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Old-style court reporter axed after 54 years

A freelance who has covered Norwich Crown Court for the city’s daily papers for more than half a century has been told her services are no longer required.

Maureen ‘Mo’ Huggins, who still uses a typewriter to bash out her stories and a fax machine to send them over, says the decision by publisher Archant Norfolk is the “final nail in her coffin.”

Mo, who single-handedly runs the Norfolk Courts Press Agency, has been largely dependent on the Archant-owned Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News for her income in recent years.

But she has now received a letter from the company’s new senior content editor Peter Hannam informing her that her copy will no longer be used.

The letter states: “For many years you have supplied copy for the newspapers here, mainly from court and inquests, and we have been very thankful for your help. But, as the saying goes, all good things come to an end.

“I am writing to you formally to say that from the end of this month we will no longer be taking courts and inquests copy from you.

“On a personal level I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to you for what you have done over the years.

“But with our new team and in the current economic climate we will in future sort out these stories from within our own resources.”

Mo said today that despite the blow she was determined to carry on working until next September when she will complete 55 years in journalism.

“Receiving the letter is the major final nail in the coffin really,” said Mo, who also files copy to BBC local TV and radio, and papers in East Anglia owned by newspaper groups other than Archant.

Mo said the Press Association had also stopped using her, in her view because of her policy of not using a computer to file.

But she added: “I won’t touch computers. They are the death knell of journalism. They kill off jobs. I used one once many years ago and always had trouble with them.”

Mo now says she plans to write a book about her career in journalism. “Then all the local papers will probably come and interview me,” she added.

Commenting on the decision, EDP editor Peter Waters said: “Because of our move to a new integrated news team recently, we now have the capacity within our own team to cover stories from Norwich Crown Court, such as those previously supplied by freelancers like Maureen, and we will be doing so.”

Comments

biter (11/09/2009 15:08:44)
Amazing that after the recent round of editorial redundancies that Archant have magically found new reporters to cover courts and inquests.
Who is the editor? Derren Brown?

Jim (11/09/2009 15:18:06)
It’s amazing Mo’s lasted this long still using a typewriter. Pity the poor soul who ends up having to scan/type her memoirs.

Hannah (11/09/2009 16:13:32)
Strange that she’s been a journalist for this long and is against progression. There’s old school, and then there’s just making more work for yourself.

Sack the Sub (14/09/2009 10:16:45)
Jesus wept – who subbed this story……how many errors are there?!?!?!?!?
As for Mo – well, I’m sure the poor larinkin who had to type out her stories from smudged fax pages is very relieved…..until Archant make him/her redundant as well cos their services are no longer needed!!!

Chris Youett (14/09/2009 10:20:00)
Mo has a point: if I could throw out computer page design at any evening paper and go back to hot metal, I would be able to get in breaking news as late as 2:00 pm. This would quickly reverse circulation declines.

Alan Salter (14/09/2009 10:36:33)
You have to wonder about someone who won’t use a computer but… “But, as the saying goes, all good things come to an end.”!!! One would hope that the new senior content editor is dismissed a little more tactfully.

ANON (14/09/2009 11:20:14)
AS Biter says, lucky old Archant. Most papers are now so desperately short of staff that court isn’t worth the time
Remains to be seen how those papers Mo supplied actually cover the courts.
Can anyone still afford to have a reporter sitting court for six hours or so for a 400 word story?
People like Mo might be missed after they are gone.

stewart perkins (14/09/2009 11:21:11)
Commiserations, and good luck to Mo for the future. My overwhelming memory of starting in journalism 40 years ago was of a colourful world within a world packed with bizarre and fascinating characters, and occasionally outrageous behaviour. The long liquid lunchbreaks picking up stories and pictures and renewing contacts were completely indefensible, of course. A Subway sandwich savoured while re-writing a press release in front of a screen is undeniably a superior and sensible way of working.

sack the sub sacker (14/09/2009 11:25:50)
Sack the Sub would make more sense if he could spell himself – does he mean larrikin, or can he tell me what a larinkin is?