Two weekly newspaper offices are set to be closed by Johnston Press as their reporters “go mobile”.
The Harborough Mail will leave its office in the town at the end of March and will be based in Kettering at the Northants Telegraph’s headquarters, although the company says reporters will be out in the community more.
JP is also set to close the Corby office of the Telegraph on 31 January but the paper has told readers it will set up contact points and reporter surgeries where people can meet its journalists.
Receptions at newspaper offices across the company’s Midlands publishing region are also set to be shut by the end of March.
The Telegraph has stressed it remains “fully committed” to the town and its Corby edition will continue to be published each week but said the number of people visiting the office was “tiny” compared to a few years ago.
Journalists who work in the Corby office are now expected to be based at the Kettering office of the Telegraph, which made the switch from daily to weekly publication in 2012.
The closure of the newspaper offices are the latest by the regional publisher under a review of its property portfolio as it seeks to ensure its offices are “fit for purpose” and raise extra revenue by selling buildings.
A spokeswoman for Johnston Press said the Harborough Mail office, which is on Northampton Road in Market Harborough, would be closed as part of the ongoing review.
She said: “Staff will be able to work from the nearby Kettering office when they choose but, as with many of our journalists now, will be able to spend much more time out and about in their communities, operating as ‘mobile’ journalists wherever there is wi-fi.
“We can confirm that our front counter operations in the Midlands will close by 28 March. This is a decision that has been made at a local operating level.
“However, serving our local communities remains a priority and there are many ways our readers and advertisers can stay in touch without the need for front counters.”
A story about the Corby office closure by editor Neil Pickford, headlined “Corby team is going mobile”, said: “Changing technology and changes to the way we all live our lives mean the number of people who come into our office to see a reporter is tiny compared to a few years ago.
“There are now so many other ways people can get in touch with us that they don’t need to make a personal visit.
“And our reporting team have all been given laptop computers and state-of-the-art mobile telephones which mean they can work from almost anywhere. As is now the case, you will still be able to contact them by telephone or email.
“You could even choose to make contact via social media such as Twitter or Facebook. In fact, there have never been more ways to get in touch with your local newspaper and share your news and views with us.
“Our plans have been developed so that we can work more flexibly than ever, and we will be maintaining a highly visible presence in the community. This is likely to include setting up established contact points and reporter surgeries.”
He added that Corby was the only town in the paper’s circulation area to have its own edition and there were “categorically no plans to change that”.
Neil added: “We remain fully committed to continuing to providing the most comprehensive news, views and sport coverage in and around Corby in both print and on our website.
“Regular users will already know there is an area on the site dedicated purely to Corby news and that we have regular reports and previews on Corby Town.
“So, let me take this opportunity to assure you that although we are making changes to what we do, the team at the Telegraph remain focused on shining a light on the huge amount of great positive work being done in our communities, without shying away from tackling the problems that we all know the town still needs to tackle.”
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JPspeak: We’re fully committed to the town – we’re just not going to be based there. Nothing to do with cost cutting, of course…
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Just sad, that’s all. Good luck to everyone involved though
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This is surely just another phase in the drawn-out process of easing a slow death.
Pretty certain these titles will be put out of their misery within 18 months.
***still banging head on desk***
***mascara starting to run down face***
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JP appears to be only committed to cost cutting and digital. Losing offices will advance the loss in their print readership. Maybe they don’t care as much about that. They assume that print readers will move over to another platform. Not so, in my view.
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Are Johnston Press executives preparing the way for a massive sell out?
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Another editor, trying his best to put a positive spin on something that tears his team apart. Reporters not part of a team, piggy backing on wifi other companies pay for, working from home I’ll wager…
That phrase “managed decline” comes to mind again.
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Isn’t all this reliance on Facebook and Twitter rather over the top? Suppose these organisations decide one day to do a little screw turning?
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Before long you won’t be able to get a seat in a Subway, McDonald’s, or similar, as seats will be taken up by JP reporters. Personally, I’d head for a Waterstone’s.
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Only one question is considered when JP makes decisions these days: Will it save money? If the answer to that question is yes then it happens.
The Mail is a well-loved, profitable paper being systematically destroyed.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a problem that the editorial team won’t have a base in town – the paper only has two full-time editorial staff who will be able to work just as effectively from home or at Kettering. But losing the front office will be a huge blow. The perception in the town will be that the paper has shut. Readers wanting to place a family announcement or free ad will not be happy when they are told they have to ring a call centre in Sheffield. Most will just not bother any more.
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The rationale for this seems to assume that meeting the public is the only advantage of having an office. What about editorial teamwork?
Where there’s more than one reporter on a patch, sharing even the smallest office helps to generate better stories, better ideas and (I’m sure) more identification with the paper. There is a middle ground between an expensive high street office and nothing.
