AddThis SmartLayers

Editor hails ‘new chapter’ as paper switches to overnight

The editor of Britain’s biggest regional daily has hailed a “new chapter” in its long history as it moves to overnight publication.

Yesterday’s edition of the Express & Star saw the paper move from on-the-day printing with the presses rolling from shortly before midnight.

But editor Keith Harrison denied the change will turn the Wolverhampton based title into a “morning paper.”

In a first-person piece published yesterday, he said its deadlines would still be mater than nationals and that he would still be able to stop the presses for major breaking stories.

Said Keith: “Today, the Express & Star embarks on a new chapter in its long and illustrious history.

“Changes to our production schedule mean that our newspapers are going to be printed earlier. The presses will be rolling from close to midnight and continue right through the early hours.

“That doesn’t make us a ‘morning paper’ – our deadlines will still be later than the nationals and even when production has started we’ll be able to ‘stop the press’ for big stories. Being able to say ‘Hold the front page!’ is still one of the great thrills of being an editor.

“What it does mean is that we’ll be available in shops earlier and readers who have the paper delivered may find it arrives sooner.”

Keith went on to explain that the paper would be maintaining its current structure of editions for the various parts of its patch and will be bringing back separate Saturday editions for Staffordshire, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton.

He also said that although big national stories would still be covered, there will be “a little less national news and sport on our pages.”

Added Keith:  “The sharp rise in digital technology says readers no longer look to newspapers for the latest test match score or Open golf reports, as they are available up-to-the-minute online. And that’s largely why we’re switching things around.

“The newspaper industry has undergone a revolution in the past decade. The emergence of new technology means that however fast a newspaper is – and we pride ourselves on being the fastest – print can never beat a mobile phone, tablet or Twitter feed to the punch on breaking news.”

Since the rival Birmingham Mail went overnight five years ago, the Express & Star has regularly used its status as the region’s only on-the-day publication to break big stories ahead of the competition.

For instance, in February 2013, it was able to publish five pages of same day coverage on the publication of the Francis report into poor health care provided at Stafford Hospital.

This week’s production changes – which are also being introduced at sister title the Shropshire Star – follow a restructure at the paper’s parent company the Midland News Association which has seen 76 jobs go across all departments.

They include 12 in editorial, 12 in advertising, 21 in circulation and 12 in transport.

12 comments

You can follow all replies to this entry through the comments feed.
  • July 22, 2014 at 8:39 am
    Permalink

    A sad day. I have memories of covering afternoon inquests in Wolverhampton in the 80s and writing them up for the final edition. I always thought that was the E & S’s strength. Overnight has none of the urgency………feels more like working on a weekly some days.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 22, 2014 at 10:03 am
    Permalink

    This is a bad if sadly inevitable move. Of course they’ll still be able to stop the presses for breaking news. Any newspaper can do that but I’ll be amazed if it happens. The fact is that people may get the paper delivered a little earlier but it will not have the punch of a same day publication.
    I speak as someone who worked for a multi-edition evening newspaper that went overnight and rebranded. It became a very different beast.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 22, 2014 at 10:21 am
    Permalink

    Agreed. When my paper went overnight it felt like it had been turned from a newsroom into a call centre overnight. The adrenaline rush of an approaching deadline had gone forever.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 22, 2014 at 10:36 am
    Permalink

    I started in the 60s on an evening paper in Yorkshire with four editions,last off the stone 5 pm, and a print of 55,000. Now it is a weekly and is likely to go internet-only soon. But that’s modern technology for you.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 22, 2014 at 10:41 am
    Permalink

    When readers know they are picking up yesterday’s news sales will be lost. Digital beats print on speed, of course, but when folk are buying today’s paper, they like to think that it is.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 22, 2014 at 11:24 am
    Permalink

