Journalists at a regional daily have denied claims that their paper was “gagged” in its reporting of a controversial football stadium deal.
Earlier this week it was announced that Coventry City Council had approved a move to sell its share in the company that runs Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena to rugby club Wasps, currently based in High Wycombe.
The move has led to widespread anger among fans and claims on Twitter that the Coventry Telegraph had been used as a “puppet” of the authority.
However members of the National Union of Journalists’ chapel at the paper have issued a statement refuting the claims.
In the statement, the journalists also expressed “sadness” at the forthcoming departure of the editor Alun Thorne.
Alun’s resignation was announced on Monday and he is due to leave the paper later this month.
The statement read: “We are very sad that Coventry Telegraph editor Alun Thorne has taken the decision to leave the company for an exciting new job. In his two years with the Coventry Telegraph he has transformed the newsroom for the better.
“We refute any claims that the Coventry Telegraph has been gagged or censored. We reject any inference that our reporting has been anything other than fair, balanced and accurate.
“We believe we have a great team of reporters, production staff and management and we are proud of our achievements this year.
“We’d like to thank Alun for taking us into the digital age and giving newsroom morale a huge boost.”
Some of the Tweets on @The_Coventry attacking the Telegraph
Criticisms of the paper’s coverage of the Ricoh stadium affair have surfaced on football fans’ forums and also a Coventry City-related Twitter feed entitled @The_Coventry.
Some tweets have suggested that the paper has not subjected the council to sufficient scrutiny over the deal.
The paper’s political editor, Les Reid, also announced his resignation this week, revealing his intention to take the paper to an employment tribunal and to write a book on what he termed the “decline of public interest journalism.”
Les said today: “I understand fellow journalists’ concerns about the reputational damage to the paper, which I worked hard for, from hundreds of comments on social media.
“It’s clear from social media that many readers believe the Coventry Telegraph has not sufficiently scrutinised Coventry City Council over the CCFC/Ricoh dispute.
He added: “I thank people for the hundreds of comments of support. I have also had incredible support from the National Union of Journalists nationally. I wish Coventry Telegraph staff well.”
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Local papers can get a bit too close to their local club, because they need lots of filler copy during week about sprained ankles, strikers hoping to score goals etc etc and don’t want to annoy their sources. But some fans are arch conspiracy theorists!
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Les is an award-winning journalist not afraid to take a stand in the interests of public interest journalism. A sad loss for the Coventry Telegraph. He is clearly held in high regard by readers, judging by hundreds of comments on social media this week.
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try working for APN in australia – We were instructed by the MD specifically told not to cover, investigate or criticise the local council. Ad revenue at stake. A total disgrace. And the editor allowed him to do it!
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Ex provincial hack, taking former employers to tribunal for constructive dismissal, writes book about the decline of public interest journalism (presumably from a provincial perspective). That’s going to be a belter. Publishers will be queuing up for that one.
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… Comments below this link and on social media are telling…
http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2014/news/political-reporter-threatens-tribunal-as-he-quits-regional-daily/
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This statement perhaps tells us is that some staff can side with an editor and employer fearing more job losses. It also looks like a closing of ranks by a few staff with the paper being criticised by the public and the facts due to come out if there’s a tribunal and book. Staff won’t know the facts and will have only heard one side with a colleague suspended for nearly a year. So why release a statement?
Les Reid was last year national Columnist of Year at Regional Press Awards, Midlands Journalist of Year and Midlands Reporter of Year. Hundreds of comments on social media this week show he is highly respected as a political and investigative journalist for national and local titles, and that many CT readers share his concerns.
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I know one journalist who was fired from his local paper on dubious medical grounds when the truth was the council threatened to pull advertising if something was not done about him writing stories critical of the local council.
That reporter is now on Fleet Street, doing rather well, while the person responsible for his dismissal is still working for a moribund paper.
Perhaps Les can do the same?
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I think the NUJ’s statement by people in the office and in the know are far more telling than the opinions of people outside the business who have had no knowledge of what has been happening inside the Coventry Telegraph for years.
The Telegraph’s journalists are a very good team and a very good bunch of people operating in a very difficult period.
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The fact that the NUJ chapel took this action really does speak volumes. They have no vested interest in defending the former editor, apart from they really do feel all these comments from people who really don’t know what they’re talking about are utter rubbish, which they are.
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Check out Coventry City Council’s “gagging within compromise agreements performance” here, against 344 fellow English councils.
If you’ve decided they’re in the clear on this, think again…………..
http://wirralinittogether.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/2519/
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The NUJ chapel issuing a statement in support of a departing editor speaks volumes. That a departed reporter who had nothing to do with the story HTFP was running became the subject of the comments also speaks volumes.
Providing commentary on a paper you’ve left also speaks volumes. It’s getting very noisy.
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