A weekly editor has defended the publication of a four-page wraparound offering readers a free copy of the Koran.
John Elworthy, pictured left, who edits the Cambs Times, Ely Standard and Wisbech Standard, says he fielded around half a dozen phone calls and emails from readers after the wrap appeared on the front of the three titles two weeks ago.
The advert had been bought by a Luton-based organisation which offers free editions of the Islamic holy book to those interested.
Adverts from the organisation have previously featured in other newspapers owned by the trio’s parent company, Archant, over the last 18 months.
The wrap itself was entitled Who Is Muhammad?, and featured quotes from George Bernard Shaw, Mahatma Gandhi and others extolling the religion of Muhammad.
John admitted that some readers felt the wrap was not appropriate for a local newspaper but said he was “relaxed about the criticism.”
Said John: “The substantial majority of readers I don’t think batted an eyelid.
“There were one or two people who felt that a local newspaper shouldn’t necessarily be carrying a wrap of this kind. My view was then, and remains now, it was something that had been done in other local newspapers so we’re not the first to do it.”
John continued that the three newspapers didn’t often carry wraps and admitted it was “quite an interesting one”.
He added: “The service is available for any group or organisation and why wouldn’t we accept that advert?”
“It’s a little unusual for a local paper to position themselves with this sort of wrap. I’m quite relaxed about it.
“At the end of the day it’s a book and we neither endorse or attack it.”
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What’s all the fuss about? These ads have been appearing for ages, and they must work or the organisation concerned would not be persisting with them.
If people get hot under the collar about this, then what about ads for payday loan firms, dodgy massage parlours or even people who promise to deliver a pizza within 20 minutes and fail?
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Should local papers like John’s take wraps? No. Do they have to in the current economic climate? Unfortunately yes. Should those wraps be on subjects like religion, ethics, politics or morality? Ideally no, where do you draw the line? Pro or anti-abortion? Isis explained? Vote National Front? The glory of Scientology? Legal highs? In the end it will be a subjective call and actually I would far rather trust the Editor’s judgement than an ad director. Unfortunately it will be the latter who will decide. In this case, for the product, the wrap would have interested some readers (I would have read it) but the subject matter would have puzzled most people and stirred-up a few in a way that I am sure the Editor expected. Free Korans are no different to free Bibles, but I would prefer not to see either in a wrap on what should be a newspaper.
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Securing revenue from a wrap was probably met by shrieking whoops of delight in one department as the ad manager used a green pen to display a big tick on the white board and hand a bottle of Cava to Sharon for hitting her monthly target early.
I imagine the news was met in a slightly less enthusiastic manner within the editorial department.
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What’s to defend?
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‘Why wouldn’t we accept that advert?’ Er…because a high portion of your readership might find it inflammatory under the present hyper- sensitive conditions. Money talks but this was a very poor judgment call in my opinion. It’s naive by now for local newspaper editors not to be aware that Islam constitutes almost as much a political movement in the West as a religious one. Besides which, even I, as a Christian, find a wrap-around for the Koran tawdry and offensive on religious grounds.
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I’m sure that if somebody wanted to pay for a wraparound advertising free copies of The Bible, advertising departments would bite their hands off.
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Nobody would bat an eyelid if it was a wraparound for the bible. Double standards.
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My muslim friend who is female read the Koran after being told by the males don’t read it you wont understand it. She then went on to discover that a lot of what she had been told was in it wasn’t, ie dress modestly not covered head to toe. 5oo years ago when the bible was being translated from Latin in to English the same thing was happening they didn’t want the masses finding out that what the had been peddling as been in there was untrue. Of course we only have the word of the translators that what they have put is true. William Shakespeare is one believed to have translated even adding his own name in Psalm 46. Maybe if more people read the Koran and the Bible we would have a better understanding of ourselves and others
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As classified kid said, this has been going on for years. A friend of mine, who was editing a paper in the midlands, tells me his advertising dept at least had the grace to ask if he had any objections. He didn’t. Free speech and it paid the wages.
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Any idea how John and the Archant hierarchy plan to spend their 30 pieces of silver?
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Not sure if I’m missing something, but if someone doesn’t want a free copy of the Koran, can they just not ask for one, then, you know, get rid of the wraparound and read the rest of the paper?
