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Dyson at Large: Big decisions for historic broadsheet

The splash, second lead and main news briefs on the front page of one of Britain’s last great broadsheets were all hidden beneath the fold on Wednesday 10 July.

The ‘Inquiry into police scandals set to force massive shake-up’ was actually quite an interesting report about West Yorkshire Police’s shoddy handling of misconduct cases.

And with the Yorkshire Post’s intelligent readers in mind, I rated the shoulder piece headlined ‘Whole-life terms for murderers ‘inhuman’ say judges’.

The well-penned write-offs were also all more than capable of pulling readers in, with ‘Row over Richard III’s remains intensifies’ and ‘Miracle escape for MP as lorry tyre smashes car on M1’ being just two examples.

But because the above stories were placed in the bottom half of the broadsheet page one, and with the folded paper masthead side up in the shops, no-one whose attention they might have caught would have seen them.

Broadsheet editing is a dying trade, of course, and outgoing editor Peter Charlton and deputy Andrew Vine understandably have more than enough on their minds as they step down from the paper this month.

That said, it’s worth new kid on the block Jeremy Clifford considering whether a paper only displaying ‘THE GREAT YORKSHIRE SHOW’ is really going to pull in the passing casual reader.

And is it just me, or does ‘YORKSHIRE’ in the masthead and ‘YORKSHIRE’ directly underneath grate with anyone else?

Those quibbles aside, the quality of the paper’s departing editorial chiefs is clearly shown in the content throughout, which included:

  • ‘Revolt in paradise as locals use pool as toilet’ on page five, telling how a Yorkshireman led angry holidaymakers in the Caribbean;
  • ‘Carer jailed for leaving dementia patient in bath’ on page seven, reporting the six-month sentence a Goole woman received after the 82-year-old in her care nearly drowned;
  • ‘A memory of murder: the real woman hidden behind the myths of Ruth Ellis’ on page 13, a captivating review by the Post’s own Chris Bond; and
  • ‘Ed Milliband’s union paymasters are still a liability for Labour’ on page 15, a strong opinion piece made even more readable because it was written by regular columnist Bernard Ingham – Margaret Thatcher’s ex-press secretary.

In 28 broadsheet pages, there were around 150 news and features stories, another 30-plus reports in the business section and 45 or so in sport – the latter including fine, detailed reporting on the Ashes by staffer Chris Waters for the title’s many cricket fans.

There were another 50-odd stories on 16 tabloid pages in the Life & Style leisure pull-out.

The latest ABC figures show that the Yorkshire Post sold an average of 35,940 copies a day between July and December 2012 at 65p a time, with only 3pc listed as ‘bulk’ sales.

Even more impressive was the sales figure of 67,270 on Saturdays – a day when the cover price more than doubled to £1.40.

This loyal readership is a reminder that it’s no mean feat bringing out a broadsheet six days a week, especially when you position yourself as ‘Yorkshire’s National Newspaper’.

Best wishes should go to Jeremy, who has a huge task ahead of him when he picks up the reins next month – one made even bigger by the fact that the role will be much wider than editing one title.

His post is ‘editorial director’ – also responsible for the Yorkshire Evening Post, various weeklies, online editorial direction and still chairman of the Johnston Press editorial board.

I just hope that JP boss Ashley Highfield realises that the strong support of substantial lieutenants is needed in such a role, and the time and space to sometimes concentrate on what’s going to be the best position for stories on the front of numerous papers.

And more than a few observers will be wondering if and when Jeremy will also be busy taking the big paper tabloid – one sure way of ending the ‘beneath the fold’ dilemma.

10 comments

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  • July 24, 2013 at 8:35 am
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    The Great Yorkshire Show is, in actual fact, the biggest event in the Yorkshire calendar and captures the attention of the YPs core readership. Our show coverage that week actually helped to put on an extra 4,500 sales, so maybe this shows that we know our market, and who to target when it comes to readership.

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  • July 24, 2013 at 8:58 am
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    Jeremy Clifford’s task will be made even more difficult by the fact that at least five senior editorial members of staff will be departing in the next couple of months, as well as Peter Charlton and Andrew Vine, after the company asked for voluntary redundancies in yet another cost-cutting exercise.

