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Rising web hits not matched by rising sales warns editor

Dave WhaleyA regional editor gave a gloomy prognosis of the future of print publishing saying increased web hits on stories were not being matched by rising print sales.

Speaking on day two of the Society of Editors conference, Oldham Chronicle editor Dave Whaley joked that print had been seen as something of a “swear word” at the gathering so far.

He said that while print continued to be responsible for 90pc of the Chronicle’s revenues, circulation was “diving.”

According to the latest ABC figures, average daily sales of the Evening Chronicle fell 14pc year on year in the period January to June to stand at 7,343.

Said Dave, pictured: “We ran a story last week that generated 20,000 hits on our website, but no rise in sales.  How sad is that?”

Dave also spoke up in favour of outsourced subbing, having previously made nine production, pre-press and advertising staff with combined service of 275 years at the paper redundant.

The paper is now subbed and laid out at Newsquest’s production hub in Newport, Wales.

He said: “We lost nine experienced and senior staff in the changes. That was heart-breaking and I hated every minute of it, but it had to be done.”

But Doug Wills, managing editor of the London Evening Standard, said his title, which was on the brink of closure eight years ago, showed print still had a future.

“I think we’re in danger of talking ourselves into a crisis,” he told delegates.

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The conference in Carlisle resumed this morning with a panel discussion on new newsroom tools and technologies.

Opening the session, Pete Clifton, editor in chief of the Press Association, said the agency had rolled out social media training for all its journalists and invested in new equipment such as drones and 360-degree cameras.

Pete also revealed that the agency is planning to use so-called ‘robot’ journalists to produce football and election results and short market reports in the near future.

And he said he had overseen a revamp of the agency’s video output since taking on the post 18 months ago.

“Video was our biggest basket case quite frankly. We’ve done video for years but it wasn’t very good,” he said.

He said the 360-degree camera had been used in filming at the Jungle refugee camp in Calais while drone footage from the set of BBC drama Poldark in Cornwall had been viewed 2m times.

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Society of Editors chairman Bob Satchwell thanked regional editors for lobbying MPs about the dangers of plans to force publishers to pay both sides’ legal costs in libel and privacy actions.

Editors have warned that the proposed new legislation, described by Bob as “draconian,” could be the “final nail in the coffin” for the regional press.

Last year, the former culture secretary John Whittingdale decided to delay bringing in Section 40, which was originally designed to encourage publishers to sign-up to a system of state-sponsored press regulation.

However Santha Rasaiah, legal, policy and regulatory affairs director for the News Media Associated, said that there was now “real pressure” on his successor Karen Bradley to introduce the measure.

Incoming SoE president Ian MacGregor told delegates:  “These plans mean that you will ber liable to pay the costs of someone who takes you to court claiming breach of privacy or defamation even if they lose.

“We must ensure that the new Secretary of State Karen Bradley does  not go ahead with this.”

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NCTJ chairman Kim Fletcher admitted he has had “sleepless nights” over the issue of whether too many journalists were being trained.

But in answer to a question about the issue, he added: “The number of journalism opportunities are expanding in different ways.  People are finding employment, but in different roles.”

His comments came as Doug Wills announced the creation of a new ‘editorial diversity bursary scheme’ at the Evening Standard designed to ensure newsrooms are more reflective of the areas they serve.

The scheme will see four apprentices complete a 20-week fast-track NCTJ journalism course at Wembley Stadium as part of a two-year contract at the Evening Standard and independent.co.uk.

15 comments

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  • October 18, 2016 at 1:48 pm
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    He said: “We lost nine experienced and senior staff in the changes. That was heart-breaking and I hated every minute of it, but it had to be done.”
    Actually, no it didn’t.
    Well, with the greed of the bosses, the money owed to the banks and the desire to pay shareholders 30 per cent dividends probably mean he’s right.
    But what about quality journalism? Giving readers a great reason to buy the paper? And when an editor says that, in effect, giving copy to people for free is responsible for just 10 per cent of revenues, isn’t that clear, plain and simple language to show the bosses they’ve shot themselves in the foot?

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  • October 18, 2016 at 10:00 pm
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    Video
    Drones
    360 degree cameras and heavens above ” robot journalists !”
    Yes, it sounds like the regional press and local journalism has a really positive future

    Then shock horror “web hits are not being converted into newspaper sales”
    ….it took an editors conference to tell us this sensational fact?

    We aren’t ‘talking ourselves into a crisis’ this just shows us we are well and truly in one

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  • October 19, 2016 at 7:28 am
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    The leaders of the industry get together. It’s reported here. Nobody bothers to comment. Why is that?

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  • October 19, 2016 at 9:58 am
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    @Harry Blackwood: Is it possibly because we’ve heard it all before and are getting thoroughly sick of trotting out all the old points which nobody in (so-called) authority listens to?

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  • October 19, 2016 at 10:16 am
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    So Doug Willis of the Evening Standard thinks “we’re in danger of talking ourselves into a crisis”.

