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Editor's speech 'unhelpul' says journalists' body

The Chartered Institute of Journalists has voiced anger over a speech made by a daily editor to a government seminar on the future of regional journalism.

Express & Star editor Keith Harrison told a seminar at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport last week that rumours of the death of newspapers had been “greatly exaggerated” and that the industry was on the cusp of “a new era of publishing”.

But the CIoJ has described Keith’s remarks as “very unhelpful” in the context of efforts to persuade ministers to do more to help local papers.

Amanda Brodie, chairman of the CIoJ’s professional practices board, claims it was not the messagethat  those at the summit wanted to get across to MPs in attendance, including Culture Minister Ed Vaizey.

She said: “I was at this meeting too and there were very many serious concerns raised by attendees about the crisis facing our local press.

“We were all there to impress on MPs the importance of taking positive action to help safeguard our cherished local papers.

“But Mr Harrison’s view that all in the garden is rosy is not what we wanted to get across to MPs and was in fact very unhelpful.

“He is right that it is not all gloom and doom, but we do our profession no favours by pretending that the digital revolution will solve all our problems – no-one has yet worked out how to make it pay, for one thing.”

Other attendees at the meeting included John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture media and sport select committee, Leo Whitlock, editor of the Kentish Gazette, the Newspaper Society’s Santha Rasaiah, the Health Service Journal’s Shaun Lintern and representatives from the National Union of Journalists.

Keith has declined to comment further on the CIoJ’s remarks.

6 comments

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  • November 14, 2014 at 7:54 am
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    I must confess that I too didn’t understand which planet Keith Harrison was speaking from! After a lifetime in local newspapers I cannot believe they are now on “the cusp of a new era”. Just look at the sales figures over the past decade – nothing short of a disaster for the vast majority of papers. And whatever the bosses might say, there’s little sign of websites bringing in any decent profits.

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  • November 14, 2014 at 9:39 am
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    Maybe Keith’s comments come from the fact that the Midland News Association is doing pretty well, and the Express and Star is still the biggest selling regional daily in the country. Sure, cuts have been made, but knowing your readership, not having a massive re-design every five minutes and meeting advertisers’ needs goes a long way to having a healthy newspaper. from what I can see, the MNA is very print focussed, and not quite so web obsessed, maybe that’s a point for the rest of the industry to think about.

    Sounds to me like the CIOJ wanted to paint a sob story to squeeze more government money and concessions, hardly the way a free market should work.

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  • November 14, 2014 at 11:05 am
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    Give Keith Harrison his due as someone who is confronting these problems on a daily basis, trying to find solutions and seeking new digital revenue streams to fund journalism. Looking over the pond to America, where print is in even sharper decline, perhaps more vision is required all round and urgently.

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  • November 14, 2014 at 2:28 pm
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    The problem with the CIOJ and the NUJ is that because they spend so long looking back to their mythical glory years, they can’t cope with anything or anyone who looks forwards. The world has moved on and readers have moved on, but it seems they haven’t. I’ve read Keith’s speech and while only time will tell whether newspapers are dinosaurs heading for extinction, the unions that surround them most certainly are…

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  • November 14, 2014 at 4:02 pm
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    You were saying….
    Trinity Mirror has announced the closure of seven regional newspapers,

    All three of the publisher’s Berkshire titles – the Reading Post, GetReading and the Wokingham and Bracknell Times – are to close along with the Surrey Herald, Surrey Times, Woking Informer and Harrow Observer.

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  • November 15, 2014 at 8:03 am
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    In response to RW of Shropshire, the CIoJ supports anything that helps safeguard the future of local newspapers, and after this meeting we gave Mr Vaizey a briefing document with some positive suggestions for steps in that direction.
    Digital has brought with it some exciting new avenues for local newspapers to move towards – it is not all doom and gloom. But our point was that, in this particular context, it was not helpful to suggest the digital revolution is a cure-all.
    It is still the case that the majority of income for local papers derives from print versions of its business. By the time that model is reversed, it will be too late for many of our local papers, as yesterday’s news from Trinity Mirror shows.
    Amanda Brodie,
    Chairman, Professional Practices Board,
    Chartered Institute of Journalists

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