There was never a dull moment when I was working at Caters News Agency in Birmingham in the early 1990s.
Because if we green-behind-the-ears reporters ever hinted it was “a quiet news day” then our Liverpool-based boss, the late Roger Blyth, would growl: “Well get down to inquests or magistrates and find something.”
Those courts, Roger insisted, were overflowing with life, and we should never emerge without a human interest story that could be told and sold.
His guidance came to mind when I picked up the Derbyshire Times on Thursday 21 May: ‘DAD KILLED MONTHS BEFORE HIS WEDDING’ screamed page one, with ‘Fiancée’s tribute after biker’s death crash’ as the overline.
The fatal crash happened a week earlier, but victim Neil Farrer’s personal details and a summary of how he died were confirmed by a Chesterfield coroner’s court hearing.
The form of quotes from Neil’s fiancée made it obvious that she’d been spoken to in person, either outside the court or via a death-knock.
The fifth and sixth paragraphs read: ‘He was due to marry his fiancée, Denise Lewis, on a dream Christmas Eve ceremony this year. Tearful Ms Lewis said: “I could fill your paper with words on how wonderful Neil was,”’ and she then filled another seven paragraphs with her grief.
What I valued about this 22-paragraph story was that it hadn’t been lazily gleaned from the internet alone, as can be too often the case in some newspapers in 2015.
Nearly half of reporter Michael Broomhead’s report was that direct interview with Ms Lewis, plus he’d recorded the inquest opener and collected messages left with flowers at the scene of the accident; only then had he inserted extra Facebook comments.
It was refreshing to see more evidence of old-style newsgathering from courts and council throughout the Times’ inside pages.
There were, for example, five page leads from Chesterfield magistrates’ court by reporter Jon Cooper: ‘Badger killer is spared jail’, page seven; ‘Prison threat to serial thief’, page 10; ‘Dog flea horror pair hit with lifetime ban’, page 14; ‘Teen attacked pal after booze row’, page 18; and ‘Woman wrecks mum’s house’, page 28.
Note I’ve only included page leads in the above list: there were at least another 25 court reports on other pages.
Indeed, despite much criticism about content cut-backs by Times’ publisher Johnston Press, it still seems keen on courts coverage, with a ‘Court reporter’ job in Preston currently advertised on this site.
Another six leads came from council coverage: ‘Home shut after care fears’, page three; ‘Safety fear at notorious roundabout site’, page four (both Derbyshire County Council); ‘Driver loses job after benefit con’, page eight; ‘Record 31 years for councillor’, page 20 (both Chesterfield Borough Council); ‘Controversial plan moves a step closer’, page 15 (Bolsover District Council); and ‘Fears that new Aldi store could jeopardise 500 jobs’, page 23 (Peak District National Park Authority).
Other pages that caught my attention included a picture spread from a day that Bear Grylls had spent with local Scouts (he’s Chief Scout of The Scout Association), and a three-page ‘Obituaries’ section that contained write-ups on 29 recent local deaths.
It was only last month that the Times’ editor Graeme Huston was seconded to Northern Ireland by Johnston to oversee the roll-out of the group’s ‘newsroom of the future’ project.
But from what I could see, acting editor Nancy Fielder is maintaining high standards in a 128-page paper that contained more than 320 stories on around 90 editorial pages.
My main criticism of the Times was the lack of people pictures: at least eight of the main images on editorial pages were of buildings, with the same picture of the outside of Chesterfield magistrates’ courts used twice on pages 10 and 28.
And a minor snag was not cross-referring the page 16 editorial leader to the Aldi-row planning story it was commenting about on page 23, nor vice versa.
The weekly Times’ sales are no longer audited by ABC, but they were recorded as selling 24,959 as recently as 2013, then priced at 95p a copy (now £1.05, or 80p for subscribers).
Postscript: on a really ‘quiet’ day at Caters, with fellow reporters dispatched to magistrates and inquests, I was sent to industrial tribunals on the off-chance that a sacked bus driver’s case “might be juicy”.
Roger’s instinct about courts was again proved correct: the driver been dismissed for singing “You’ve got a lovely pair of coconuts” to well-endowed female passengers, and the coverage made page leads in three national tabloids.
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No surprises. Michael Broomhead is the region’s best reporter by far, and John Cooper is easily the most accomplished court reporter. A fantastic title and they deserve this credit.
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It amuses me after 40 years in the scribbling trade that this reporter is being lauded for what are simply the basic requirements of the job. Go to inquest get family to talk, knit the two pieces together. Hardly Watergate!! But I do agree too many papers rely on handouts, especially one sided court reports issued by police !
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Stick this on the wall of every newsroom in the country and show young journalists where real stories come from
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Oh yes The Red Postman. and do not obsess on writing up inquests in the order the evidence was given (or council debate or court case). such a common error with youngsters and often uncorrected by lazy/non existent editing.
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I agree with others that this isn’t a great splash – or even a good one. But I was also momentarily confused by the headline in the Derbyshire Times. I thought the victim HAD killed ‘months before his wedding – i.e. was a murderer – not had BEEN killed. Now that would have been a good tale!
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No journalist should ever be without a story. Step out of the office and into the street and open your eyes! Spoon fed reporting should be banned!
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Of course this is what every newspaper should aspire to and more but modern restraints of staffing (lack of) and demands on time – keeping the website ticking over, being based miles from where you cover, a lack of photographers (eg stock shots of buildings used) – all mean that proper journalism is ditched all too often for a quick fix.
We hate rehashing press releases but for many it is what the job has become…….
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Health and Safety has put paid to frequent major disaster stories in the UK, so papers have turned to flogging traffic accidents to death and writing volumes about tragic medical stories, often done up in the guise of charity fund-raising.
These can do a lot of good raising public awareness, but the reader can only stomach so much so there is a great deal of overkill out there with the writing becoming mawkish sentimentality. If it’s a pretty young woman or girl, the papers can’t get enough of it.
But if the person is over 50, it merits just a few pars inside somewhere.
Court cases “revel in scruffdom” as my old news editor used to say with banner headlines on some sink estate yob involved in a night club brawl. There is no sense of proportion. The best crime writing involves interesting people. Who wants to read yards and yards on someone from Benefits Street nicking a can of lager from Tesco? If this sounds snobbish it is meant to be because too many newspapers still have a fish and chip mentality.
Group court reporter for Preston? Yes, because most of the papers (if not all) for miles around are JP owned. Once was the time when Barnes News Service provided two dedicated reporters serving local newspaper groups. There were also two separate freelance reporters popping in to Preston Crown Court from time to time as well as staffers from local evenings. Busy times!
Those were the days before the Crown Prosecution Service when committals were handled by the police, not solicitors. Justice was much swifter…and sharper. Happy hunting times for the court reporter!
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When I retired after 22 years as editor of the Derbyshire Times I hoped that my last paper would have a front page to be proud of. Jon Cooper obliged.
He turned up trumps with a murder trial exclusive – yes EXCLUSIVE – and two-pages of background material and pictures from the victim’s family. That was all achieved by using good old-school journalistic methods. In the period before the case came to court Jon worked at building trust between him and a family that wanted the public to know of their loss. He made regular checks with them, police and courts to ensure that he knew when the case would be heard – a good job too, as the hearing was switched at the last minute.
As Northernhack says, Jon is probably the most accomplished court reporter in the region. It was certainly a good day for the Derbyshire Times when I offered him a job.
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I agree with Old Hack that reporters should step out into the street for stories. Problem is that so many newspapers don’t have off-street offices. Step outside and you’re in a soulless industrial estate…
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