On a commercial level, JP’s thought also appears to ignore the very strong branding value of having a visible local office, even to people who never set foot in it. It demonstrates commitment to the community in a way that no number of wi-fi connections can, and it helps to make the paper the natural local choice, whether as a reader or an advertiser.
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JP’s readers, advertisers and staff should, as our national leaders put it these days, prepare for more bad news – all of it conceived, planned and executed at a local level, in fact quite likely in a cafe, library or layby near you.
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Perhaps readers who don’t see or have a physical newspaper presence in town will feel that they no longer need a physical newspaper at all……………and just not bother logging on or Facebooking or Twittering…..
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Local offices with reporters living locally and knowing their patch.
Only proper way to run a LOCAL paper.
All else is bull.
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They aren’t the only JP offices closing this week – The News Guardian office in Whitley Bay is shutting on Friday and staff relocating to the Morpeth Herald office, a mere 16 miles off the turf. But of course, it’s fine as the reporters will be working from home. Barnaby Page has hit the nail on the head when he says that JP is ignoring the value of having a visible office, in this case in the middle of town. Still, as one of the co-owners of a new hyper-local news website in the area, I’m not complaining!
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Offices are the creative, communal inspiration behind a lot of good journalism and the social side is vital for morale and support. Having once laboured over a 50,000-word banking report home alone for four months, I predict people leaving the profession for something that offers daily colleagues and company. Remote working suits only very few and can be isolating and depressing.
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It’s all dismal further decline and let’s not kid ourselves.
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“Readers wanting to place a family announcement or free ad will not be happy when they are told they have to ring a call centre in Sheffield.” – have you seen the Mail recently? You don’t need many fingers to count the family announcements. I don’t take any pleasure in pointing that out but, of all the arguments against the closure of a newspaper office / front counter, this is the least persuasive.
Anybody know how it’s working out in Hemel since the office closure there?
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Do editors still resign these days on matters of principle?
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I agree with Dick Minim. Working from home may be great in bad weather or on an odd day, but not on a daily basis. Wonder how many JP reporters will end up doing the school run? The office is vital for support, inspiration and making the job enjoyable. Many offices are too large, but JP should be downsizing, not disappearing. Branding and visibility matters, especially when you are trying to engage the community.
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Dick Minim – well, indeed. The idea of spending much of your day cutting and pasting press releases on a sofa is not inspiring.
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As per usual all the news is about how ‘The Poor Reporters’ will be able to continue to produce a paper each week. Obviously they are the only important people JP are concerned with, never a mention for the advertising teams, photographic and town office staff, many of whom have worked for the company for a considerable amount of years who are now loosing their jobs having no choice but to take voluntary redundancy. I as one of the latter whose office is also closing at the end of March have only had information through 2 emails. I have not had one member of management even speak to me about leaving. In my office we have a lot of regular customers who have become friends over the years. They will be totally lost when they cannot come in and put in their announcements etc. But obviously they are not important either. I thought it was all about serving the community. As I see it if they can treat their staff like dirt, they won’t have any thought for the people living in their town. I hope JP get all the success they deserve!
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“There are now so many other ways people can get in touch with us that they don’t need to make a personal visit.
“And our reporting team have all been given laptop computers and state-of-the-art mobile telephones which mean they can work from almost anywhere. As is now the case, you will still be able to contact them by telephone or email.”
State-of-the-art pap from JP. Heaven forbid that journalists – especially reporters – should meet anybody face to face. And what happens on the occasions when they can’t “work from almost anywhere”?
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How typical of regional newspaper management that a review to ensure offices are “fit for purpose” comes to the conclusion there’s no need for offices at all.
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This is a savage blow to both the town and the paper.
The Mail has been here since 1854 and is a huge part of this vibrant market town’s community and identity.
The front office is the local newspaper’s beating heart and the Mail’s is smack bang in the middle of town.
JP are quickly and very clinically draining off the lifeblood of excellent local papers up and down the country, inflicting deathblow after deathblow.
And they should spare us the sanctimonious PR bull/management speak about state-of-the-art mobiles/Twitter/Facebook, etc, etc.
At least be honest – you’re killing off papers left and right to save cash, slash costs, full stop.
Do you think we were born yesterday for God’s sake??
This is another sad day and one more killer nail in the coffin of hard-working, highly-respected papers like the Harborough Mail.
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I must admit I came to hate working in an office for over 30 years as a journalist and would have much preferred to work from home. Reasons ? Too many to list but the worst were: office politics; boring colleagues; aggressive colleagues; drunk colleagues; too much yakking and not enough work; having to sit in the same damn place every single day…etc etc…
I was always much happier when I was out and about meeting the public/filing stories….what the reporter’s job, at least, is supposed to be about.
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Perhaps readers will think if there’s no need for an office,they there’s no need to buy a paper
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