A group editor has defended one of his titles against claims that it is “out of touch” after it failed to splash on the Olympic torch relay coming to its patch.
More than 20,000 people lined the streets of Brighouse, West Yorkshire, last week as the relay passed through the town.
But although the Brighouse Echo devoted four inside pages to the event, it chose to splash on a story about a local butcher’s shop closing down.
The decision by the Johnston Press-owned title provoked a flurry of comments on Twitter, with reactions to the move ranging from “odd” to “appalling.”
Among the critics was photographer Robbie Jay Barratt who Tweeted: “I do not understand how such an event like that cannot be on the front page.”
Adrian Hartshorn, founder of hyperlocal site www.calderdaleguardian.com, praised the paper’s coverage of the torch event, but said they “got it wrong” over the front page.
Another reader calling themselves ‘Brighouse247′ linked the move to the decision earlier this year to axe the Echo’s long-serving editor Stephen Firth and put the title under the Halifax Courier.
He directed a Tweet to that effect at @ashleyhi – the Twitter feed for JP chief executive Ashley Highfield.
Courier editor Tim Robinson, whose brief now includes the Echo, told HTFP the readers’ comments would be taken on board.
He said: “The Olympic torch relay was a fantastic event for Brighouse. We moved TV off the centre spread of the paper to give more prominence to the four full pages of coverage we carried which pictured many, many people.
“There was a page of readers’ photos of the event, and it appeared on the Echo’s letters page. We have done the same with the fantastic Brighouse Gala this week, which had a similar attendance.
“If some readers felt we could have gone bigger with this coverage, that’s a fair point. There’s lots going on in the town and as always the Brighouse Echo is giving plenty support.
“We would like to think the pages of previews and maps and coverage we carried for the torch relay, the Gala and Pro-cycle Race last week through the town have played a part in their success.
“What goes on page one is of course, always a matter of judgment and it is good that some readers express their views, which of course we will take on board.”
Here is a selection of some of the Tweets:
Simon Loker @simonloker
@brighouse247 @ashleyhi jones the butcher could have waited a week. Biggest day in the towns history and not a headline. Pathetic
Jo Bratley @jmbratley
@ashleyhi totally agree with @brighouse247 < it’s appalling one of the great events Brighouse has held this year and that’s the headline!
Robbie Jay Barratt @robbieborat
@brighouse247 haha! Seriously though, I do not understand how such an event like that cannot be on the front page. The turn out amazing.
Huddersfield 247 @Huddersfield247
@Howson_Halifax @brighouse247 Brighouse turned its high street into a sports field for a day and it gets page 33? Only town in UK to do it!
Andrew Howson @Howson_Halifax
@brighouse247 Don’t blame you. All the hard work put in by everyone concerned ignored. Examiner had it on front page.
rob ackroyd @robackroyd
@Brighouse_Echo @brighouse247 how can a so called local paper be so out of touch to not have the Olympic torch and 20k people on front page
Brighouse @Brighouse247
So @ashleyhi when you axe a local newspaper’s editor & office this is what happens when once in lifetime event happens
BuyItInBrighouse @BrighouseShops
@Echo_Michaela @brighouse247 @adrianhartshorn @brighouse_echo 20,000 people in Brighouse, why wasn’t Olympic Torch front page?
HarrisonLordGallery @HarrisonLordArt
@AdrianHartshorn @Brighouse_Echo @BrighouseShops Coverage by Ian of Olympic event & pics excellent, but which editor puts pies on cover?
Adrian Hartshorn @AdrianHartshorn
@HarrisonLordArt @Brighouse_Echo Yes they got it wrong but its still a great paper. Don’t give Johnson Press an excuse to axe it
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Also nice to see the ‘hangs up apron’ cliche trotted out to.
And using the town’s name in the splash headline… jeez.
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People will whinge about anything. If it took the first five pages up it would have been classed as overkill. Take no notice, especially of clowns who criticise behind the veil of Twitter. Those people comment on anything and everything and should not be taken seriously. I also don’t know how long after the event the paper was published. Could have been splashed everywhere by then. There are probably just as many people, like myself, who have been underwhelmed by the procession of the torch and the money-making exercise the Olympics are. Love the sport, loathe the advertising. And of course, if you are content, you don’t comment. Well done, ed, for having the b@lls to do something different.
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Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, but there was brilliant coverage of the event inside the paper with 4 pages devoted to it without an ad in sight! Brighouse is a great place with lots happening and with whats happening within Johnston Press (which only those who work for the company really know about), its a minor miracle that the Brighouse Echo remains a fantastic product. I know from hands on experience how much hard work goes in to producing the paper and the whole team should be applauded for this. The torch was a great event, but for people to tweet about boycotting the paper – come on, get a life!
