Just look at the upper-and-lower case headlines in this weekly paper, sent to me by an old editor friend who’d been travelling through rural Wiltshire.
Not many British titles still insist on this archaic style, but the oddity seemed just right after reading the Warminster Journal – which felt like a time-capsule from front to back page.
‘Letters Help Pupils Make History’ was the page one lead on Friday 18 February, a warm and detailed story about a book created by local schoolchildren, containing memories collected from prominent modern-day figures.
David Cameron’s recollections of the 1992 General Election, Nick Clegg on the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Baroness Floella Benjamin on the racism her family faced when arriving in Britain from Trinidad in the 1960s all made for an interesting read.
This was not your typical hard-hitting splash, of course, but with Kingsdown School being the main senior state school in Warminster, a town of just 19,000 people, you could imagine pupils’ efforts as the centre of conversation.
Perhaps it’s the real ale man in me, but I also liked the other page one reports that included ‘Pubs Remain Open For Business’, explaining that two local hostelries were still serving despite going into administration – good information for thirsty readers.
And while ‘Village Pub To Be Sold’ was quite a basic headline, the story recalled how The Royal Oak first made the news last year when landlord Malcolm Levesconte disappeared with £30,000 of local Christmas savings – before he was found dead in the sea off Dover.
It was this type of local intrigue that kept me reading, my other favourites including:
- ‘Shopper Sees Red Over Parking Fine’ and ‘Death Of Local Haulier’, both on page four;
- ‘Burglary While In The Bath’ (can you imagine that?) on page six;
- ‘Enjoy A Paranormal Evening’ on page 7; and
- ‘Determined United Undone By Hawkins’s Hat-Trick’ in a local football report on page 16.
The Journal also poured efforts into good, old-fashioned reports: ‘Fifty Golden Years’ on page six and ‘Sixty Wonderful Years Together’ on page 20 both contained plenty of history, emotive memories and black and white pictures of wedding days.
There were columns crammed with ‘Planning Applications’ and ‘Planning Decisions’ on page four, various crime and court reports on page 11, and stories from 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 years ago in the ‘Days Of Yore’ feature on page 14.
This throwback from February 1888 made me pause for thought: “Heavy snowstorm was experienced in all its severity in Warminster, an average depth of 15 inches. On Wednesday, the Board issued their usual notice calling upon residents to remove the snow in front of their premises, and reminding defaulters that they would be subjected to a penalty of £5.”
But what really made me think was the ‘Births, Marriages and Deaths’ section proudly displayed on page three, a position most modern-day editors would never consider. Do you know what? It worked.
Other classifieds were on page two – ‘Public Notices’, ‘Situations Vacant’ and ‘Pets’, to name just a few – and again, because of their detailed nature, I was left feeling that this was the right place for reader interest, as well as for advertisers.
Take this one as a good example: “Dot and Tony would like to thank all their family and friends for a wonderful evening at West Wilts Golf Club to celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary. Also a big thank you to Peter and Sandra for all their help and a wonderful buffet they did. It truly was a very special evening and one we will remember.”
My old employers, Trinity Mirror, once had a content strategy called ‘People like us’, encouraging journalists to imagine the type of stories wanted by readers; the Warminster Journal was full of them, on every page, in news reports, features, sport and adverts.
The Journal was launched in 1881 as the ‘Warminster and Westbury Journal and Wilts County Advertiser’, a formal title it still uses in its imprint, and it has appeared every week since – with the exception of one year at the end of the First World War.
It’s run as a family business from the Coates & Parker stationery and printing shop in Warminster, where ‘co-directors and editors R. C. Shorto and Mrs. D. J. Watkins, nee Shorto’ produce a 20-page paper containing 80-plus reports every week.
The cover price is 38p and, although there are no official figures available, the Journal was still reported to be selling more than 5,600 a week as recently as 1986.
My pal who spotted the paper added: “I reckon it’s one of the last genuine ‘independent’ newspapers in the UK… It’s been around since the 1880s, so I guess they’ve got something right – although I can’t see what it is.”
Maybe – just maybe – the Shorto clan has got one or two ideas around hyperlocal content and classified positioning that might inspire other independents; but let’s hope – however quaint – that their upper-and-lower case headlines don’t catch on.
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It’s even got a website… but don’t expect to see any news on it!
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Had To Check It Wasn’t April 1.
Went to aptly named WARminster decades ago on way to Regular Commissions Board. Shame I did buy a copy of the paper then.
Like Mr Dyson I loved the placement of pub tales on the front (Breakfast O’Booze) as well as the Waitrose ear piece.
It’s what we want. Back to the future indeed.
PS To The Sholtos. Any Jobs Going?
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Maybe it’s the real ale in that neck of the woods, Steve. The Lymington Times on the coast in Hampshire is a broadsheet delivering news in a similar style and a fine read for land-locked Midlanders on their holidays…
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I used to take the Warminster Journal every week in the ‘Eighties – the Youth Scene column, profiling local bands Casper Hauser anyone?, was a particular favourite. I remember that the then editor used to occupy a favourite stool at the bar in the pub, immediately across the road from her office, where she held court.
