I know that Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield has got his work cut out at the moment.
But what on earth is going on down-table at the group’s Hastings & St. Leonards Observer?
This paid-for weekly has good enough news content, a healthy editorial ratio and a nice, thick, 84-page main book and 36-page property pull-out.
But the design, subbing and obvious lack of proof-reading in the Friday 18 May edition were atrocious, resulting in nonsensical lay-outs, missing crucial detail and undesked intros.
Let me show you what I mean with the murder conviction of self-appointed anti-paedophile vigilante Christopher Hunnisett, reported on page two:
Does it look like a package to you? Well, it’s supposed to be, only whoever was subbing and proof-reading failed to tie the reports together.
It wasn’t as if this was a last-minute dash of a story – the conviction actually happened on the previous Friday 11 May.
With a week to play with, there was plenty of opportunity to come up with a standard design that could easily have included a standfirst, a clearly structured lead and backgrounder, tied together with decently sized pictures of victim and murderer.
As it was, I had to read both reports before I knew where I was, and even then there were too many missing details: no first name, picture, age or address for the victim, no date or address of the crime, and so on.
Elsewhere in the paper, there were several occasions where stories suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, only to be continued in a separate text box elsewhere on the same page, like this on page 14:
Just in case you can’t read the text on this image, the awkward, unsignposted split results in the second text box starting with this: ‘Wayne Drew. He said: “Ingrid…’
This jolting ‘style’ happened again on page 20, the second text box this time starting mid-word with this: ‘sociation and is registered with the General Osteopathic Council.’
An obvious lack of desking also led to some tortuous intros, like this for the page 12 lead: “There was no shortage of inspiration in Stade Hall as dozens of messages of protest and friendship adorned cakes at the Stade Saturdays event, in which more than 500 people were involved.”
The above examples were typical of what felt like a lack of care in presentation and detail throughout much of the paper, made worse by several undeclared advertising features that threatened to devalue editorial.
I am sure that the journalists working for the Observer aren’t happy with this, but what looked to me like an unfortunate clash of remote subbing, inflexible templates and scarce resource for proper proof-reading badly let them down.
To be fair, the Observer had a good enough story for its splash, the death of a local speedway star, although I did wonder whether anyone bothered to check the clashing front and back page headlines.
There was a respectful count of 190+ stories on 49 news, features and sports pages, and their news value was pretty encouraging. It’s just that someone needs to keep a better eye on how they look…
The Johnston Press-owned title, which has a cover price of 55p, appeared to sell an average of 32,853 a week in the last available circulation figures from July to December 2010.
I say ‘appeared’ because these sales were a 71% increase from a previous figure of 17,918, a meteoric rise that was actually due to it incorporating the figures of the Bexhill Observer, Rye Observer and Battle Observer which were previously audited separately.
Since then, the Observer is one of a number of Johnston Press papers in Sussex that have been withdrawn from ABC audits after a disagreement over audit periods.
I’m sure the above editorial and circulation hitches are all things that Mr Highfield will want to quickly sort out.
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That is Atex and people (not subs) being forced to fill set template shapes.
It’s the future
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Sadly it’s always suffered a bit in terms of proofing and design. Anyone who attended the former training centre The Editorial Centre in the town will know it well.
However, the Observer has some good journalists, so it’s a shame they’re let down by the quality control.
It’s biggest problem is it suffers from not having its own editor.
It shares a group editor with Eastbourne, but it’s impossible for one person to look after two big titles properly.
They’re both pretty big towns and really should have their own editors. So if the Observer does have 32,000 circ and no editor it’s shameful.
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A situation which has become more and more common across the country as JP do away with people they don’t see as being vital to a paper’s success – namely editors, subs and so on.
The new templates for the redesigned papers all look very pretty (in some cases) but are being widely reported as hopeless to work with given the lack of ability to do much in InDesign, and the examples above of stories being separated by pictures or other obstacles are actually quite common in the new designs.
It’s a pity the paper above has been singled out as they’re far from the only ones producing content like that, but I guess they can be used to highlight the current plight and the issues that Mr Highfield et al appear to be completely oblivious to but have no idea how to solve without thinking getting rid of vital people is the answer.
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That’s what happens when you get formatted page design, a crap system and reporters filling the holes with their stories (and writing the headlines) instead of subs.
Still, as one former JP managing director once said: “Why do we need subs, they’re just backroom technicians.”
Nuff said.
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Some balanced comments here, and good to be removed from Steve Dyson’s rather snappy attack on a proud paper well-loved by its journalists and its readership. Steve mounts his assault from his comfy chair, not having to deal with deadlines, ad-stuffed templates or the near-impossible demands of the print schedules of many papers and editions in two huge towns miles apart. It’s a weekly miracle. And what happens when the Group Editor is on holiday?
Each centre clearly needs its own Editor, and instead of getting rid of Editors, Mr Ashfield should be looking at markets where JP have cut too deep. He’s been big enough to negotiate a few U-turns already, particularly about the timing of the redesigns, so here is another opportunity to listen and learn.
And Steve, you could be a little more understanding than this in your criticism and have some fellow feeling for working journos struggling against seemingly impossible odds…it’s pretty horrid out here in the real world.
Feeling quite tetchy because someone has just asked me if I had “a good break” over the Jubilee bank holiday. What break would that have been then?
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Sub-standard. And symptomatic of Johnston Press at the moment : all gloss and no substance.
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They haven’t got the Spanish templates yet
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Will Steve be reviewing some of JP’s relaunched titles soon? I hope he will.
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Ha! Sorry, Mr Highfield!
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Anyone who works in JP won’t be in the least bit surprised by Dyson’s critique. Same everywhere, sadly.