Can you imagine the brouhaha if this was a copy of the Torah?
The most worrying thing about prejudice is it’s insidious, it starts off wit a mumble and ends with a scream.
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The right decision. Freedom of speech, absolutely. However, I can bet the likes of the NUJ would have been jumping up and down if an ad espousing an ideology that oppresses women and gays had come from another source.
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A weekly with an editor. Now there’s an endangered species…
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The final comment by Onlooker represents a view that makes the world a worse place to live in.
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Wisbech – twinned with Raqqa.
I oppose wraps on a matter of principle, but if you have to have one, then an advert for the Koran is no better or worse than one for a car dealership or a supermarket – and it’s much better than one for the local council.
And Onlooker’s stance is embarrassing.
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I buttonholed the CE of a well-known newspaper group on a visit (and to be fair this one did actually walk the shop floor) about what he thought of a wrap which hid a really great splash.
He turned to the local boss and asked what the advertiser (we buy gold, cash your giro, enslave your kids etc.) had paid for it. It was several thousand pounds.
‘I think that’s your answer’ he said.
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I don’t think the fact it is the Koran is relevant. It wouldn’t matter what text it was – a weekly paper is not the platform for a religious wrap. Of any kind. There is a difference between a car dealership and a religion and I find it strange that anyone would think otherwise.
Living in the circulation area of the Archant publication in question – it is extremely rural with a tiny minority of any sort (I should know, I am one before anyone accuses me of anything) and readers would be more interested in roadworks and other relevant news. They would not expect to have a faith presented to them in this manner across a so-called local paper. But it has achieved something – the Cambs TImes is back on HTFP. Again.
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I am no fan of wraps, just the opposite, and I doubt if the editor in question had much if any say in the matter. If he had objected he would undoubtedly have been put in his place by his MD/Publisher. Wraps turn off most discerning readers, especially in the case of paid-for editions. So with wraps it is a case of short term gain for long term pain – and most of us know that the top brass do not see any further ahead than the next set of monthly ad figures. Paper sales are not usually given much attention, as these were given up on long ago.
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Not a single one of you have got anywhere close to the point. Wraps are great. Love ’em on all my products, from free to premium paid-for. Controversial? Not a problem either. But which Muslim group in Luton bought it? That’s the question (and which quite shoddily isn’t answered) from the town/city that has spawned more radical Islamists than any other in the UK. At a guess and from past experience I’d say this was probably the Ahmadiyyans who are the best news (and hope) that British Islam has. They hand-delivered my mum a Christmas card in fact. That’s the peaceful Islam I’d be happy to live next door to. But if it is one of the Deobandi/Wahabi sects that dominate Luton and produced people like Anjem Choudary, Sayful Islam and Co, then no, there is no economic – or more importantly moral – justification. Just saying!
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Dear Danny Lockwood, try again. You seem pretty clued up on Muslim sects but your knowledge of English grammar is sadly lacking. Your comment should read: “Not a single one of you HAS got anywhere close to the point”. Until you learn to master the English, any point you make HAS no relevance – unless we are all forced to communicate in Urdu.
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‘Confused’ seems to have identified the real crux of this issue.
The CE asked the local boss how much the paper got for the wrap. When told thousands, he said: ‘I think that’s your answer.’
Taking that stance to its limit, it means the front page is also for sale.
So if Kelloggs offers you a fortune to make a packet of cornflakes your full-page ‘splash’ for the week, then you would naturally take it.
After all, short-term profit has for some years now been much more important than editorial principles.
The trouble is, once you start fiddling with the sacrosanct aspects of journalism, you are on the waterslide to oblivion.
The readers give up on you. Circulation dwindles. And guess what? The advertisers don’t see any point in advertising with you anymore.
Anyone with even a quarter of a brain can see this. But not the dummies who manage local newspapers.
For the record, how are sales going on these esteemed titles? Thought so…
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Danny Lockwood? ICYMI:
http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/tag/danny-lockwood/
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Digger: “Until you learn to master the English,”
“THE English”? Are you suggesting that Danny takes on the nation? Or are you just as incapable of stringing a sentence together as you think he is?
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