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Copy-subbing roles to be axed across Northcliffe

More than 50 job losses are in prospect across Northcliffe Media’s regional titles with a fresh raft of subbing roles set to disappear.

The publisher is planning a reduction in the number of copy-subs, with reporters at some centres writing stories directly onto pages to pre-determined lengths as is already the case at Johnston Press and Archant.

The proposals, which were announced to staff today, will mean a wholesale reorganisation of the six production hubs set up across the group last year.

No overall figure has been put on the number of jobs set to disappear across the group, but it is thought to be between 50 and 70.

The proposed changes will see reporters on some titles writing headlines for single column and news-in-brief stories, with other headlines written by the newsdesk.

Unlike JP, Northcliffe has no plans to introduce a new content management system, with the existing Tera system being utilised to facilitate the changes.

Some of the page-planning and design subbing roles, originally moved to the hubs as part of the previous shake-up, are set to return to individual newspaper centres.

Most of the production hubs are set to survive in some form, although some will only be used to provide emergency back-up, ‘disaster recovery’ and sickness cover.

The three hubs most under threat are the South West hub at Plymouth, the West Midlands hub at Stoke, and the East Midlands hub in Nottingham.

The Plymouth hub is set to lose all responsibility for production of the Plymouth Herald, Torquay Herald Express, Exeter Express and Echo and Mid-Devon Gazette, all of which may move to Bristol.

Around 20 of the job losses are likely to occur at the Bristol hub, with responsibility for producing the Western Daily Press and Western Morning News moving to Plymouth.

The proposed South West changes will also see all editorial management of the WDP move to Plymouth and the two morning titles sharing features content.

Meanwhile the two Midlands hubs are likely to be broken up, with only a ‘virtual hub’ retained for emergency cover purposes.

The two remaining hubs at Swansea and Hull are however set to survive, though with reduced numbers.

Editors across the group briefed their staffs on the proposed changes earlier this afternoon and formal consultation processes are now under way.

Alan Qualtrough, the company’s South West regional editorial director, said the introduction of the hubs had significantly reduced costs, but further efficiencies were now possible.

“We are still operating in very tough times. Revenues have not returned in any shape or form to what we expected and we have to reduce our operating costs accordingly,” he told HTFP.

“We had reduced costs considerably last year by creating the hubs but we now need to move forward even further.”

52 comments

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  • November 1, 2010 at 3:12 pm
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    Perhaps they could get rid of reporters and photographers too and set up a system where readers and PR folk could log on and just drop in their press releases and pix. Oh it already exists…its called Facebook

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  • November 1, 2010 at 3:29 pm
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    Can any htfp readers give Mr Qualtrough any further suggestion as to how he can “reduce operating costs accordingly”?

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  • November 1, 2010 at 3:53 pm
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    What will actually happen, of course, is that the design subs and the page planners will be lumbered with the copy subbing too, probably at the proof reading stage when they see how ghastly some of the “written straight on to the page” copy is! Mr Ed: I think Lensman has probably got the right idea for further savings

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  • November 1, 2010 at 4:01 pm
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    And in other Northcliffe news, the group’s digital division (at least they were called that last week!) has launched a free iPhone app that allows the user to cancel their newspaper subscription on the go; all centre managing directors have today been told they must re-apply for their jobs fuelling rumours that a regional MD hub is being created where commercial knowledge will be pooled in the hope that something bright might at last emerge; and finally, moth-balled press halls look set to return in the new year producing a revolutionary new product that could knock the internet of its market-leading perch – a newspaper – with advertising in it.

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  • November 1, 2010 at 4:06 pm
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    Northcliffe seems to be rather top heavy with so many managers having meetings and very few staff creating the papers. Might be controversial but how about getting rid of some of those at the top? Surely, if reporters were reliable enough to work at speed with so few staff to create error-free articles subs would have gone a long time ago – it’s simply unrealistic and papers will be full of errors!

