The editor-in-chief of Johnston Press says the purchase of national newspaper the i represents a “huge opportunity” for the company’s regional journalists.
Jeremy Clifford has made the claim after the i announced its new look editorial team following the closure of sister daily The Independent.
Welcoming the new additions to the JP “fold”, Jeremy said it represented an opportunity for staff at the newspaper to “combine their expertise” with 900 existing JP journalists to provide readers with “effective and relevant content” at a national level.
Oly Duff will continue as editor of the i, while Andy Webster remains as his deputy.
The bulk of new staff in the 50-strong editorial team have moved to the i from The Independent, where around 100 of its 160 journalists have lost their jobs, but further appointments are set to be made next week.
The £24m purchase of the newspaper was approved by JP shareholders earlier this month, with chief executive Ashley Highfield also flagging up the possible sale of some of the groups’ regional titles.
Said Jeremy: “The i’s new editorial team is full of experience and creativity, and we’re delighted to be welcoming these journalists into the Johnston Press fold.
“We are confident they will continue to make the i the success it has been under the leadership of Oly.
“There is a huge opportunity in front of us to combine their expertise with that of the 900 journalists in Johnston Press and their knowledge across our portfolio to really provide our readers with effective and relevant content at a national level.”
Oly added: “This is an exciting new chapter for i, and I’m delighted to continue as editor. We have a brilliantly talented team here and are thrilled to have the chance to take i forward in digital and in print.”
The first edition of the i under JP ownership will appear on 11 April.
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The staff at i have no need to “combine their expertise” with JP’s regional journalists as they were doing a brilliant job before this extraordinary and inexplicable deal went through. Plus why would JP staff suddenly be considered good enough for a national if they weren’t at that level before? Incredible stuff.
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Exactly. There is a difference between regional writing and national writing particularly at this sort of level.
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Whatever JP do, it will attract criticism but these fellas seem a bit harsh on everyone.
Are JP’s entire regional staff really not up to national quality reporting? Most of us have seen our stories nicked by agencies and barely re-hashed in nationals, so what’s the difference? Some of those under-qualified JP staff will have a lot of experience in shifting for nationals, so why not supply copy to the i?
Why bother being bitter for the sake of it….
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What possible advantage could there be linking staff at a small national newspaper with a heavy London focus to say, and no offence, the Morecambe Visitor or the Forfar Dispatch? With the best mealy-mouthed will in the world, it’s not going to happen.
OK buy yourself a little national, but don’t then claim it’s any possible advantage to your core products and staff.
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Having worked for national daily, Sunday, evening, regional morning and weekly titles, I would suggest Minim and Jones should be more sense than to write off the quality of 900 men and women. Surely some of us aren’t that bad?
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There’s a new boutique open in the town, wonder if its good enough for a page lead in the i?
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I would be delighted and thrilled if this huge and brilliant opportunity produced an effective, relevant and exciting new chapter in my share portfolio JP-wise.
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Have to agree with Mr Westerdale, as I have much the same CV as he does.
In fact, one of the last jobs I did on the national scene was to write the front-page lead for the Daily Sport.
Oh..hang on a minute…..
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I have a typo in my post – maybe the doomsayers have got it right, after all.
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Laughable again. Everything JP touch turns to excrement. The i will be no different. There are good people on the i and they should get out while they can.
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overthehill etc: I am not suggesting there are NO reporters of national standard within the JP corps – there will be, of course. But those who remain at local level lack something if they’ve chosen to remain there – gumption, maybe, or a dash of initiative? Sure, there will be a few youngsters who will easily make the transition – and would have done so anyway – but many of the local staff I work with are happy where they are and say a national would intimidate them (fair enough). And, as a local paper sub during the week and a national one at weekends, I can assure you, categorically and emphatically, the difference in 90% of the copy quality-wise is vast, a Grand Canyon of class.
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I’m sure there are very talented journalists within JP who could make a great contribution to the i. There just aren’t as many as there used to be.
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So, as we predicted, a lot of regional JP content will end up in the i. But don’t expect to be paid national reporter rates for this ‘opportunity’.
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Oh yes. JP have such respect for the 900 journalists on the payroll. Not so long ago there were 2,000 and the wholesale culling has left so many titles a pale shadow of what they were. The i is destined for the great JP scrapheap. Think digital, everyone.
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Oh…it’s so EXCITING!!
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Dick Minim is talking through his backside. Journalists working for good regional papers are every bit as good – in many cases, better – than their national counterparts. What’s more, they’re used to tackling real stories, not reporting on the size of Kim Kardashian’s ass.
It’s astonishing to me that London journalists seek to perpetuate the myth that they’re somehow superior when all the evidence suggests otherwise. Don’t tell me papers like the Manchester Evening News, the Express and Star and The Scotsman are somehow inferior to comics like The Sun and Mirror. It simply isn’t true.
Many fine British journalists are not attracted to London for the simple reason that they don’t want to live in an urban dump. I can understand why a good pro would want to edit a Lake District weekly rather than work down table on a national being bawled at by some neurotic head-case.
Yes, I worked in London for many years and know the truth – that a lot of raw national copy is appalling. There is an understanding there that the subs will ‘put things right’. In the provinces – certainly on the prestige titles – reporters are expected to produce print-ready copy.
They also conform to much higher ethical standards than on Fleet Street.
I’m afraid the phone hackers and their pals are in no position to claim the high ground, moral or professional. Get real, Dick – stop deluding yourself.
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Surely the way this is going to work is that all JP’s regional reporters will write their stuff as normal for the web/print etc and the i will just pick off the best content that is worthy of making national headlines.