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  • July 24, 2013 at 9:37 am
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    I can take no credit for the paper Steve reviewed. In fact, it was put together by my ‘substantial lieutenants’ while I attended the Great Yorkshire Show, the biggest event in our calendar and the largest agricultural show in England.

    The event added 4,500 extra copy sales.

    When was it a fault to address your core audience and add readers?

    – Peter Charlton, Editorial Director, Yorkshire Post Newspapers

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  • July 24, 2013 at 9:59 am
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    I think the bigger task is to sort out the Yorkshire Evening Post, a once great newspaper which has been hung out to dry at the expense of the Yorkshire Post in recent years. You can’t blame it all on just having the editor of the YP in charge of the YEP because it wasn’t in good shape beforehand. The YEP covers a great city but does not reflect it, and doesn’t feel part of it. If Jeremy Clifford can make it half as good as the Sheffield Star, there’s hope yet.

    On all this talk about core readership of the YP, that’s fascinating but if the YP is to survive, it needs to find a new core readership – younger people who care about Yorkshire, so I agree with Steve about the mix on the front page. Those 4,500 extra sales didn’t come from a big picture on the front page at the expense of everything else.

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  • July 24, 2013 at 10:03 am
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    Reading this blog often gives an insight into why Steve Dyson presided over such a steep circulation decline at the Birmingham Mail. Absolutely clueless about what the reader wants.

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  • July 24, 2013 at 10:17 am
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    It is clear Johnston Press, nor the local MD, have any idea about the strength of the Yorkshire Post brand – or the market that it serves and the resource implications of covering such a large county.
    JP will not be happy until there are next to no editorial jobs left, hence why they had to pay headhunters to recruit an editor – and then ended up going to someone who already worked for the company in an office 40 miles away.

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  • July 24, 2013 at 10:53 am
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    Mr Dyson, I think we know our market….adding an extra 4,500 sale in this current market is bloody good going. As one of the ‘substantial lieutenants’ we take pride in the product and always strive to deliver the best possible coverage to our readership.

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  • July 24, 2013 at 11:15 am
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    Matt, Peter and Ian: Good info re. the extra 4,500 sales gained during the Show. It would be churlish of me to debate whether or not these were all due to the top-half wipe out on 10 July, or whether they could have been further boosted by a more newsy mix. So point conceded and well done.

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  • July 24, 2013 at 11:23 am
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    Steve Dyson doesn’t need anyone to defend him, but I will say this: Birmingham is probably just ahead of every other big city newspaper when it comes to circulation decline, but Leeds should be a long way behind somewhere like Birmingham in terms of that decline. It is one of the great northern cities.

    Just look at other big cities, such as Leeds and the YEP. The ‘substantial lieutenants’ might know the YP market, based on circulation performance, but if you take what Ian Day is saying at face value, they don’t know the YEP that well.

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  • July 24, 2013 at 3:02 pm
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    We should not forget that newspapers are produced for readers, not journalists.
    It’s the content that counts first and foermost, not the look of a paper. One only needs to look towards the Wolverhampton-based Express & Star, Mr Dyson, to realise that. My guess is the E&S will still be going strong (relatively speaking) when the once mightly Birmingham Mail is but a memory, in print at least.
    Relaunches and redesigns are all well and good but in my view they are usually a sign of desperation. If a paper is value for money people will buy it if they have the wherewithal.
    I always find Steve Dyson’s comments interesting and food for thought. He’s entitled to his views, as we all are, but it’s the paper and subsequent sales that count.
    Well done all at the Yorkshire Post – a paper which I used to study while still at school in Staffordshire as a 15-year-old before going off to college to train for a career in journalism. I received the paper a day late but it was worth the wait.
    No doubt with a new editor on the horizon there will be changes within the YP but my advice is don’t make them too radical, thus risking alienating the existing readership. A redesign/relaunch should be like a good haircut, just tweak things a little so they are not too obvious.

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