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Johnston Press closes weekly newspaper office

Reporters at a North West weekly are to be based at the offices of a sister daily after the latest office closure by publisher Johnston Press.

Over the past year, the company has closed a number of offices in a bid to reduece costs and also ensure its staff are housed in “fit for purpose” buildings.

The latest to close are the offices of the Garstang Courier in Pringle Street, Garstang.

The paper’s three reporters will now be based nine miles away at the offices of sister title the Lancashire Evening Post in Fulwood, near Preston.

Other JP titles in the region whose offices have closed this year include the Clitheroe Advertiser.

Last year the company put a number of current and former newspaper offices in the region up for sale including those of the Chorley Guardian, Nelson Leader and and Burnley Express.

A Johnston Press spokesman said: “We continue to review our branch offices across the North West to ensure we operate as efficiently as possible.

“The Garstang office has been closed to the public for a number of years, and we took the decision not to renew the lease when it expired.

“Our three Garstang reporters base themselves in their communities for much of their time, and also use our Fulwood office, less than 10 miles from their former base, to serve the Garstang and Longridge titles they are responsible for.

“This team has been managed from Preston for several years.”

16 comments

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  • October 24, 2014 at 11:13 am
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    I think others will follow, possibly further south. Time to burn your Life is Local mantra. Non local reporters in non local offices equals no ex diary stories or genuine exclusives, just regurgitated e mails press releases and dreadfully written user generated copy. Why do so many kids still want to be hacks in this environment?

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  • October 24, 2014 at 11:37 am
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    I see working from home on the horizon…
    Why should JP pay out for lighting, toilet roll, water, heating, electricity, internet, etc, when the employee can do all of that at home?
    Oh yeah… Small matters of staff morale and loyalty…. But that doesn’t matter to the JP beast. Who needs happy people that are motivated to do the best they can?

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  • October 24, 2014 at 11:40 am
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    the first thing I heard every day as a young reporter; “got any ex diary stuff?”
    There used to be an expression “bringing in stories”, long extinct. It meant staff living in the community picked up stories in pubs and clubs and meeting contacts.
    Sadly young reporters now would be lost without e mails and antisocial media. Too many live too far from their patch, or are based too far away.
    That’s progress boys and girls!

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  • October 24, 2014 at 1:43 pm
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    “This team has been managed from Preston for several years.”
    Barely two years, actually.

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  • October 24, 2014 at 2:08 pm
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    The office ‘closed to the public’. Granted, the front reception desk was shut but a ring of the doorbell summoned reporters who would speak to people. Face to face. People actually popped in with stories because they felt the paper was part of their community. Arrgh so old-fashioned.

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  • October 24, 2014 at 2:47 pm
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    Still living and working in the heart of our community. Our office doors are open all week – unlike the JP title here which allows members of the public in twice a week for two hours only, having closed their reception and then re-opened it.
    All our team live within a 30-minute drive of the office and we all know the area intimately. That’s how you run a paper. Yes really.

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  • October 24, 2014 at 5:52 pm
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    Hacking cough. That’s sounds almost like a real newspaper. Is is JP?

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  • October 24, 2014 at 6:38 pm
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    You cannot cover the Garstang Courier’s circulation area from Fulwood. Whose going to pay the mileage for reporters to go out to all the communities the paper serves, some of which are nearly 20 miles from Fulwood?

    What about the Courier’s sister weekly the Longridge News. No mention of that…is it going to be absorbed into the Courier?

    The three current reporters base themselves in their communities for much of the time, claims JP. Anybody who is familiar with the area knows that is pie in the sky. With narrow, winding country roads, the area is far more remote than it looks on any map.

    This entire exercise is a poorly organised retreat by JP. To think, the Courier once had its own editor, three full-time reporters, and a photographer all based in Garstang. The Longridge News at the same time had its own editor, full-time photographer, and two full-time reporters in Longridge.
    Watch out the Fleetwood Weekly News and Lytham St Annes Express. You could be next!

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  • October 25, 2014 at 9:54 am
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    The finance departments are merely working their way down the list: reduce stationery costs [tick]; review newsprint and production costs [tick]; remove back office/admin staff [tick]; centralise teams (sales and Editorial) where possible [tick]; recruitment freeze for non-essential staff [tick]; recruitment freeze, full stop [tick]; outsource production tasks where possible [tick]; organisational review and reduce overall staff numbers [tick]; sell small/regional offices owned by company/do not renew leases [tick].
    Erm… what next?

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  • October 25, 2014 at 12:11 pm
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    Stupid me. Course it isn’t JP. They are leaving towns with no offices at all. Then they give out a load of bull about why it is such a great idea, insulting those of their staff old enough to know what they should be doing.

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  • October 25, 2014 at 2:54 pm
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    Nice to hear Hacking Cough. All is not lost if others copy this. Proper editors on site are crucial though.

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  • October 25, 2014 at 8:58 pm
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    The continuation… of the beginning… of the end…

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  • October 26, 2014 at 12:45 pm
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    “Operate as efficiently as possible”. JP spokesman means ” as cheaply”.
    An office might be economic i.e. cheaper to run but not be efficient.
    Too many JP offices have too few staff. That pleases the accountants but makes it inefficient because it cannot carry out all the tasks it should at the quality level readers deserve. This is whole problem with JPs top down ignore the shop floor management style. Papers will pay for it.

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  • October 27, 2014 at 12:49 pm
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    In the interests of journalistic accuracy, can I correct my grammatical error?
    It should read “who is” not whose.

    There is a lesson for you all…always check your own copy CAREFULLY!
    My excuse is that my eyes are not what they were and the print on this page is too small.

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  • October 27, 2014 at 4:35 pm
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    Is this the same thoughtful JP management that took away pool cars, banned private mileage claims and then…..wanted hacks on huge rural patches to be mobile journos, called laughably MOJOS. It surely is!

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