I gather the situation is dire at Archant's local newspaper titles as the group prepares for another major cost cutting round of job losses from the editorial department. The features department is to be decimated - just months after is suffered a previous major jobs cull. Reporter, feature writers and photographers are all to go. Not quite sure how they are planning on filling the paper with no staff, but quality of content doesn't seem to be a prime concern at the moment. So far the group's plan seems to be to keep profits high while cutting costs dramatically - usually from editorial. I would argue that this is not a viable long term plan if you still want people to read the content. I would also urge bosses at the company to take a look a the most successful paper at the moment - the Daily Mail. Whether or not you agree with its politics, it is one of the few papers pumping money into editorial still - and the result is plenty of readers. Meanwhile The Daily Express is taking the opposite approach and falling off a cliff. Look and learn Archant.
Friday, 20 May 2011
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Local newspaper journalists a disappearing breed
They are shedding 20 more editorial jobs at my local paper the Eastern Daily Press. Must be a high proportion of jobs, as I guess there are only just over a 100 editorial posts at the company Archant anyway.
Couldn't help wondering how many public relations professionals there now are compared to journalists? The ratio of people wanting to create news, compared to those wanting to find out and write about it.
My guess is that there are thousand more PRs now trying to talk to local newspaper journalists - who are working ever harder, with less time to find stories and get out and meet people.
Indeed, Archant suggested that shedding journalist jobs would enable them to 'consolidate' editorial coverage - especially in the digital economy. Also, they suggest that in future journalists will be out in the community more.
Again. I'm wondering how this might happen? Perhaps local village correspondents (hopefully not unpaid, although I fear they might be) will become more important contacts for PRs than local journalists? Liz Hollis
Couldn't help wondering how many public relations professionals there now are compared to journalists? The ratio of people wanting to create news, compared to those wanting to find out and write about it.
My guess is that there are thousand more PRs now trying to talk to local newspaper journalists - who are working ever harder, with less time to find stories and get out and meet people.
Indeed, Archant suggested that shedding journalist jobs would enable them to 'consolidate' editorial coverage - especially in the digital economy. Also, they suggest that in future journalists will be out in the community more.
Again. I'm wondering how this might happen? Perhaps local village correspondents (hopefully not unpaid, although I fear they might be) will become more important contacts for PRs than local journalists? Liz Hollis
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