the 2008 Sunday Times rich list he and his family were said to be worth £115m.

This correspondent recalls meeting Freddy Johnston when he was a reporter on the Johnston Press-owned Battle Observer. Johnston made a habit of visiting every member of staff at the company each year, saying hello and shaking them by the hand.

He had a colleague with him carrying a big leather bag, I recall, which we hacks speculated was full of cash. Back in the late 90s/early Naughties Johnston Press’ profit margins were approaching 40 per cent - very little of which filtered down to the reporters. NCTJ qualified graduates started on less than £8,000 a year.

Nowadays Johnston Press has deep problems financially, shackled by the huge cost of a buying spree which led to it becoming the UK’s second biggest regional newspaper publisher. More on this on Peter Kirwan’s Media Money blog.

Michael Foot - A ‘distinguished and brave’ journalist

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 4 March 2010 at 13:16
Tags: National Newspapers, National Union of Journalists, Newspapers, People

Penny Smith exits GMTV and special correspondent role for Stapleton

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 4 March 2010 at 10:13
Tags: Broadcast, People

Penny Smith has been “axed” from GMTV and fellow news anchor John Stapleton is to take on a special correspondent role - the Daily Mail reports.

It follows news that GMTV political editor Goria De Piero has left to embark on a political career and is in the running for selection to a safe Labour seat at the next general election.

The Mail reports that broadcasting veteran Smith, 51, who was with Sky News at its launch in 1989, is now set to present a series about poetry on Radio 2.

In January, the Daily Mirror reported that GMTV could cut between 50 and 100 editorial staff by merging with the ITN newsroom.

Female broadcast journalist, over 50, under valued? Move to China

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 3 March 2010 at 10:05
Tags: Broadcast, People, Radio

Former BBC broadcast journalist Susan Osman has found a new job as a breakfast news presenter in China after feeling that she had hit the “silver ceiling” in the UK, The Guardian reports.

Osman claims that there is more respect for the older generation in China and that it is a great place for a 51-year-old female broadcaster to work - provided you don’t mention the private lives of politicals leaders, the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests of 1989; or banned spiritual movement, Falun Gon.

Osman tells The Guardian: “I don’t think I have ever – ever – been treated with so much respect in a working environment..They listen, seem to admire me and seem to understand what changes I’m trying to bring here.”

Tory government would reveal all BBC staff earning more than £200k

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 3 March 2010 at 09:49
Tags: BBC, Broadcast, People, Television

How many BBC journalists earn more than £197,689 a year?

We could be about to find out, according to the Daily Telegraph. It reports today that the Conservatives would force the BBC to reveal the names of all staff earning more than the Prime Minister shortly after entering office. (more…)

British journalist jailed in Gaza faces further 15 days detention

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 1 March 2010 at 12:59
Tags: Broadcast, People, Television

Paul Martin, the British freelance journalist jailed in Gaza, today had his period of detention extended for another 15 days - the BBC reports.

The arrest of Martin appears to be an attempt to manipulate the outcome of a trial he was due to testify at.

Martin was due to testfy at the trial of a Palestinian militant who was charged with allegedly revealing state secrets during a conversation with Martin. But his arrest was ordered, according to reports, by the trial judge.

Lebedev will pay £1 for the Independent, claims report

Posted by Press Gazette on 1 March 2010 at 11:32
Tags: Media Business, National Newspapers, Newspapers, People

Alexander Lebedev will pay a token £1 later this week to take control of the Independent, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

The price is the same as a newsstand copy of the Independent – and also the same price he paid for the London Evening Standard last year. (more…)

GMTV’s Gloria De Piero lined up to take Geoff Hoon Labour seat

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 1 March 2010 at 09:38
Tags: Broadcast, People

GMTV political correspondent Gloria De Piero is facing allegations that she has been “parachuted” into a safe-seat after announcing that she is to run for Labour in Geoff Hoon’s seat of Ashfield in Nottinghamshire. The 37-year-old journalist has been GMTV’s political reporter since 2003.

One local Labour party activist said they were already furious at having an all-woman shortlist for the seat - and were unhappy that someone from outside the area was apparently being “line up” by the party hierarchy to take the seat, the Daily Mail reports.

Photographer dies after covering football match

Posted by Press Gazette on 1 March 2010 at 08:52
Tags: Newspapers, People, Photography, Regional Newspapers

Rochdale Observer photographer Steve Bostock died suddenly after covering a football match last week.

Bostock suffered a suspected heart attack outside Spotland Stadium just minutes after the end of last week’s Rochdale and Bradford City match.

Colleagues paid tribute to Bostock, who was married with two children and four step-children.