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  • November 1, 2010 at 4:09 pm
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    Fortunately, and I say that with my hand firmly on my heart, I was one of those who was made redundant in a previous shake-up. It’s ironic that Alan Qualtrough should talk of ‘efficiencies’ when it must now be clear for all to see that Nothcliffe’s senior management is deficient in virtually every possible respect. How else can you explain their jettisoning of a ‘masterplan’ which was floated for the first time little more than six months ago? As others have pointed out, it’s little wonder readership fingers are in permanent decline and advertisers are deserting in their droves, when the quality of the product is diminishing by the second. While all those whose jobs are under threat have my sympathy, the reality, I fear, is Northcliffe is only heading in one direction under the present management team and, that being the case, it may be better to jump ship sooner rather than later.

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  • November 1, 2010 at 4:46 pm
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    Victoria is right. The organisation is lousy with people who used to be managers back when there were people to manage, but now do the same job as everyone else, only on twice the dosh. Look at the index plates in the executive car park and then tell me things are really desperate. Regarding accuracy, newsdesks are seemingly incapable of getting the worst offenders among the reporters to write decent copy because no one on any newsdesk I know of has ever worked as a sub, and thus had to endure the creeping barrage of soul-destroying dross masquerading as copy to which most subs are relentlessly exposed every day of their working lives. Not that we should blame reporters per se; they only cut and paste what’s in the press release, after all, and since no one has the time or inclination to copy-taste, the errors go unnoticed because subs long ago tired of trying to point out where they were going wrong, and having to explain basic English grammer, libel law, points of what should be general knowledge, newspaper style and the ‘six Ws’ to what are supposedly trained professionals. It’s quicker (and more amusing) just to rewrite it yourself. To most reporters and newsdesks, what subs do is a slightly grubby mystery; they know nothing about it and don’t want to know: and the sad thing is that the best subbing in the world won’t make someone buy one of our newspapers. You wouldn’t buy a week-old dead rat even if it was in a Gucci bag. But things will get even worse before the inevitable end. In the immortal words of Derek Smalls (bass guitar): “We’ll make them miss us.”

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  • November 1, 2010 at 4:47 pm
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    Grammar, I should have said. Hands up who spotted it?

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  • November 1, 2010 at 4:59 pm
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    Northcliffe are killing off provincial newspapers by their own mis-management. I feel for those who will lose their jobs, but here is a quote from a recent Scunthorpe Telegraph: “All timber and wood will be sent to be recycled.” Did I miss something? The regional subbing hubs did nothing to improve the quality of content.

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  • November 1, 2010 at 5:03 pm
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    Readership fingers?! Is that a case of serious paper cuts or are we literally breaking the fingers of the chumps who desert us? In all seriousness, though, this is bad news for everyone who works for Northcliffe.

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  • November 1, 2010 at 5:09 pm
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    Wageslave, so “To most reporters and newsdesks, what subs do is a slightly grubby mystery” eh? Do you mean “bitch about how great things were when 30 subs proof-read one story a day each, make a cup of tea every 22 minutes and spend the time when they should be moaning instead writing essays on HoldTheFrontPage”? And yes know that should have been in the past tense…

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  • November 2, 2010 at 9:43 am
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    Here we go again – Northcliffe following the lead of the other idiots across the trade who thought this was a good idea. Local newspapers are close to being finished, as quality drops due to key jobs being axed. The sooner some of the fat cats paid stupid money to make these decisions are rid from this trade the better, though i’m sure not before they’ve had a hefty pay-off.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 10:04 am
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    Can’t be all bad. At least they weren’t dumb enough to sign up to Atex and all the horrors that involves for local journalists. That would have finished them.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 10:04 am
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    Dear Mr Nino – I’ve been a sub for 25 years and do not recognise the office you describe. Maybe I’ve been unlucky (or lucky, depending on how you look at it) but I have always worked hard with a maximum of three cups of coffee a day to sustain me. If you haven’t been in subbing for a few years you probably have no idea how it is these days. Our hours are getting longer and longer as cuts are made across the board. Our pay has been frozen and all the while the threat of redundancy hangs over our heads. But that’s the real world. What is really depressing is the quality of copy we receive from the young reporters who are practically illiterate. Never have subs been more needed and never have they been more undervalued. I think the problem is that the managers making these decisions have no feeling for the written word and can see nothing wrong with badly written stories. I was depressed before, now I’ve made myself even more depressed…

