Theatre reviews still have a place in local newspapers despite the introduction of digital audience targets, a regional press training chief has argued.
Paul Wiltshire, regional editorial trainer for Local World, said it would be a “sad day indeed” if such reviews fell by the wayside as newspapers attempt to meet web traffic targets.
Paul spoke out after leading a discussion on the 21st century digital newsroom as part of a management development programme, during which the idea of “quality over quantity” in newspaper content was discussed.
During the discussion, some participants argued that newsrooms’ “limited firepower” should be refocused away from writing pieces that “only attract a few hundred pairs of eyeballs”.
Writing on his personal blog, Paul said: “So where does that leave theatre reviews, a features journalist asked? I’ve never seen one make the dizzy heights of an analytics leaderboard.
“And yet, reviews offer a direct route to a highly dedicated, local media audience. The people involved tend to be indigenous locals, who by their very nature have sunk roots into their communities.
“Those reviews offer the potential to tick the traditional goldmine box of plenty of names, as well as the potential for engaging, entertaining and incisive writing.”
“Not only that, but these performances – even those in draughty village halls – can be attended by more people than turn up for plenty of the sports fixtures we cover.”
Paul added: “We face some very difficult choices in our ongoing battle to find a new digital audience. And it is right that we take a long, hard look at some of what my friend (former Northern Echo editor) Peter Sands has called the ‘dull, filler material’ that is the mortar between too many of our story bricks.
“But it would be a sad day indeed if we were to bring the curtain down on an aspect of our entertainment coverage that can provoke so much passion.”
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I disagree
In my experience,most theatre reviews in the regional press are of the star struck “wow a soap star/ex film actor is appearing at a theatre near me” variety where the aim is to keep in with the theatre ( to ensure a steady flow of “reviewers” tickets ?) rather than the kind of honest critique more commonly found in the nationals.
With regional press groups after every last penny of ad revenue they can grab,its not in their interest to upset or fall out with the local theatre owners hence copy tends to be light fluffy and non critical,no matter how good or bad the performance might be and thus serving no real beneift to the reader other than to give the theatre and show a hefty free plug. I doubt many readers take them seriously as journalistic reviews,more PR pieces so until they are less biased and more honest,they wont be seen as valued by readers and certainly won`t attract click bait and will never positively affect web traffic figures.
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The same principle applies to restaurant reviews.
In the national press these can be scathing but I do not ever recall reading a truly critical review of a restaurant/pub in a regional paper.
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Clearly you never read my restaurant reviews, Rupert. I wrote several scathing ones, leading to apoplectic phone calls from restaurant owners.
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Not all local reviews are puffs. I recall an excellent local reviewer being banned several times for scathing (though honest and true) comments. His reasoning was that if people pay to see something its performers are open to criticism at whatever level.
I believe some so-called regional papers now employ small armies of unpaid “critics” only too glad to have a free night out to fill the gaping holes in staff levels.
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I have to agree with Rupert Bear, I’ve read some real stinker reviews in my time. Two that spring to mind was: “I have never eaten in a Michelin starred restaurant before, so I curious to know what it would be like….” I wasn’t enough to continue reading.
The other began something like “Muhammad Ali was a famous boxer but this Muhammad’s curries are a knock-out…” (that’s from memory, I actually think the original was even worse).
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Theatre review? Haven’t seen one of those on my patch for some time. JP consolidated the local ents reporter into one regional role. I don’t like reading reviews of some show 30 miles away.
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For many years I was responsible for reviews on a big city daily. The owners, Trinity, decided they could no longer afford the £35 or so we were paying experienced and authoritative freelances for their theatre reviews. Instead, everything had to be done in house by reporters who were already hard-pressed and in many cases lacked the necessary enthusiasm or expertise.
Result: poor reviews, a further loss of respect for the newspaper among intelligent readers, another nail in the coffin for the regional press.
A similar thing had happened years previously when the newspaper ditched its folk music column, in spite of vociferous protests from that community, just to save a few quid.
I’m not saying decent theatre reviews and columns catering to minority interests such as folk music would have stopped declining circulations, but when you add all the other such penny-pinching, short-sighted decisions together, you begin to understand how the industry has not exactly earned the loyalty of those rapidly disappearing readers.
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Just to throw in a dissenting (sort of) voice, my experience is that one has a limited degree of freedom with theatre and arts reviews in the regional press.
I’ve worked for three papers in my ten years as a journo, two weeklies and a city daily, and have done my fair share of write-ups in that time.
Now admittedly, I’ve found you can’t be totally scathing about any production, even if it’s a massive shower of the proverbial brown stuff.
However, I’ve always been allowed plenty of scope for constructive criticism. Most of my “negative” reviews have been a fair summary of my feelings but couched very, very politely – a t*rd rolled in glitter, if you will.
Frankly, it detracts from the credibility of a paper’s arts offering if every review consists of nothing but wide-eyed praise.
Restaurant reviews, on the other hand, are just advertorial. I recently had to write about a curry house that was reasonable enough but ultimately generic. Unfortunately, given that the proprietor had paid for the… ermmm… “review”, I had to be a little more glowing.
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I really believe there is no place in a modern media publication for this type of pointless review piece for the reasons the first poster mentions.
Even the smallest am op and dram amateur production is only of interest to those directly involved and who delight in seeing their names in print and that’s not enough to stimulate sales or interest to the general reader,as such it only adds to the outdated and parochial feel of most of the country’s regional papers.
Back in the day when a daily or weekly was a traditional purchase and when pagination wasnt an issue,this type of review piece could justify inclusion,however with most papers fighting to find an audience and to appeal to those prepared to buy copies and keep them coming back,content that does nothing but pander to the egos of the theatre owners or those involved cannot justify being included.