Nothing that hasn’t already been happening for years.
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The intro to this piece is misleading. According to the third par, Mr Clifford says it is “an opportunity for staff at the newspaper to “combine their expertise” with 900 existing JP journalists to provide readers with “effective and relevant content” at a national level.”
In other words, the i’s national content is going to be repurposed into your local weekly, or more likely onto its website, very soon. PA-lite.
And much as I enjoy Minim’s studiedly curmudgeonly contributions, this morning’s is condescending and offensive.
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The problem is that most of the good “local”writers with experience have either quit JP in frustration at falling standards or were made redundant. JP is left mostly with the keen but green.
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Hear hear Brassington. Let’s not make the mistake of thinking local reporters are not as skilled as national ones. They just don’t want to be there; they want a life and are prepared to live on a lot less money to have one.
I used to meet three of even four deadlines a day on an evening paper A lot harder than next-day nationals and we often scooped them.
Having said all this, a lot of the writing talent and experience has jumped ship from JP and other groups in past few years, leaving only youngsters and those too old to look for another job.
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Dick Minim does have a point. A lot of copy written by local papers is abysmal. The difference is on JP weeklies in appears in the paper as written. Turds in national copy are polished by the subs. (yes, some papers still have them).
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Have I been excommunicated here? I’d just like to ask Brassington to stop bawling at me and point out that at least 90% of “London” journalists are provincials. If you want to meet a Lakeland poet, for example, try The Observer in King’s Cross. Oh well, this is my last attempt to get back into this thread. That’s all folks!
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I worked for TM for years and only knew three people from the regionals who ever ended up on the Mirror, most of them came from news agencies.
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I bid you farwell, Dick
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I don’t see why anyone is ‘bawling’ at anyone else here. The truth is, as usual, multi-faceted. Some regional/provincial journalists are good enough to work for the nationals and do (in my experience). Some aren’t. Some, like me, worked for a news agency (for the nationals) because they didn’t want to up sticks and shift their families to the Greater London area. Some provincial types are good enough, but can’t be bothered. The real issue here is the fate of the i now that JP have got it, as far as I’m concerned. So enough sniping, already.
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echo that echo.
I hope the i survives because it is a decent paper. But you don’t need to be a genius to see what JP have done to some once superb local papers in the chase for the digital buck.
Perhaps they are more interested in frying bigger fish now?
If so, prepare to see a lot of weeklies disappear.
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I don’t think making it to a national means you’re any better or worse than people who work on weekly or daily papers in the regions in all honesty.
It happens for a number of factors. In days gone by if your boss went they’d often take the staff they knew with them, few of my old bosses ended up at thew News of the World because they had mates who’d give them a job over the phone.
These days it’s mostly about being able to afford to live down there, I don’t know how anyone does it to be honest. You have to be subsidised in some way I imagine.
I’ve known some brilliant journalists in the locals, and some awful ones at nationals and vice versa, some people just like being happy – if you gave me the choice of turning the clock back and becoming a Fleet Street hack or news editing my local weekly paper at the height of its powers, I’d take the second option every time as it’s what I prefer, ‘community’ journalism is every bit as important as so called ‘big headlines’.
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Oh dear.
I’ve worked for both nationals and locals, and there really isn’t any contest.
It is a lot tougher to sustain work at a national newspaper, or even a website, than it is at a local.
More to the point, I have worked with some incredibly talented people at the nationals. Even the weakest of them, by rights, would walk into any local newsroom.
The locals on the other hand…
The vast majority of editorial management types have crossed the line between ‘local’ and ‘parochial’. Utterly unwilling to look at the bigger picture, and all too glad to take whatever crap they are thrown from their masters in the ad sales department.
Any decent local reporter moves onwards eventually. Those that don’t are usually lazy, egotistical or talentless.
Sorry, Brassed Off, but you’re a bitter little man sat in his flat oooooopp naaaarrrth and remembering the day when people still gave a monkey’s chuff about the Grimesdale Chronicle.
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Rather a generalisation there, Minim. You wouldn’t tempt me to work for a national, or live anywhere in London, for all the proverbial tea. You’re confusing talent with priorities.
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Wonderful ‘journalism’ from The Only Living Boy, SAT in his flat.
Glad I was on the ad side of the business.
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The Only Living Boy, SE14 is wrong on several counts.
Firstly, my name is Brassington, not Brassed Off.
Secondly, I don’t live in a flat oooooop naaaarth, nor do I wear a flat cap. I actually live down south in a very nice detached house, thank you.
Thirdly, I’ve never heard of the Grimesdale Chronicle.
Fourthly, his tirade sounds like an exercise in self-justification for living in a rat-hole like SE14.
Fifthly, and finally, had he worked in real journalism on a good provincial daily, he would have got his facts straight.
Now off you go and sub your latest outpouring of tripe about Kim Kardashian’s boobies.
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The only living boy.
Lazy locals by gum. I worked 60 hours a week (no overtime) trying to keep my badly staffed JP local up to some half-decent standard. I guess that just leaves talentless or egotistical to sum up my 30 years “career”.
On the other hand I once met someone who was once a really nice reporter on an evening paper with me. He was on the Mail by then, thought he’s made it big and had become an insufferable snob. Maybe that’s why some people stay away from the nationals.
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It’s bad enough having to endure the stupid decisions made by JP, but when they tell us about the wonderful opportunities, it simply adds insult to injury. Share prices still stand at 41p (or 0.82p before the multiplying by 50). Do they really think we’re that stupid?
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