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  • November 2, 2010 at 10:35 am
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    Oyez, oyez The day is coming when we see the total death of newspapers and the return of town criers — but rest assured, they will have to provide their own bells.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 10:39 am
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    As a former Western Daily Press journalist, I’m dismayed things have come to this for a once-great paper. I wouldn’t be surprised if the WDP merged with the Western Morning News, as more and more content is being shared. A lot of WDP staff wondered what would happen when WDP editor Terry Manners, who had extensive Fleet Street experience, was replaced by Andy Wright..who didn’t. People can draw their own conclusions. The WDP had a circualtion of approx 50,000 when Terry left…by April 2010, when Andy Wright “retired”, it was 31,000.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 10:43 am
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    Hard Working Sub said “managers making these decisions have no feeling for the written word ” Words and pictures get in the way of adverts, adverts create revenue, revenue makes fat dividends. Northcliffe staffers have had many opportunities over the last year to take action and fight against these cuts but have chosen not to. I ask now, if you’re all so clearly doomed what have you got to lose ?

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  • November 2, 2010 at 11:01 am
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    As a former sub who took redundancy in the last round of cuts, I would just like to offer my support to those who now face a life changing loss of work. After 30 years in the business, I somehow felt that last year’s cutbacks were not the last, and sadly decided that was the end for me. But I hope those who do lose their jobs will take courage from knowing there is life after newspapers, and as one door closes, another one opens. Sorry folks, I can’t be cynical when so many are facing hardship.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 11:52 am
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    Northcliffe’s profit last year was £24m. Revenues were down £98 million. They made cost reductions of £53 million, so crudely put would have lost £29 million without the cuts. The picture is probably not a lot better this years so they’ve got to make the cuts to make another profit and keep the city happy. Cutting back of course only reduces quality which translates into few readers and thus less advertising revenue and more need for cuts . . . . Look on the bright side: a couple of good libel actions, when reporters make basic errrors and then sub their own copy, and they’ll realise the subs are the cheaper alternative.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 11:56 am
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    Hard working sub has a point. It seems editors (where they exist) either don’t know or care about the pathetic quality of some writing. It’s not all the fault of youngsters, training in writing skills is non-existent.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 12:08 pm
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    There’s only so much to cut before there’s nothing left. Already the Northcliffe weeklies, many an exceptional read only six years ago, are literally a waste a paper.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 12:14 pm
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    So the worst kept secret in SWMG is finally officially out of the bag, despite numerous managers over the past four weeks putting their heads in the sand and telling us ‘no, everything’s fine , keep calm and carry on.’ The fact that the rumour network had been working overtime makes you wonder what happens on Planet Management when the blue collar staff obviously more in on proceedings than they are. Oh, and nothing mentioned here about The Bubble bursting and relocating in a North Easterly direction with a loss of 20(?) jobs?

