The editorial director of Trinity Mirror’s regional titles has moved to quell fears that staff could lose their jobs for failing to meet new web traffic targets.
Trinity Mirror is set to roll out plans for individual web audience targets for journalists in the New Year following a pilot project in the West Midlands.
The National Union of Journalists claims the move will undermine public interest journalism and encourage so-called “clickbait” and is balloting members on industrial action over the plans.
But Neil Benson, TM’s editorial director, regionals, says the project is about giving all journalists the skills to help build digital audiences, not getting rid of those who failed to meet their goals.
In a comment posted on HTFP’s report on the NUJ ballot, Neil said: “In one of our briefing sessions, it was asked if writers would be sacked if they fall short of their goals. The answer is no.
“This is about giving all of our staff the skills to build their appropriate share of the overall audience, to focus on creating content that is well read and encourages repeat visits, and to enable us to achieve the growth that will lead to a sustainable digital business.
“Audience goals will be reviewed monthly, with peaks and troughs in the news cycle taken into account. This is not about the figures for a single month but about writers producing content that reaches a worthwhile and growing audience consistently.
“The level of individual writers’ audience goals will vary depending on the beat being covered. Clearly, football stories are likely to generate more traffic than, say, council stories. That will be reflected in individual writers’ goals.”
Neil, pictured above, told HTFP that the rollout of the project would be accompanied by a training programme to ensure journalists had the tools to enable them to meet their targets, with newsdesks playing a key role.
He also insisted that while listicles, photo galleries and other “non-news” content would play a part in the content mix, they would not be the “dominant elements.”
He said: “As we have explained to our journalists and the NUJ, journalism – and, specifically, local news and sport coverage – will be at the heart of our content offering. These are our key strengths, they are what make us unique and they will be central planks in building a loyal, local audience.
“But to achieve our aim of being the turn-to digital source in the regions we cover, news and sport alone are not enough. We need to provide a raft of other content, from traffic and travel updates to ‘news you can use’ and non-news content that entertains and engages a substantial audience, stimulating them to return to our sites more frequently.
“So listicles, picture galleries and other light content have their place in the content mix but will not be the dominant elements.
“This is no different to the typical mix of content in any print edition, where non-local, non-journalism content is an important part of the total package.
The NUJ is balloting members at Trinity Mirror chapels in Birmingham, Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and North Wales over the company’s digital audience goals.
Ballot papers are due to go out today and tomorrow with the ballot remaining open for two weeks.
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Whatever you think of this – and it sounds reasonable to me – at least TM allows senior management to comment on HTFP. Perhaps NQ, JP and the utterly dismal Archant should take a leaf from this book.
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That may be what the top brass say, and even – let’s be charitable, it’s nearly Christmas – believe: but what the suits, sweating over their spreadsheets, will do when the word comes down from on high that economies have to be made is a different thing entirely. They’ll find some other pretext, of course, but we’re already seeing the axe swung disproportionately in the direction of older, more experienced and specialised reporters whose fields of expertise are more intrinsically important (eg. political reporters) but less entertaining to the proles, and this can only make things.
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If you were a Trinity hack falling short of your click target, would you be tempted to publish:
a) An incisive piece on a matter of local interest
b) A listicle, picture gallery or some vapid feature about I’m A Celebrity…
I think we all know the answer to that one. The lowest common denominators of the internet are cats, porn and celebs. If Trinity’s leaders think that its editorial content should be dictated by the number of clicks it can generate, then God help us all.
The best editors are the ones who, by dint of great journalism, convinced the public what they should be interested in; they didn’t merely capitulate to the idle curiosity of someone browsing the internet. In Trinity’s brave new world of online journalism, the tail is being encouraged to wag the dog.
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Steerpike: the cost savings for the next year have been precisely identified and published in the LW takeover deal document. It’s £3.2m for “content generation”, so staff know the axe will swing – it’s just a question of where.
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Yes, it’s good to see a senior editorial executive comment on a contentious issue, but there is more to this than meets the eye.
TM may not sack journalists for failing to meet web traffic targets (there might be legal issues if they did), but it is not modern management’s way to get rid of staff by direct sackings. The common method is to go in for a “restructure” with staff having to apply for newly created posts. HR then come up with “objective” criteria which editors have to use when compiling stay/go lists.
The TM pledge on web traffic targets would be more significant if it promised not to use them as criteria in future restructuring exercises.
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You don’t have targets if there isn’t a consequence for failure – so what is it, Neil?
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Worse.
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Just imagine asking if you can write a listicle about cats because you’re not meeting your figures. Will it get past newsdesk? No.
There’s a woeful lack of digital skills in today’s newsrooms, when everybody knows digital is the future of journalism. I can’t remember the last time I bought a newspaper.
While I agree this will identify areas where people need to improve, it will also give people a much needed kick up the backside where digital is concerned.
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“You don’t have targets if there isn’t a consequence for failure…”
That will come as news to the legions of newspaper MDs and their cronies across the UK.
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Targets that encourage reporters to fill the website with lowest common denominator drivel. You really couldn’t make it up.
Don’t hit the targets and we won’t sack you. Very generous. So, what will be the consequences for not hitting targets? If there aren’t any then there’s no need for the targets. Or have I missed something in the morass of nonsense spouted by Mr Benson?
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I’m the first to moan when publishers emit no comment, or worse, unfathomable comment. On this occasion, Neil B’s candid responses deserve a courteous nod.
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Will CAITLIN JENNER be at the Barnstable Village Fair this weekend? Probably not.
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It’s good to talk. So full marks to Neil Benson and TM for attempting to explain their latest ideas for developing their web presence.
This is a process that has been going on for the last 15 years, and the fact that we are still arguing over the pro and cons of the latest ideas is indeed sobering.
The truth is that we are no nearer to solving the riddle of exploiting the internet via a viable business model today, than we were 15 years ago.
All that has changed in the passing years is the increasing urgency of replacing dwindling print revenues.
How successful regional press companies are in that respect is extremely difficult to judge, but, anyway, the sustainability of any scheme that is dependent on something as fickle as the click of a million mice, in a million hands with a billion places to go must be open to some considerable doubt.
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The biggest problem is that measuring through clicks is a crap way to measure success. It just leads to clickbait and populist nonsense at the expense of worthwhile stories. This article from the Daily Beast is well worth a read. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/04/no-spooning-isn-t-sexist-the-internet-is-just-broken.html
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@Chris Rushton – Restructures are surely a nicer way to have someone leave the business rather than managers hound out people they don’t like, as done in the old days.
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The whole purpose of a target is to set expected levels of performance or delivery, so whilst someone may not be sacked for failure to achieve it will no doubt be part of a performance review or process which indirectly can be used as a stick to beat you up with and ultimately give reason to sack in any restructure or points scoring process when ones performance is being judged.
With cost savings on journalists salaries of £3.2 million they have to have a system of determining who will go and who will stay, this targeting fits the bill nicely.
If this is not the case there’s no point in having an individual target so why bother
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