    I’ve got news for you Doug: You are already in a crisis. When a newspaper in a town the size of Oldham can muster fewer than 7,500 copies sold – that’s a crisis that no number of drones, 360-degree cameras nor social media training can ever hope to repair.

    That senior editorial executives are still in denial of a crisis that was born almost 20 years ago is one of the most depressing facets of the deepeningly depressing saga that is the demise of the British regional press.

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  • October 19, 2016 at 10:34 am
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    I’ll tell you why. I made an accurate, reasoned comment the other day. It was deleted. Why do we bother?

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  • October 19, 2016 at 11:43 am
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    If this is the best the editors can come up with then no wonder they’re a rapidly endangered species.
    Had some/ most not agreed to all the ridiculous top down commercially driven strategies and short term cost cutting at the expense of quality,and stood up for what was right as opposed to what their bosses wanted to hear,then they would have realised the industry is in rapid decline and they themselves are in the firing line now much of the editorial flesh has bee stripped from the bone.
    Many are either hanging on in to see out their days or are in complete denial of the real situation, to come out with this kind of drivel shoes just how out of touch many if not all of them are.
    Oh and Dave if it was that painful and you “hated every minute of it “you could have walked away

    The editor is dead long live the content curator

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  • October 19, 2016 at 2:57 pm
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    Surely the editor cannot have just noticed there is no correlative between web “hits” and newspaper sales?

    Actually there is: when people can read it for free on the internet they become less inclined to buy your paper.

    But this is scarcely a revelation..

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  • October 19, 2016 at 3:22 pm
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    @echo you’re dead right. Which is why I get annoyed when perfectly valid comments are deleted. Nothing defamatory or libellous and very reasonable.

    The vast majority of editors are more concerned with keeping themselves in a job than being journalists and doing the right thing. That is one of the reasons the industry is in such a state.

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  • October 19, 2016 at 3:52 pm
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    Sadly “bluestringer” i believe the majority of editors HAVE just realised that popularity on social media sites is not only pointless and of no value its actually counter productive.Its just a shame that so much damage has been allowed to happen pretty much unchallenged on their watch which has brought the industry to its knees when part of their role was and always has been to be the guardians of their paper,staff and readers, without embracing that basic part of the job they are allowing themselves to become a defunct specis,despite as Harry says, putting their own survival at the top of their list of priorities.
    What a shame it took an editors conference to lift the scales off their eyes,be interesting to watch what they do now the penny has dropped

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  • October 20, 2016 at 10:51 am
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    SS Johnnie – totally agree with you on the editors’ ‘turkeys voting for Christmas’ syndrome.

    I imagine what most of them will do is hold on for as long as possible for a nice, healthy, pay-off.

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  • October 20, 2016 at 1:17 pm
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    @South side Johnnie

    I don’t think anything will happen now, no matter how many pennies drop.

    The newspaper industry is in the hands of a digital worshiping cult who subscribe to the “web first” mantra and will carry on doing so until they find something more interesting to do at Microsoft or Google.

    But by that time the regional press will be in its final death throes.

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  • October 20, 2016 at 1:19 pm
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    I still can’t believe I’m reading comments, such as those from bluestringer and south side johnnie, which suggest that the decline in sales is due to social media and ‘giving news away for free’. You’ve always given news away for free! Newspaper sales barely cover the cost of print and distribution for most papers, with some city-based exceptions. It’s the market place and user behaviour which is now very different and social media etc plays a massive part in retaining some awareness of your news organisation. Without it, you would have become irrelevant years ago!

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  • October 20, 2016 at 2:12 pm
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    Oh bore off Oliver with your “I can’t believe I’m reading these comments” shtick.

    I know precisely how much it costs to print and distribute newspapers.

    I also know that if print sales continue to decline at the present rate there will be no regional or local papers left within ten years.

    Yeah social media is fabulous at “raising awareness” of my “news organisation” – but it ain’t going to pay the rent.

    And so far as I can tell, no one yet has worked out how to fix that particular conundrum.

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  • October 23, 2016 at 10:58 pm
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    bluestringer, if you knew so much, you’d have realised years ago that the sales of newspapers are no longer that important. There has always been a mix of paid-for, part paid-for and free newspaper models but they all fundamentally survive on one thing… advertising.

    And so what if local newspapers disappear? It doesn’t mean that local news stops happening! Maybe it will take that much for the regionals to let go and for locally-owned digital start-ups enter the marketplace.

    As for making money, you cannot have failed to notice that the primary sources of referrals to local news websites are Google and Facebook (if you’re struggling to keep up, one’s a bit more search and the other a bit more social media but they can do both). These bring you page views and, in turn, create impressions on the adverts which are paid for, often by the volume of clicks. This generates income!

    Now, I could talk about the ins and outs of the terrible regional business model behind this but it is what we currently have… and guess what? It’s the only GROWING revenue stream. No, it’s not filling the void of print advertising but there will become a point where it will pay the rent for a new or evolved business model.

    I’m honestly fed up with the same old comments about anything digital-related. It’s like Groundhog Day! Our industry is, and has always been, about selling news, not bits of paper!

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