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  • November 2, 2010 at 12:35 pm
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    When Mr Qualtrough was first moved to the WMN it was suggested that people should be wary as he was known for slashing costs. Indeed since he took over as editor the reporting staff levels has gone from 18 to about five. The readership has also dropped and I hear that the quality of reporting has suffered too. The websites are all now managed from a centralised ‘hub’ (they love that in N’cliffe). At some point surely the holders of the purse strings will realise that newspapers don’t write themselves, or is the plan to run them into the ground?? Talking to friends on the WMN and WDP I know that morale is beyond low and friends who bought the papers say the quality has dropped so low that they don’t even bother buying them. I think it might be time that the slashers perhaps addressed their salaries and started slashing those. It’s a disgrace what they are doing to these once great titles.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 12:42 pm
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    Would the last person out of the building please switch off the lights. This is another nail in the coffin for newspapers. At my present employer, we are deemed sub-serviant to the reporters, who have all been given editor titles, when in reality, they are nothing more than reporters. The copy we get is poorly constructed, awful grammar and full of factual errors. This, I’m afraid is the way this once well paid profession is going now that it has been turned into a poorly paid job where share price is king. Sod the product, look at the bottom line.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 12:57 pm
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    Putting the main issue to one side, I have to laugh at Roger Tavener who, as usual, has provided us with an article full of holes! Is he really saying that circulation didn’t go down under Terry … or Ian Beales before him … In classic Roger style, he only mentions the bits which suit his argument. In fact, as a regional paper (ie serving a region) the WDP is way better these days, both in content and look because it’s not playing at being a national/regional paper, staffed by snooty reporters who look down their noses at ‘the local papers’. The old timers would never admit it but there you go. Face facts, circulation has been in decline forever, in locals, nationals, papers abroad – everywhere. There are so many people who hark back to halcyon days when circulation was, in fact … in decline! I think we need a debate about securing the future without being blinkered about the reality. It might mean looking beyond convention as a means of providing people with news and information. Just looking back to the so-called glory days is pointless. Fred

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  • November 2, 2010 at 12:58 pm
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    The bow doors are open and we’re heading out to sea.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 1:01 pm
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    Do any of your reporting colleagues know how to spell “subservient”?

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  • November 2, 2010 at 1:13 pm
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    It’s OK though, Northcliffe will provide the same template for every daily and weekly in its portfolio – allowing it to create a universal brand comfort zone. They’ll also provide a sweet deal for readers across the board on some fantastic ‘Disney’ books – and insist on an editorial page lead to promote the tokens, thus easing the copy demand on Reportersubs. Happy days!

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  • November 2, 2010 at 1:20 pm
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    Fred – this is not a case of harking back – I have spoken to people who have read the WDP for decades and they say it is an inferior paper. I have also spoken with people who used to buy the WMN – they stopped because they believe the quality is inferior. Sales might have been in decline for sometime, but the answer to this is not to slash costs as you then bring down the quality further. The simple fact is that the likes of Qualtrough are prooving why journalists are not good business managers – any expert would tell you that the business that fail in times of recovery are the ones that have cut back so far during recession that they cannot compete when things pick up. It is a recognised phenomenon that as economies improve many ‘slashed’ businesses go out of… erm business. The sad fact is that the WMN and WDP will not exist in the not too distant future either because Qualtrough will have created a super “W” production with no character, or because they have simply died.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 1:32 pm
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    And one final point – this plan of writing to boxes is a method the WMN stopped using when Qualtrough took over. At that time stories were regularly published with errors as no one was reading them properly. Let’s see the legal costs increase as the production costs dwindle!

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  • November 2, 2010 at 1:36 pm
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    Jack can we try and play the ball and not the man please? Your repeated references to ‘Qualtrough’ are beginning to grate a bit….

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  • November 2, 2010 at 1:44 pm
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    OK, let’s have a debate. Most people have outlined what shouldn’t be done – what about what should be done??? Can we accept circulation/advertising is struggling for various reasons – historic, the economy, more diverse media etc – not just ‘mismanagement’. So let’s imagine we are in charge. We need enough money to pay wages/bills/overheads etc. What should we do? Providing a ‘bright, lively’ paper will not in itelf arrest decline since it has been happening forever. Who can provide the killer idea which will guarantee increased revenues under these circumstances? If you want to get involved in this discussion, please A Don’t outline what we shouldn’t do B Presume that taking on lots of staff is the answer C Come out with rubbish like ‘appoint managers who know what they’re doing’ Fred (trying to be positive)

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  • November 2, 2010 at 1:46 pm
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    I did start my last submission saying one last point – but since when was it bad referring to people by their last names? As an industry we regularly refer to Obama, Cameron, Blair, Bush, Thatcher… Is it not therefore reasonable to do the same at this level?

