Hundreds of journalists are facing an uncertain future this Christmas after a round of job losses that has affected the entire regional press industry.

One of them is Dave Siddall, who has taken voluntary redundancy from his post as news editor of the Whitehaven News as part of a series of cutbacks by his parent company, Cumbrian Newspapers.

Writing for HoldtheFrontPage, Dave, pictured left interviewing Defence Secretary John Hutton, described his departure from the paper as “gut wrenching” but said he is trying to see it as “an opportunity rather than a setback.”

Here is his story.

The old saying is a recession is when a neighbouring newsroom suffers cuts and a depression is when your own team gets the chop.

Well we knew Cumberland Newspapers was suffering in the ad revenue downturn but it still came as a pre-Christmas shock to learn that my post as news editor and two subbing jobs were in the firing line.

As NUJ Father of Chapel I knew it was better that a silver-haired senior like myself went rather than my younger colleagues still facing large mortgages, so I put my hand up and took the voluntary redundancy terms.

I would add you don’t have much room to manoeuvre when you’re on that wobbling gangplank. With some modest pension provision still held in the recently closed off company final salary scheme I decided to jump before pushed. That only leaves the need to fill a worrying void until aged 65.

It meant a gut wrenching departure from a great team of work colleagues at the Whitehaven News but it has to be taken as an opportunity rather than a setback.

Therefore I will be expanding a few website projects I had been running for charities and the community. With luck the sites can develop and perhaps the web can become what advertising was for ITV in sunnier times….a licence to print money. At least with the wonder of the web you don’t need to invest in gargantuan press halls to reach your public.

Already I have managed to get my Whitehaven.org.uk at the top of the Google hit so hopefully I am heading in the right direction! Another site that has worked well is my www.lakestay.co.uk that helps tourists coming to the superb English Lake District. It was those same mountains that first drew my family and I away from Merseyside 35 years earlier.

Alongside the web projects I will also be offering any freelance cover needed in West Cumbria perhaps utilising my specialist knowledge of the workings of Sellafield….an enterprise that taps into more taxpayers’ cash than a dozen Northern Rocks.

Whatever happens I will miss the great team spirit in the newsroom at the Whitehaven News and one day we may solve the mystery to us all as to why my post was in the firing line when the Whitehaven News has kept the highest household readership of the entire CN Group.

You often get asked at these times ‘what was your best recent exclusive?’ Well I might reply it was when New Labour political correctness almost saw a woman who worked as a Parisian prostitute selected to stand for Jack (now Lord) Cunningham’s Copeland constituency. Such a selection could well have been no bad thing for modern politics!

PS Don’t forget to check out the entertaining and quirky www.lakestay.co.uk. Perhaps you could even leave a message on my blog!

Comments

Paul Webb (23/12/2008 11:10:22)
Dave’s case lacks impact because he omits an essential element – his age. We would have been given a better perspective of his situation if he had thought to include it. I’m 64 years and seven months – and I’m finishing at the end of the year – a clear picture of my situation.

Chris Youett, Esq, (23/12/2008 15:01:17)
I can understand Dave’s decision, but he was wrong to go. The reason why traditionally most firms use the “last in-first out” for deciding redundancies is because younger staff are the most likely to walk into new jobs. I have been on both sides of the fence and have seen this for myself. Also, we need experienced silver-haired hacks to help the younger ones get properly trained.