The Echo will continue to represent the local community to the best of it’s ability. Local businesses and the general public should embrace such a good local product. What’s the saying? “You don’t know what you’ve got until its gone?” Food for thought?
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I can only assume that the butcher supplied some special stuff to the Echo team to knock that week’s biggest story in town off the front page.
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Conrgatulations Mr Robinson on your sense of perspective re the Oympic torch b*****s.
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Staggeringly bad and indefensible editorial judgement. I’m no great Olympics fan and the torch procession fanfare baffles me too – but 20,000 readers can’t be wrong!
And to overlook it for a butcher’s retirement is beyond belief. He’s so well known in the town that the paper even has to tell readers he’s from Brighouse in the splash headline! Pathetic.
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I’m completely underwhelmed by the Olympic torch thing, couldn’t be arsed to see it in my home town, that’s for sure.
However, this is a really weak splash, that would be my objection.
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Well done Editor. The whole process has been over-hyped. The only decent thing was the Torvill and Dean participation at Nottingham ice rink, which of course all the locals wanted to see anyway.
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I once got criticised for not splashing on Princess Diana’s death when a much bigger local story broke the week after she died.
Now, like then, people lost their sense of perspective.
But criticism is good – at least it shows that there are still readers out there who care about their local papers.
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Observer, do you want to sell newspapers or not? It doesn’t matter that you don’t get the attraction. What matters is that your readers do!
I also agree with you over the mass hysteria over Diana. But your duty as an editor is to cash in and exploit such commercial opportunities when they present themselves.
It’s a no-brainer. The public decide for you. Only a fool would go against the flow in such circumstances.
You’re pig-headed approach let down your community, your employer and your staff – as the more you sell, the safer they are in their jobs.
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Maybe it’s because the Echo comes out a day before the “new-look” weekly Courier and Mr Robinson didn’t want to be scooped by one of his own. That would really stick in his craw. I think that’s a likely explanation, since staff from all the Calderdale titles now share the same newsroom
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Olympic torch………yawn….yawn….zzzzz
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Would be useful if HTFP let us know whether the four-page Olympic special was blurbed in any way? It doesn’t appear to have been, although we can’t see the whole of the front page. I can’t agree with the choice of splash. I mean, how many customers did the butcher have? 20,001? But if the torch coverage was given a prominent blurb and maybe a front page picture too, you could start to understand the thinking. Otherwise, this is simply embarrassing…
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The torch event was plugged on the front page, with a picture. And the butcher story revealed that he never got over the fact that one of his employees had been killed in an explosion at the pie-making factory in Huddersfield – the likely reason for him “hanging up his apron”. So it was a human interest story, and news.
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Plugged? Where? Certainly not with the same prominence as ‘Pets Win Prizes’ and a dining card offer. Why give up four pages to the torch and then announce it with a whimper? Objectively – for 20,000 good reasons – it was an error of judgement. They butchered that front page…
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… and if the butcher story “revealed that he never got over the fact that one of his employees had been killed in an explosion at the pie-making factory in Huddersfield – the likely reason for him ‘hanging up his apron'” then the reader should have been made aware of this in the headline or a sub-head. Basic stuff…
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Scribbler, when you are in a hole, stop digging. It was a monumental error of judgement and you’re trying to excuse the inexcusable.
And by the way, if you think the butcher’s retirement was so riveting, why use the dullest and most inept headline and strapline imaginable? It fails on every level.
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I think the editor will now regret his decision but we’re all human – and most in newspapers today are working under such pressure that the time to sit down and evaluate news, making the kind of value judgments we used to in editorial meetings etc just isn’t there. Sometimes snap decisions turn out to be misguided.
I once edited a paper in a town the Queen visited and, although we had a full front page, plus eight inside pages dedicated to the event, it still wasn’t enough for some people. In hindsight I’d have stripped out a lot of the regular items and virtually filled it with Royal Visit photos. But others would have complained about that as well! You live and learn.
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It was a real error to use a stock photo big on P1 instead of fresh pix of the torch. Still, people are right, it’s in the past. Moving on, this week’s spread on Brighouse Gala looks really dull in appearance, lacks sparkle.
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… come on now, in connection with all other JP titles the Echo fills from the back so the torch relay took its place in the paper because of the day it happened using inflexible, templated layouts – you gets what you pays for.
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