Observer sports editor Richard Partington told his paper that Bostock’s photography reflected his great enthusiasm for his work. (more…)

BBC veteran reporters only on ‘30-day contracts’, claims Mail

Posted by Press Gazette on 22 February 2010 at 09:36
Tags: BBC, Broadcast, People, Radio, Television

The appointment by the BBC of the veteran reporters Julia Somerville and Fiona Armstrong was seen as a well-timed response to accusations of ageism at the corporation.

However, the Daily Mail claimed today that both reporters, who returned to screens just days ago, are only on 30-day contracts. (more…)

Liddle no longer in frame for Indy job, WWII bomber disappears from the moon

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 19 February 2010 at 14:17
Tags: National Newspapers, People

Rod Liddle is no longer in the running to edit The Independent, Media Guardian reports.

The will he, won’t he series of stories about Liddle reminds me of the classic Daily Sport front page: “World War Two bomber found on the moon”, which was followed by the genius follow up - “World War Two bomber disappears from the moon”.

On a more serious note, yesterday’s meeting of the Independent’s NUJ chapel voted to accept reduced redundancy terms to improve the chances of Alexander Lebedev buying the paper.

Lebedev’s period of exclusive negotiations with IN&M finishes on 26 February.

Independent journalists have decided to reduce their redundancy terms from four weeks per year of service to two weeks.

The fact they have decided to do this is a strong indication of the dire circumstances the Indy titles are in.

Journalists must have been persuaded that there is a realistic prospect of the titles closing if they don’t go for this deal.

And as many journalists have found out over the last year, statutory redundancy applies if your business goes bust - which is currently just £350 per year of service.

Are you an estate agent looking for love? Fear not, Property Week is at hand

Posted by Press Gazette on 18 February 2010 at 11:21
Tags: B2B Magazines, Magazines, People

Are you a lovelorn estate agent? A single property manager that has yet to meet Mr Rightmove? Or just looking for someone special with whom you can while away the hours discussing the availability of commercial property in Bromsgrove?

Fear not. (more…)

The Field throws its weight behind Help for Heroes

Posted by Ajmal Sarwar on 17 February 2010 at 19:13
Tags: Journalism, Magazines, People

IPC Media country sports magazine, The Field, has thrown its weight behind the Help for Heroes campaign.

The latest issue is a special edition of the 157-year-old title and will be donating 50p for every copy sold to the charity which helps British servicemen and women wounded in conflicts.

The Help for Heroes campaign is more usually, and closely, associated with The Sun newspaper which reported in October than it had helped the charity raise more than £30m over two years.

The Field, which covers shooting and hunting in its pages, will include an interview with H4H’s founder Bryan Parry and a feature on the work of dogs in current military conflicts in its special issue.

Jonathan Young, editor of the Field, said: “We’re proud to be associated with such a brilliant charity, and we’re expecting a huge response to this issue from readers.”

Journalistic humiliation is not just the preserve of workies

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 17 February 2010 at 07:20
Tags: National Newspapers, Newspapers, People

We’ve had work experience students who have been asked to shop in Tesco on a bicycle and topless.

Now former Daily Mirror deputy managing editor John Honeywell gets in touch to say that it’s not just workies who get to experience the muddy end of the journalistic stick.

Over to you John:

Back in the 1970s, I was a reporter on the Sheffield Star - complete with NCTJ qualifications obtained during my three previous years on my home-town weekly - when news editor David Mastin discovered the local Austin Reed was about to start stocking tights for men.

I was sent to road-test them on Sheffield High Street, with a photographer in tow to snap the shocked reactions of the Steel City shoppers.

The fact that the tights were intended to be worn UNDER a pair of trousers, in the same way as a pair of long johns, had escaped the news editor, and was conveniently ignored by the monkey.

So yours truly shivered in the spring chill wearing a pair of PURPLE tights, and a fetching cable-knit jumper, also courtesy Austin Reed.

And that was it, apart from a pair of shoes. No trousers. No coat.

Just a man in tights.

It could have been a colourful episode from my career dispatched to a dusty corner of memory but for one thing. I made the mistake of mentioning it to a colleague shortly before leaving the Mirror last October, and managing editor Eugene Duffy called on the investigative skills of a team of reporters . . . well, Andrew Penman . . . to track down a copy of the picture.

I suppose it’s as much a tribute to the picture desk of the Sheffield Star as it is to Penman’s tenacity that a picture was obtained, and used on the brace of Page Ones presented at my leaving do.

Most embarrassing, but a lesson to all those work experience kids, and to the dozens of Mirror trainees who turned up to see me off.

John is now a freelance travel journalist going under the title Captain Greybeard). See his Daily Mirror blog here.

Send in your tales of journalistic humiliation to dominicp@pressgazette.co.uk.

Sarah Brown to edit Fabulous magazine for a second time

Posted by Ajmal Sarwar on 16 February 2010 at 19:08
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Journalism, National Newspapers, People

Sarah Brown, the wife of the Prime Minster, is to guest-edit News of the World’s Fabulous magazine for the second time.