Maybe if the reviewer were to be more honest and truthful in their reviews people would look forward to the pieces and they would be sought out adding readers as a result,until they do,and whilst keeping the ‘customer’ happy is the main objective this type of piece cannot justify publication.
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I’m sure few people buy a paper for the theatre reviews alone. They probably don’t buy it just for the crossword either, or the report on the local flower show. They wouldn’t admit to buying it for the high quality professional photography (that some regionals still maintain), or the witty attention grabbing headlines. But begin to add these factors together (with all the other elements too) and the newspaper product becomes desirable.
I am convinced that one of the catalysts to the rapid decline of newspaper sales has been the erosion of many of the above.
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Sadly, Rupert and The Proprietor are right – most regional press arts and restaurant reviews are so insipid and uncritical that it’s difficult to believe any readers take them seriously, except the tiny handful name-checked.
There are exceptions, of course, and they absolutely do help the publication continue to play a role in the community – and should be encouraged.
But I would much rather see a paper actually pay somebody (or give a staffer a decent allowance of hours, which comes to the same thing) to produce one thought-out, insightful arts column a week, or even a month, than just publish any old puff.
There is also a separate, but related, question of whether expending limited resource on after-the-fact reviews is really useful to readers (who can’t go back in time to see last night’s concert), and whether it would be better deployed giving decent coverage in advance of events.
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Reviews have been UGC for years, free copy. Local theatres rely on good reviews, they advertise in local papers. They will continue, stupid discussion.
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What about this one from ChronicleLive in Newcastle? It’s truly brilliant
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/whats-beef-new-miller–7871779
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At the mighty Suffolk Free Press, the legend Alan Crumpton reviewed an experimental jazz quartet (Arts Council funded) at the local Quay Theatre in Sudbury. He said they sounded like a piece of chalk trapped under an opening door. When the lights went up at the interval he realised he was the only person left in the audience. Great stuff. It went on the front page.
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Dave d
The issue isn’t whether they’re low cost and UGC this is about whether the copy merits inclusion in a local paper and the answer is no.
If it’s about giving an advertiser a free plug or some PR, an interview piece prior or an insightful piece about the production, company or leading players ahead of the show this might benefit ticket sales snd be of interest to a wider audience than just those involved, to ‘review ‘ a piece that does nothing but flatter those involved is not a ‘review’ it’s merely a PR piece.
On the subject of theatres advertising my understanding is the larger ones are often run by a trust so have limited budget for advertising and the smaller ones don’t advertise due to lacking funds, either way the publisher doesn’t lose out as there’s little or nothing to be lost.
If it’s about goodwill and supporting s local sour then by all means do so but don’t dress it up as s ‘review’
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@Alive and Kicking. Cheers for the link, I enjoyed that!
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‘Show’ not ‘sour’ apologies
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Who is really interested in the mumblings of a weekly newspaper systems trainer?
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Food reviews are a whole subject altogether
My favourites are the advertorials of the ” …mine hosts Mick and Beryl welcomed us with a glass of house red before showing us to our table in the nicely appointed Tudor themed dining room, ideal for functions of all kinds and with its own entrance from the car park…” Variety
I also worked alongside an old journo who fancied himself as a gourmand,always first in the queue to write local theatre and food reviews using the most flowery and pretentious phrases and setting unrealistic standards the poor restaurant could never live up to ,yet who could regularly be found trawling the supermarket aisles near closing time snapping up the reduced for quick sale food items.
He was also very quick to chastise the slightest error or action by the local am up and dram troupe as if it were a high ticket west end show production and seemed to delight in the fall out the paper recieved as a result.
Aaah the glory days of the regional press.
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May I offer up this review…
http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Sally-Morgan-gift-ndash-doesn-t-come-cheap/story-12898018-detail/story.html
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I once had the whale of a time writing so-called restaurant reviews for a JP weekly. As someone on this link said the restaurant paid for the space. I ate many decent and some superb meals for nothing but the dodgy ones I just damned with faint praise rather than being too rude. There is an art to it.
I would never say a restaurant was superb when it was mediocre. Just say something like “the highlight of the meal was the stunning claret.”. The reader could make his or her mind about the food!
It wasn’t high end reporting, but it was fun while it lasted.
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A music snob once asked me for my qualifications for writing a concert piece. I pointed to my ears.
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Sad that this is the kind of outdated paper filler that the trainer feels there’s still a place for in the 21st century regional press, modern thinking for a modern media environment ? Not at Local World obviously
Welcome to the 1970s
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Alive and kicking. thanks for that link. Hilarious and gutsy too!
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Tonight I’m off to review Northern Stage’s adaptation of Get Carter, a seminal North East film in turn based on a novel. I feel under no pressure to like it but I wouldn’t miss it. It’s going on a national tour. Thousands will see it. I’m confident many will read the review. Treat any specialism seriously and with integrity and the audience and the readership is there. Incidentally, I’m proud to be a colleague of Robert Gibson who deftly took that steak house apart. Good honest journalism served with a dollop of wit – worth it’s weight in gold to any self-respecting media organisation.
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As a young reporter, I was sent to review a production by a fairly high-profile grand opera company. I hadn’t a clue what was going on, but began to listen to and take notes of various comments I overheard while sitting in the bar at the interval.
I used these comments as the basis my review, and, after it was published, I received a phone call from the company’s chairman. “Excellent review. It is great to welcome somebody who knows what they are talking about,” he gushed. “I can see you’re an aficionado.”
The praise was gratefully received by a very raw hack like I was at the time. However, the downside was that review tickets for the company’s future productions were always sent to me personally!
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” Good honest journalism served with a dollop of wit – worth it’s weight in gold to any self-respecting media organisation…”
sadly they no longer see it of value
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