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  • November 2, 2010 at 2:04 pm
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    I wasn’t going to comment after reading this latest depressing news this morning. But then almost immediately I turned to sub some farming pages in the newspaper I work for – and the first thing to hand was a story relating to blackcurrants, spelled ‘blackcurrents’ throughout and catchlined ‘currents’. Northcliffe, if you want reporters pasting that kind of thing straight into boxes, and no subs, all well and good. I shall keep quiet and wait for the latest axe to fall, weeping softly from time to time as the job I love and the industry I have devoted my working life to falls apart around my ears for want of quality and editorial rigour.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 2:07 pm
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    OK – as a starting point let’s look at ownership – I believe that it is wrong that one company (in this case Northcliffe) can own so many titles in one region and allow them to be managed by one editorial manager.We all know that newspapers are a costly business and owning several in one region will leave an owner/manager looking at how to double up jobs to reduce costs, this of course leads to duplication in stories between titles and loss of identity and inevitably an acceleration in the decline of readers as people discover they don’t get ‘their paper’ any more but something which is effectively production line managed and produced. Ok so that is the what happens (in my view). So what is a good way to reduce costs and perhaps increase revenue? Well one way is to reduce the number of titles you own in any one area. It is no different at local or national – just look at the Sunday Mirror and People – the latter cannot compete and will eventually die or be sold off as a lost cause (I suspect). You have the WMN competing with sister papers in Plymouth, Exeter, Torquay and North Devon, not forgetting Cornwall. I have longed believed that it makes no sense and is hardly fair competition if one organisation owns all the main competing titles. Local identity for titles is important, otherwise why do people have papers of choice? – you need to maintain individual characters of papers, otherwise people stop buying. I remember a reporter on one of these titles regularly telling me they couldn’t figure out the sense of owning so many papers in one place all competing for the same stories. They said they believed that eventually there would be cutting of jobs – they were right.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 2:17 pm
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    Jack said: “So what is a good way to reduce costs and perhaps increase revenue? Well one way is to reduce the number of titles you own in any one area.” I have no idea if that makes any sense … but I am sure it would lead to even more job losses. You can’t assume that if Northcliffe ditched some papers then someone else would step in in this climate. 2 You also said: “you need to maintain individual characters of papers, otherwise people stop buying”. I love this … it’s the classic journalistic ‘hunch’ based on absolutely nothing. Why do you need to maintain individual character? Northcliffe may have many papers in the region but few overlap to any significant degree.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 2:59 pm
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    Forgive me if this has been mentioned, only scan-read the last few posts. Didn’t Northcliffe try something similar about ten years ago, in regards to getting rid of copy subs? I remember another sub saying something along those lines, and that it was quickly classed as a disaster. I may have the wrong end of the stick however.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 3:10 pm
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    Miss MacDougal, you are right. At one centre in the north east we had a lot of bluff and bluster over Genesis, which was writing into boxes. This became a sort of template for the future use of Tera, certainly on news, with reporters being given boxes to fill and spelt the end of the sub, in terms of contributing to the overall quality of the paper, subbing to length, asking for more/better copy, telling the reporter to do a better job, quality control etc etc. We were doomed from this time, despite a few quality exceptions, because you no longer had to know anything about newspapers or writing or the aree, just be able follow a style-sheet, maybe write a natty headline and spell check. There’s more to subbing than that! I was given the push last year, and although the job situation is still not very bright, I’d rather be sitting next to a cash machine begging than put another minute’s effort in for such an ungrateful group of people.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 3:13 pm
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    It’s very, very sad. There’s no point in vitriol or even trying to reason with management, they could not care less what you think. But only a fool would believe that there is no correlation between stripping out quality and plunging readership. It makes me laugh that executives can wring their hands over vanishing revenue and yet be all unaware that the perpetual self-inflicted vandalism of their own “product” is hardly helping matters.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 3:29 pm
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    Sadly, just as many of Northcliffe’s finest papers needed real leadership and vision to steer them through difficult times, it was lacking. Many of the staff cared passionately, as did countless readers, it seems the only people who couldn’t have cared less about the papers were the highly paid ‘managers’ allegedly in charge of them. Ironically, many readers and staff have gone but the guilty parties are still there.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 3:50 pm
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    Whoa there! These cuts are very sad but a lot of you are simply deluded. Anyone not in this business would think that newspapers performed consistently well for decades then just recently there has been a plunge. Chemist Rota said: “But only a fool would believe that there is no correlation between stripping out quality and plunging readership.” Sorry, chemists rota, you need to take a pill. Circulation has been declining for 40 years. I read a report today which said the Yorkshire Post circ was 92,000 in 1989 and 42,000 now. But it gets worse … in 1962 it sold 234,000 at a time when it had a local rival! So frankly, all this talk about ‘quality’ is bogus. When I became a sub in the mid 90s, I remember a subbing team of about 25 doing 3 – yes 3 – overnight pages for my daily paper. Yet the circulation was going down then. And don’t talk to me about quailty – we had some good subs, some OK subs and a fair number of awkward, work-shy conspiracy theorists who would rather have poked their eyeball with a rusty needle than worked with managers to make things better. No one wants cuts and it is heartbreaking when people lose their jobs but it is going to take more than bleating about the past to get us out of this. It will need innovation, ideas, bravery and a willingness to ditch sentimentality. Fred