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Yes, the only good job left in JP – and one with a very secure future – belongs to the poor sod who has to keep the JP redundancy axe well honed.
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Has Steve Dyson any idea what it is like in the trenches at the moment in JP?
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I’m sorry ClubStyle but you can’t blame Steve for telling it how it is. If his reviews aren’t candid and honest, what would be the point of having them?
People who read his reviews know the intolerable strain that people have to work under these days. Many editions have lost their editors and are like rudderless ships, stumbling from deadline to deadline.
No-one is setting out to criticise staff but the subbing blunders in this edition are so rudimentary you have to wonder if the pages were designed by someone on work experience.
As for hopes of an Ashley Highfield about-turn on cuts that have gone too far, I’m afraid that’s just wishful thinking. He’s saddled with debt and the cuts haven’t finished yet so you can forget about reversing any.
It would be nice to have a positive word to say but…
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I always pick up the Observer when I’m in Hastings, and the Herald while I’m in Eastbourne, and I happen to have seen both in recent weeks. I was struck by how chunky they both were, with lots of news and advertising seeming to be bouyant. I also felt that the writing could be a bit flabby, and the Herald’s use of the same (boring) picture of an ambulance outside a hospital to illustrate health stories on different pages was feeble.
But I still felt jealous of the two towns having these papers. My local paid for had only 20 non-sport news items last week (plus two pages on the jubilee)
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It’s not the same in every JP paper – that’s a lazy generalisation.
Many JP papers still have editors and deputies who proof read thoroughly. There is still pride in this industry.
However, it’s sad to see the cull of northern editors and the Observer should be a warning of what happens when you axe editors and quality control.
The Observer may look better when the new designs come in, but content will only get worse as reporters are forced to pad boxes even more.
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The Hastings Observer group sliced the top off the mountain three years ago, getting rid of an editor, production editor and three sub editors in an early JP cost-cutting exercise. There was bound to be an on-going consequence.
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Splitting stories like that used to be an absolute taboo because, as you point out, they confuse the reader. Now, however, it’s not just the Hastings Observer that does it – the Guardian (the national one) has been doing it for ages as a design feature and it’s no less confusing there. Mind, they often stick ads in strange places halfway up pages and so on – you’ll do anything if you’re desperate for the dosh.
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I’ve heard of JP papers being so short-staffed that employees without any NCTJ training have written splashes. Regularly.
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Many thanks to all for commenting. For those who feel the review is unsympathetic, please note the par that reads: “I am sure that the journalists working for the Observer aren’t happy with this, but what looked to me like an unfortunate clash of remote subbing, inflexible templates and scarce resource for proper proof-reading badly let them down.” The point of this review was not to blame journalists but to signal that something in the process – namely resource levels – has gone wrong. There is no publishing excuse for shoddy desking, lay-out and (lack of) proof-reading that confuses… this will only hit readership and advertising. We all know that companies have to rationalise and organise affordable production; but no-one – least of all JP – want to see this pushed to limits where things get embarrassing. That won’t help print, but nor will it help online. Hopefully highlighting issues will attract proper attention/review.
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Wow, I’m very glad to be away from JP and its hated template pages. The staff at my old paper did their best after the subs were axed and the horrible, rigid templates were introduced, but there was simply not time for every piece of copy to be read as thoroughly as before – and in my experience, getting a non-template layout for a page was rare. To their credit, I think the guys I worked with do a great job with what they’ve now got, but it’s easy to see how the JP’s new systems could bring about examples like the one above.
Unless JP changes tactics, it’s hard to see how all this can lead to anything other than: readers stop reading > advertisers stop advertising > JP cuts more > quality drops > readers stop reading > …
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Well said Steve.
Highlighting weaknesses is very important and can only improve things.
Whether JP will bother to learn lessons or take the criticism constructively, who knows?
I hope they do. Both Eastbourne and Hastings are big towns and deserve their own editors.
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Steve,
Your comments are totally fair and it’s good of you to point out it’s not the fault of the journalists for the most part. You’ve hit the nail on the head; it’s the lack of guidance and support from on-site editors, no dedicated subs and the dodgy template system.
However this drop in quality across JP titles because of cutbacks and changes has been the case for a few years and will only get worse. I agree, the shoddy quality it creates will only lead to reduced sales but that’s a journalist talking – the ‘powers that be’ don’t make that logical connection and don’t seem to see the bigger picture. Bluntly, as long as savings are made in the here and now by chopping senior staff, they couldn’t care less. In the rare event they do notice, it’ll be a case of scold the journalists rather than work out the problem lies with their company policies.
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Having read Mr Dyson’s latest blog, I have – for the fist time – been moved to comment. It’s not his observations are without merit, it’s the smug self-satisfied nature of his critique which truly grates. It needs context. The context of Steve’s solid but unspectacular journalistic career and the context of the only ‘journalism’ – albeit, faux journalism – we can to refer to when assessing the master blogger’s own ‘quality control’. Take a look at his pervious blog entitled: The Euro Millions headline quiz. Not only were his suggestions poor, they were by common consent entirely misjudged. And those misjudgements were made at his leisure, without deadlines and unaffected by the kind of staffing, commercial, IT and resource issues which affect the quality of work produced at papers up and down the country. By all means present an honest assessment, but he should temper that with respect for real journalists operating in very challenging times and a self-awareness to inform that, when all said and done, he’s ‘not all that’…
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Glad you’ve got that off your chest, ‘Bagless’. Nice moniker! Seriously, all comments welcome.
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Do any JP papers have a down-table anymore? There are no down-table subs because there are no subs except in the hubs. Out of touch Mr Dyson. As out of touch as JP bosse!
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