tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post4116061942054040404..comments2013-05-23T13:03:15.663+01:00Comments on Playing the game (real adventures in journalism): A sad indictmentUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-83110345091649503982009-07-27T15:49:28.713+01:002009-07-27T15:49:28.713+01:00You have your own shoe box?
And reporters actually...You have your own shoe box?<br />And reporters actually allocated to newspaper titles, rather than a 'commercial market'?<br />I knew you had it easier ooop North.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-55177073078656404262009-07-17T09:24:03.530+01:002009-07-17T09:24:03.530+01:00Ee bah gum. Two reporters a paper? Luxury. We do i...Ee bah gum. Two reporters a paper? Luxury. We do it with one reporter per paper and sub it from a shoe box in t'middle of road...<br /><br /><br />(we really do it with one reporter per paid for...)The fifth Yorkshiremannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-26248906926932109722009-07-17T07:43:30.631+01:002009-07-17T07:43:30.631+01:00Robyn, I notice from your profile that you are in ...Robyn, I notice from your profile that you are in PR. So you USED to be a journalist. <br />Now you are just a sell-out.blunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05651745771086581685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-83908046869137516752009-07-16T23:32:39.437+01:002009-07-16T23:32:39.437+01:00Spot the typo. That should give you something else...Spot the typo. That should give you something else to whine about.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-38388556347413160702009-07-16T23:29:19.117+01:002009-07-16T23:29:19.117+01:00As a journalist with standards I'm more concer...As a journalist with standards I'm more concerned with facts that assumptions. I don't have a Blackberry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-88518052224844930392009-07-16T19:59:40.483+01:002009-07-16T19:59:40.483+01:00The formula is simple.
Find something interestin...The formula is simple. <br /><br />Find something interesting that nobody else knows, and that somebody somewhere WANTS nobody else to know, write it clear and crisp, and print it. Or publish it on your website. <br /><br />That's it. <br /><br />You can't do that if you're parked on your arse all day transcribing press releases to fill "the blank bits between the ads", as a former daily editor of mine once charmingly described his papers' news pages. <br /><br />No wonder we're fucked, really. The ad sales raptors have taken over.<br /> <br />Even editors now talk every day about news stories in terms of 'potential revenue streams' ie flogging ads off the back of them. <br /><br />I am a dinosaur I guess, but I have this fond memory of the days when we hacks bust our guts to fill our papers with stories people actually found interesting, and the vampiric sons and daughters of Satan who sold ads went out and sold fucking ads. And never the twain. <br /><br />As for 'where's the money to come from to hire more reporters..." <br /><br />Uh.... hello? The regional press is AWASH with money, even now, in recession-hit 2009. <br /><br />The problem lies in working off figures like 34% profit on turnover, and making it sound like something out of The Day The Earth Caught Fire if that figure "plummets" to a mere 28%. <br /><br />Oh, just the £134 million profit this year then, as opposed to last year's £168 million. Total disaster. Well, it is to the poor bastards who get handed the bin bag. <br /><br />Tesco Wallmart, not exactly a paragon of altruism, gets by on 6%. <br /><br />The people who run our newspapers are soulless, short-termist, asset-stripping whores. Maybe they always were, although I doubt that. <br /><br />The real tragedy is that their "philosophy" is now being parroted out by a succession of Editors who are not worthy of the name. <br /><br />If I hear my editor ask me one more time, when I put up a page lead, whether there is "a revenue stream we can tap into with this" I think I will trepann him. <br /><br />And go work in a fucking supermarket. At least that's honest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-54790042223667272382009-07-16T17:52:55.186+01:002009-07-16T17:52:55.186+01:00There is a circular motion to these comments. Plea...There is a circular motion to these comments. Please ask yourself why they are dying a death, madam.<br />I am merely offering suggestions that may stem that demise.<br />Clearly you will be happy blogging on your Blackberry about fashion as you queue up at the dole office. <br />I am not so keen to just sit and do nothing about mismanagement which I think is the main cause of the decline in newspaper sales/readership.blunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05651745771086581685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-61353164680977296552009-07-16T17:01:34.344+01:002009-07-16T17:01:34.344+01:00Ever heard of quality over quantity, chum? If you&...Ever heard of quality over quantity, chum? If you've got decent reporters they'll get you the stories you need, it's not about bums on seats. Either way, you're flogging a dead horse. Regional newspapers are dying a death. FACT.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-80845508623484387312009-07-16T16:07:57.067+01:002009-07-16T16:07:57.067+01:00Many newspapers are still making considerable prof...Many newspapers are still making considerable profits largely due to the massive cuts across editorial floors. <br />Don't be fooled by management half truths about falling revenue. <br />This just means the profits are not so large this year but they are still there.<br />It would not take a huge annual investment to increase the number of reporters, for example, from three to five on one of my papers(especially with the shite wages they pay).<br />More reporters = better coverage = more readers = more advertisers = more money. <br />It's not rocket science, chum.blunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05651745771086581685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5102619445313518313.post-23705229301536170632009-07-16T15:55:58.544+01:002009-07-16T15:55:58.544+01:00And where does the money come from to pay for thes...And where does the money come from to pay for these extra reporters? Good news stories will indeed get folk to buy the paper, you're right there, but money's not made in rising circultion, it's made in advertising sales. FACT.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com