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Sounds like a good local read and despite the choice of lead story it seems as if there’s plenty of hard news inside as well.
One thing Steve, were those 5,600 sales achieved “as recently as 1986″ or at some more recent period over the past 27 years?
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Ah, the grand-old Lymington Times! I reviewed that just over a year ago, if your interested Phil Brown… http://htfpnew.adaptive.co.uk/2012/news/dyson-at-large-back-to-the-future-with-broadsheet-weekly/
As regards sales, PaperBoy, I’m afraid I couldn’t find anything more recent, as the Journal appears to be unaudited. There is a link on my 1986 reference to a BBC report stating the 5,600.
Perhaps the owner/editors might give us an update?
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…you’re…(not your)! Sorry
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Quite a fair piece – but what on Earth is the good of quoting their circulation figures for 27-years-ago? Unless you really are determined to keep the Back to the future references going!
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Sorry, just another yawn-inducing ‘review’ of a paper. We are journalists, not newspapers, so it’s no longer just about how our work is presented in print. It’s about time this column evolved into a review of the news gathering and creation in general, including a a review of the associated websites, social media platforms and other relevant publications or media. As they become more relevant, this column becomes less so.
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I therefore ban you from reading this blog, Oliver…
😉
(It’s what old mentor Ian Dowell used to say re. troublesome readers!)
Seriously, point taken, but it seems to me from comments and hits that there are still a few who enjoy unusual papers and new/interesting angles on print, so I’ll be continuing for now…. perhaps with the odd web-reference thrown in for you!
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Sorry, I guess I was a bit harsh, but no more so than you on the hard work of those trying to produce some of these papers. I just feel that the reporting operations and focus for all the major publishers have changed drastically under difficult circumstances in the last few years and, as such, your reviews need to include the complete array of work being produced by the hard-working staff of such publications before you offer you complete critique. If the focus is on digital development with fewer staff, as appears to be the way with all the big boys, it’s obvious that certain concessions have to be made in print, whether that’s templates, limited designs, or reduced pagination. I hope you’ll acknowledge that more often with a little more than a cursory mention of the digital platforms.
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About time you checked out the Teesdale Mercury in County Durham, Steve. Independently owned by a Lord and still printed in the centre of the town where it is based. In fact it has been written and printed in the same building for about 150 years! Black and white but surprisingly modern in design these days.
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This paper is crying out to be updated. If I had a spare few grand I’d make them an offer and have go myself.
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Yeah, OK Oliver, calm down, dear!
The Teesdale Mercury sounds great, Pete. Can you send me a recent one? Email me on [email protected]
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Agree it would be interesting to hear Steve’s thoughts on something other than a traditional newspaper.
Given some of the big claims Marc Astley has made about The Exeter Daily, and his suggestion that this is where the future lies, I’d be very interested to hear whether Steve thinks they have any substance.
http://htfpnew.adaptive.co.uk/2013/news/new-look-for-website-as-former-editor-eyes-uk-rollout/
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Great bit of journalistic whimsy, and no doubt the readership pick it up on their way to the post office at 5am. Sadly, the readers of papers like this will eventually muster out on the obituaries page.
Journos have long been blaming the internet for the demise of print, and of course it’s true that getting your news online is the ‘modern way’. But editors should also ponder how much of the blame rests with them. Too many editors sit there with a copy of InDesign, convinced that they are God’s gift to page design. 99% (and I am being generous here) of them should not be allowed anywhere near a design package.
A newspaper is a commercial product. Like it or loathe it, that is the way of the world. Papers will not leap off shelves into people’s shopping baskets. You have to give people a reason to buy them. This is called marketing. For journalists this is the notion that you actually have to try to sell things to people, and does away with the assumption that people will just buy the paper out of a sense of duty. It’s a new concept in local newspapers – I think it was around before 1986, but I can’t be sure.
Front pages have to scream “BUY ME” from the off. They have to be well-designed, interesting and exciting to look at. They have to give a passer-by a reason to at least glance at them, or grab their attention enough to convince someone to actually pick them up and buy them. It’s called good marketing design.
The only page where you get a shot at this is on the front page. You can follow your great calling to community on all the other pages inside.
The paper above might have the best content in the world, but it looks like the sort of thing crazy people shove through your door. If I saw it on a shelf my eyes would immediately filter it out. It resembles a ransom note hidden within a stereogram. I would not buy it.
Of course, design isn’t everything, but it’s the superficial thing that suggests to people that they are buying a quality product, something worth reading that people have taken time and expertise to compile and create. Be bold and use a splash of colour. Get someone in your office who has a creative spark to try making a few front pages. You never know, you might catch the eye of someone who doesn’t have cataracts.
Well, I’ve got that off my chest. Let the hating begin.
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