Sharp differences over the role of newspaper websites dominated the debate at the Society of Editors conference in Glasgow today.
Derek Tucker, veteran editor of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, told the industry gathering that papers which created “all-singing, all-dancing websites” tended to see their circulations fall.
But media consultant Jim Chisholm insisted there was no evidence that newspaper circulations had been damaged by the rise of the internet.
And Darren Thwaites, editor of Teesside’s Evening Gazette, defended the policy of giving away news content for free, saying the priority was to grow the title’s audience both in print and online.
Speaking at a session entitled ‘It ain’t broke and we’re fixing it,’ Darren said he believed a bigger threat to circulation was the decline of traditional newsagents.
“We do give away our content for free and we are making money online,” said Darren, who revealed that the Gazette had made more than £1m from online advertising, part of £16m of overall online revenues for Trinity Mirror regional titles.
But Derek, who is stepping down as P&J editor in the New Year, said his priority was the printed product and he did not want to risk damaging that by giving away all content for free.
He said: “We have not sold our souls on creating an all-singing, all-dancing website. We have always adopted a stricter attitude to the industry norm.”
Derek said that not all P&J stories were uploaded to the newspaper’s websites, and none were uploaded before they had appeared in the paper.
He said his priority was the paying customers, either those buying the printed newspaper or those who subscribed to a PageSuite digital edition, and he would ensure they received content before people viewing the website.
Hartlepool Mail editor Joy Yates said: “Exclusive stories to the Hartlepool Mail will remain exclusive to the printed product. Anything that is in the public domain will go on the website.
“We are trying to make the two products very different so they sit side by side.”
Speaking earlier at a session entitled ‘What is our audience?’ Jim Chisholm said papers which did well on the internet were actually likely to have good circulations also.
Jim told the conference: “There’s no statistical evidence that the internet has damaged circulation more than any other factors. I have not been able to find any statistical evidence to show this is the case.
“It is the case that newspapers which do well on the internet do well with circulation.
“I know there’s a perception and the editors are saying their circulations are declining because of the internet but an editor’s view is not statistical fact.”
Mail online editor Martin Clarke also spoke up in favour of newspaper websites in a session entitled ‘Winning Online, saying: “Success online does not mean failure in print.”
However Martin admitted that if his web team brought in an exclusive story, it would go in the paper before it went online. “If you put an exclusive online, it’s only an exclusive for about thirty seconds,” he said.
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Good God Derek – never thought I would have seen you described as a ‘veteran’. Agree with you 100 per cent – print is print and people want it. Ever tried taking a laptop into the loo and read it?
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I think you’ll find iPads and Pods are easily accommodated in toilet cubicles and domestic bathrooms. Smartphones and androids adjust with equal comfort. I know what I’d rather have a new puppy relieving itself on, but if that’s our only niche then times really are hard.
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I know for sure that the internet affects print sales. I’ve stopped buying certain papers because the print edition is not sufficiently superior to the website to justify the expense. There must be millions more like me. Having said that, I believe a much bigger threat to regional newspaper circulations is the in-house accountant and the short-sighted MD whose only aim in life is to please the shareholders. For many years now, short-term profits have been placed ahead of editorial standards in management priority lists. If editors really want to see their papers prosper in the future, they must have the cojones to stand up to non-journalists in management who routinely demean the role of journalists and, in the process, undermine the quality of their publications. Recently, I have picked up one or two big regional evening papers that I knew 30 or 40 years ago. In those days, the multi-edition big city papers had substance and gravitas. Today, some are little more than features papers produced early in the day to catch what’s left of the readership. If does not take a Richard Dawkins to work out that, if you extract the best ingredients from a product, it will lose its appeal to customers. It’s time for editors to get a grip and impress on managements that declining editorial standards mean commercial suicide.
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MDs need to forget websites and save their papers before it is too late. The big problem was that no extra staff were put into web sites. Firms are trying to do it on the cheap.
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Traffic Chaos – need I say more? If you really want to take your iPad or smartphone into the loo that’s your problem. Hopefully, if you do it in public you will be arrested, charged and found guilty of simple stupidity. When do people such as yourself realise that print and web can exist side-by-side. One can complement the other – but not at the expense of either going under, which is obviously what you are hoping for. Just for your info – Derek and I started out together a long time ago. Bet you have a much shorter journalistic liftspan.
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