A deputy sports editor who has worked for a regional daily for 33 years has penned a farewell column for readers after being made redundant from the title.
Andy Goodall has worked at the Bournemouth Daily Echo since 1981, first as a printer then retraining as a journalist and working on the sports desk.
He has now left the title after being made redundant as part of the introduction of Newsquest’s Knowledge editorial system, which has also seen job losses at other newspapers.
HTFP reported earlier this month that up to 20 production roles could be lost at sister title the Southern Daily Echo as a result of the new editorial system.
Andy Goodall, left, chats to a former printing colleague.
Andy, 57, left the Daily Echo last week after penning a farewell piece for the paper looking back on his time there.
He told HTFP he had “no regrets” about leaving the paper and said he was glad to have remained there as long as he did.
Said Andy: “I’m glad that I kept ahead of the game for as long as I did. At least I stayed in employment for a good length of time.”
He said one of his highlights of his time there was a trip to cover the US Masters in Augusta in 1995, when a local golfer was competing.
Andy started out in newspapers at the age of 16 at the New Milton Advertiser as a printer then moved to the Bournemouth title at the age of 23 to work as a hot metal compositor.
In 1989, he retrained as a journalist when printing jobs at the title were being axed and a year later, he joined the sports desk where he spent 21 years as either sports editor or deputy sports editor.
Writing about his time at the Echo and the changes he has seen, he wrote: “Earlier this month, the latest phase of the technical revolution was introduced to Richmond Hill in the form of the Knowledge – an internet browser-based system of production.
“This most recent turn of the wheel of progress has led to the end of my own particular journey along the printing and journalism road.
“During the hot metal days there was a tradition known as the ‘banging out ceremony’ when a printer retired or moved to pastures new.
“Every available piece of metal was smashed against page stones and steel work benches. The heavy-metal racket could be heard at the top of Richmond Hill.
“I am sure my own departure will be a somewhat quieter affair, but a milestone nonetheless, as the last ‘survivor’ of the hot metal days leaves the building.
“I leave with no regrets, only a confidence in my former colleagues’ ability to continue to nurture the brand that is the Daily Echo across all the multi-media outlets at its disposal.”
Andy is now looking for other opportunities, possibly away from journalism.
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Ah, yes, those elusive “other opportunities”. We’ll all be looking for them before too long. Good luck, Andy.
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Andy is one of the good guys – although his own golf is rubbish…. :). Good luck, Andy.
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All credit to Andy for his dignified departure. Many could learn a lesson from this.
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I’ve never been a huge fan of sport personally but consider sports editors some of the most fascinating people I’ve ever met in the industry. Encyclopedic knowledge of their patches and a crucial hub around which many amateur leagues and organisations thrived. Our was such an editor but was sadly replaced by a content desk 10 miles away who neither knew, nor cared, anything about the patch.
The biggest tragedy in journalism isn’t just the loss of numbers, it’s the loss of knowledge and people who care about the people they serve. When such things stop being valued, it’s a sign of a wider problem – a society problem.
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Another ‘good guy’ lost from the industry. Hope everything works out Andy.
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Best wishes Andy
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Andy,
I may have such an “opportunity” – please call for a chat 07838 026009
Stewart
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Jeff Jones. Unlike you I love sport although news is my trade. It grieves me that so many local papers do not have sports editors any more, just some kid slopping press releases in the system 15 miles away. A friend of a friend rang his local to get a match covered and some girl in the office invited him to take a picture and write a report. I have seen this guy’s fuzzy Facebook photography and practical though he is he would never claim to be a writer. What he sent in was what went in, word for word, literals and grammar errors and he even forget to mention the score at the beginning! Do editors consider this professional production of quality newspapers?
Meanwhile the guys who could kick things into shape get kicked out.
Surely someone can see a better way forward?
Save Our Sport!!!
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Best wishes Andy – there is life outside newspapers!
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Foultackle, that’s basically how it works.
Advocates of digital make out that those of us who don’t like the industry are going are dinosaurs who just want to hold on to print, that’s not the case, what we want to hold on to are good journalists and good journalism. What’s wrong with that?
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I would urge anyone who hasn’t to watch Season 5 of The Wire about the decline of the Baltimore Sun. Prescient in the extreme.
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Jeff Jones you are right. It is NOT digital than people on HTFP are moaning about. It is the dreadful drop in standards that even junior management deems acceptable. Some kids do not even know they are writing crap. No-one tells them and plough on to next press release and proudly put journalist on their Facebook profile. Really, some of the stuff on my local website makes me embarrassed about the trade. But the paper is as bad. Why does it have to be like this? There must be some people left who know how to do the job properly.
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It all boils down to whether you value Andy’s knowledge, or Newsquest’s Knowledge.
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