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  • November 2, 2010 at 4:22 pm
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    FRED – you make about as much sense as my dog – also called Fred. Although you seem to be wagging the tail for Northcliffe…

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  • November 2, 2010 at 4:28 pm
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    Look, I don’t like cuts any more than you. But I have two issues: 1 There are lots of complaints and few ideas other than ‘don’t make cuts’. 2 Newspapers are not in some kind of sudden decline. It has been going on for the entire careers of most of us and probably for a long time before that. I note that although you say I don’t make sense, you neither expand on that nor give much in the way of ideas yourself

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  • November 2, 2010 at 4:45 pm
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    Another step in Northcliffe’s relentless contraction, as its pennypinching managers act and react in the only way they know. The only tiny saving grace this time is that no fool executive has described it as “exciting”. As a former Northcliffe employee, little of this surprises me and my heart goes to my former colleagues, but three things do spring to mind. Firstly, Northcliffe tried to offload its regional and local papers a few years ago but couldn’t find a buyer willing to pay the price. The question has to be asked: with all this cutting and slicing and lack of vision for any alternative option, do Northcliffe’s directors really want to be in the local newspaper business? And if not, how about putting the whole operation up for sale again – possibly in chunks – to some other publisher, as they did with the Evening Standard? Secondly, a little bit of history shows that Northcliffe has forgotten its own history: back in the 60s the leading mid-market national paper was the Daily Express, with the Mail playing catch-up. Over the decades since the owners of the Express starved the paper of resources while Northcliffe pumped funds into the Mail. Quality suffered on the Express and improved on the Mail, readers took heed, and the Northcliffe title became the mid-market leader. How strange then that the current Northcliffe management follows the Express’s failed strategy. Finally, not all local newspaper publishers are suffering declining circulations. Tindle have expanded over the years and continue to do so. Is it a coincidence that it is run by an old-style newspaperman rather than a team of accountants? I’m not saying that the Tindle recipe of ultra-local journalism would apply to regional papers, but clearly they know something the current clueless Northcliffe management don’t. I only wish that Northcliffe either sells the papers to a company that does have a clue or learn a lesson or two from its competitors or its own history. At the moment it gives every impression of the captain and crew rearranging the deck chairs every few months while the ship slowly sinks.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 4:45 pm
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    Yeah Fred, you’re probably right about the long-term dive in readership. But I can scarcely see how publishing unsubbed copy is likely to win back many readers, other than perhaps for the comedy value. If newspapers persist in constantly weakening editorial resources, watering down content and adopting a cavalier approach to accuracy, it will only make a bad situation worse.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 4:48 pm
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    HTFP Editor, do you mean: “Jack can we try TO play the ball and not the man please?…” Sorry, just being a sub while I still can.