    I doubt very much that these are the thoughts of an Editor, more of the cost cutting management team and the current CEO/MD. The Express & Star and Shropshire Star are in danger of becoming completely irrelevant in the local media landscape that it once so proudly served, as indeed it is a changing media world, but delivering yesterday’s news when you have the highest home delivery percentage in the country is nothing short of reckless. Let’s hope that the “local” digital world that they so obviously crave arrives in time and before the last cancellation is rung through of an abandoned, but once loyal, customer base. Good local journalism, that the MNA is so rightly proud of, can only survive if it has an audience to serve, sadly however, the powers that be are dismantling that very audience. A “new chapter” maybe, but I’m guessing also the final chapter of a once great, independent, newspaper group.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 22, 2014 at 2:02 pm
    Permalink

    They aren’t dismantling the audience, the audience is going elsewhere anyway. Even the E and S is suffering big circulation declines, and even if they had a fresh edition every hour during the day, they still can’t compete with the speed of the internet. If you see black smoke in the sky, you don’t anymore wait until the paper arrives, you look at social media or Google. That’s the world we live in. It’s insulting to describe overnight newspapers as ‘yesterday’s news’ as in many cases, they are generally the ones breaking the news anyway.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 22, 2014 at 4:37 pm
    Permalink

    If you want the latest on that fire/road accident/bank robbery then there’s always more immediate ways of getting the story than your local paper – but that’s been the same since the advent of local TV and radio, depending on the quality of those services.
    If you’re trawling social media for information then most accurate and up-to-date source will still be your local paper’s feed.
    Or if you’re content with wading through the contributions from well-meaning citizen journalists you can make up your own story on the spot, as any hack who’s wasted vital man hours chasing up online tip-offs regarding fictitious child snatches, sieges or gun-related incidents will vouch for.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 22, 2014 at 11:20 pm
    Permalink

    Oh here we go, the “this is how it was in the 60s”, nothing should ever change brigade are out in force. Yes yes we know – when YOU started there was a million people in every room, reporters used to be real roving news hounds and the paper was still hot when it hit the shop shelves on the same day where everyone would turn for their breaking news.

    Things have changed and not accepting it is holding journalism back. We can’t keep telling audiences “you are wrong, you MUST pick up a paper”. Looking down on and underestimating the internet is out of touch. Readers have never before been able to access and interact with news in such a way. Listen to the audience – as I’m Out said, they’re going elsewhere. The paper shouldn’t compete with the web it should complement it. Overnight or same day on 99% of days throughout the year won’t matter – the paper will never win the race.

    The MNA papers, however, are striking the balance. Some companies are fighting a losing battle to keep their papers going, some are concentrating so hard on the web they’re forgetting their papers and killing them. Others have simply grabbed an axe and gone to town.

    MNA’s approach says we know the paper doesn’t play the same role it once did but it is still important while providing a clearly popular website if figures published on this site are to be believed.

    No one has figured it out yet but it’s refreshing to see an understanding of the role a newspaper could play. Sales will still go down either way but not as steeply as some others and it will hit a point where it won’t go down any more as there are those who will always prefer to pick up the paper – at least it will find its position rather than chase one that hasn’t existed for some time and risk becoming completely irrelevant.

    MNA reporters still manage the basics of getting out to stories and generally send their own photographers. It’s finding a balance that says don’t forget the basics but we see how the audience, the public, is still demanding news but consuming it in a different way and being realistic about it.

    Good luck Keith and long live journalism, in whatever form we may find it.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 23, 2014 at 8:53 am
    Permalink

    Funny how people will slate local newspapers for ‘yesterday’s news’ then accept the inevitable, lazy follow-ups on the regional TV stations a week later. Good luck to the E and S, which despite the cutbacks, is looking better than ever and is still a great read. No doubt it will turn out more exclusives in a week than the local TV/Radio will in a month. But the BBC doesn’t have to worry about ‘real world’ economics does it?

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 23, 2014 at 10:43 am
    Permalink

    I agree with most of what ‘new gen journo’ says in terms of you can’t keep living in the past and ignoring the internet etc
    However, when you write that sales will “hit a point where it won’t go down any more”, I’m afraid that may well be wishful thinking. I worked for a major regional publisher in the West Midlands for many years and every annual circulation loss both then and since was greeted with the view that surely they couldn’t fall any more.
    And yet the latest figs are still showing double-digit annual drops.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • July 23, 2014 at 12:48 pm
    Permalink

    If we could have a non-nuclear World War Three, that would keep papers going a bit longer.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)