Brown previously edited the magazine last July in support of women’s health charity, Wellbeing of Women (WoW). She will be supporting WoW again as she edits the February 21 issue of Fabulous.

Brown said: “My second time in the editor’s chair has been every bit as exciting as the first and I’m delighted Fabulous magazine has helped this brilliant charity spread their message and raise funds for life-searching research.”

As part of her second stint in the editor’s chair, Brown interviewed the model Elle Macpherson. The issue will also include interviews with other celebrities, whose lives have been touched by women’s health issues, including the The One Show’s Christine Bleakley.

Sally Eyden, editor of Fabulous, said: “Sarah has been an avid supporter of our women’s health campaign and we are delighted to be welcoming her back to Fabulous for her second guest edit.

“Sarah is brilliant to work with, has been very hands-on, and her extensive experience working on behalf of charitable causes brings a fresh perspective to the magazine.”

In addition to its guest editor, Fabulous has signed-up the wife of Rolling Stone guitarist Ronnie Wood as an online “agony guru”.

Jo Wood, who becomes the magazine’s first web-only columnist, is penning a weekly readers’ Q&A which will appear on the Fabulous website.

New PA multimedia training course in London

Posted by Press Gazette on 16 February 2010 at 11:53
Tags: Newspapers, People, Student Journalism

The Press Association is to launch a new multimedia foundation training course in London.

The new course, which will run from the Press Association’s headquarters in Vauxhall Bridge Road, will be based on the schemes the news agency runs from its training centre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. (more…)

Reuters photographer freed by US forces in Iraq after 17 months detention

Posted by Press Gazette on 11 February 2010 at 11:13
Tags: Agencies, People, Photography, press freedom

A Reuters photographer Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed has been freed by the US military after 17 months’ detention in Iraq without charge.

Mohammed, an Iraqi who contributed to Reuters on a freelance basis, was released yesterday. (more…)

PA’s chief sports reporter carries Olympic torch in Canada

Posted by Press Gazette on 10 February 2010 at 14:23
Tags: Agencies, People

The Press Association’s chief sports reporter Martyn Ziegler yesterday carried the Olympic torch on a leg of its journey to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver - the only British journalist to do so. (more…)

Peter Preston: Something ‘a bit rum’ about Purves and Muir’s new critic roles

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 8 February 2010 at 10:25
Tags: National Newspapers, People

Former Guardian editor Peter Preston thinks it’s “a bit rum” that Times editor James Harding has appointed two non specialist writers to the jobs of theatre and film critics: Libby Purves and Kate Muir respectively.

Preston believes that those who have devoted their careers to the genres might do a better job than these relative late-comers.

He writes in the Observer: “The Nightingales, Billingtons and Frenches of this life are much more than fizzy wordsmiths. What they write – thumbs up or down – matters.

“Will Libby Purves be able to supply that essential service? Let’s hope so. She’s 60, too late for a career in theatre reviewing but at least the right sort of age for the audience she’s going to ­command.

“And Kate Muir, on the nether side of 40? If she looks around as the house lights go up, she’ll see that she’s one of the oldest people in sight: 30 is more or less top weight at her Finchley Vue.”

The London Weekly starting to look like a mirage

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 3 February 2010 at 12:16
Tags: Free Newspapers, Journalism, Newspapers, People

Media journalists have spent a lot of time investigating a new London newspaper launch which is beginning to look like a mirage - The London Weekly.

Press Gazette too has been searching in vain for evidence that this project is for real. Frankly we’re reluctant to spend much more of our precious time investigating it, but here’s a quick update on where we are two days before it is due to hit the streets with a circulation of 250,000 copies.

There is still no sign of an office where its claimed 50-strong editorial staff are based, and no editorial telephone numbers.

The advertising telephone number now has a recorded message stating that this number is “currently inactive”.

No-one has returned the messages we left when the number was taking messages.

And no-one has answered Press Gazette’s questions, sent via email to marketing person Paul Morris, which included: How many journalists are you employing? Do you have a dummy edition we could see? Where will you be distributed? What’s your business plan?

Rival publishers would have expected to have heard whispers about circulation, distribution and printing plans by now but have heard nothing. They are not taking The London Weekly seriously at all.

The Guardian has tracked down one of the many “staff” listed on the paper’s website: Simon Glazin, who says he submitted some work but hasn’t been paid and was surprised to have been listed on the staff.

Journalism.co.uk has found out that there is a new editor, Alan Mills, and has spoken to a human being on the telephone who is involved in the project - so well done them! Head of display Angus Auden assures them it is not a “wind up” and says: “There are a lot of people in offices all over the place.”

It would take the KGB investigative skills of Alexander Lebedev to get to the bottom of this one. Something tells me he isn’t too concerned about it.