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  • November 2, 2010 at 5:01 pm
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    ‘Unlike JP, Northcliffe has no plans to introduce a new content management system, with the existing Tera system being utilised to facilitate the changes’ Who needs subs on a local newspaper when we can utilise and facilitate? I suspect, at least the subs in the hubs responsible for disaster recovery have a secure future ahead

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  • November 3, 2010 at 11:06 am
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    SLY DIG. Nothing more than reporters? Your are having a laugh. That’s exactly what they want to be. But if you work for JP and the like you take pictures (shortage of snappers) put them in the system, put stuff in the photographers diary (even if you end up taking it yourself) crop pictures, attach them to the story, research the story (if you can)hack the words to fit a box that someone sends you to fill with no idea what the story is, edit the story, write the heading, move it somewhere else, answer the phone, and often fill up a big paper with two reporters. All while using a crap system that freqently collapses. I agree that many reporters simply have no idea how to write English in an acceptable fashion. But now even those with the talent don’t have the time. Papers still have a future, but there must be some serious re-thinking on how they treat staff.

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  • November 3, 2010 at 2:43 pm
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    So centralising subbing and didn’t work, so what we’ll do is, get rid of the subs altogether? After all any monkey can sub. They should close the WDP if they want to save money. The rag has been bleeding the rest of the group white for years.

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  • November 3, 2010 at 2:44 pm
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    Well said about Sir Ray Tindle, Ex-Ex. The man has more understanding of local newspapers in his little finger than in a whole roomful of Northcliffe, Newsquest and JP executives. I’m sure nothing’s perfect, but do we often read about the Tindle Group closing papers left right and centre or doing away with traditional journalistic values and standards? Thought not…

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  • November 5, 2010 at 11:45 am
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    As I thought, no one has any ideas. We won’t get out of this mess by simply moaning and harking to the past, folks.

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  • November 8, 2010 at 6:19 pm
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    It’s been brought to my attention somebody’s posing as me on this string. Believe me, If I could be bothered to comment it would be a tad spunkier. I don’t give a toss about the WDP or sub editors or some goofball from the Shropshire Star (whatever that is). A waste of space… They’re all finished. So, shut your hole Fred. ..the cowardly (chip on the shoulder) Fred who libels me from the false safety of an alias, responding to something I didn’t even write. Unmask yourself Fred, and let’s all have a laugh. I suppose this is the only way you ever got to see anything in “print” in a career which undoubtedly amounted to nothing. At least I always had my name on my zillions of exclusive stories, columns, under-cover investigations and the reporter/feature writer/showbiz/ columnist/ newspaper of the year trophies.. in 20 years on Fleet St and, latterly, a vacation in my home town, valiantly trying to lift the appalling standards in the wretched regional press. My name was even on my personalised Porsche plate. Gosh how that must have made you gag as your calloused, inky fingers reached for your bicycle clips… and you pedalled past the pub I owned. The Printer’s Devil. I bought into the history. No wonder then, that you, Fred, and the rest are dead. You weren’t any good and dissed anybody who was. I led the NUJ regional strike locally and nationally in 1979 and dug in again when the ludicrous ‘Aim Higher’ slaughter of the WDP began a few years back. I don’t hide, and I don’t like being impersonated, even though I might broadly agree with the sentiment. So you show me my holes and I’ll, er, fill yours in. That’s if I get time in between watching the Ashes. That’s in Australia btw.

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