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Columnist claims he was axed by daily because he ‘wouldn’t get enough clicks’

Anton RipponA columnist says he has been dropped by a regional daily which he first joined 54 years ago because his weekly print piece “wouldn’t get enough clicks” online – but insists his departure has been “most amicable”.

Anton Rippon, left, first worked for the Derby Telegraph in 1965 and has written a column for the paper since 1999.

However he has now revealed that last Wednesday’s column was his last for the paper, claiming he was told his success “is now judged purely on website page views not print sales”.

The Telegraph says the decision to let Anton go came after a review of its freelance budget.

Anton has written more than 1,000 weekly columns for the Telegraph since 1999, and has also produced a weekly Derby County FC piece and supplied sport and general news features to the paper over the past 10 years.

Until this week he also produced the paper’s weekly eight-page nostalgia supplement with his author daughter Nicola.

Anton, who was named Newspaper Columnist of the Year at the 2017 Midlands Media Awards, told the Sports Journalists’ Association: “I’ve been told that success is now judged purely on website page views not print sales.

“My column might be popular with newspaper readers, but it’s thought that if it went online it wouldn’t get enough clicks.

“So my contract has ended. It is a most amicable parting, though. Times change. Life moves on.”

Anton worked as a reporter for what was then the Derby Evening Telegraph and as a feature writer for the Nottingham Evening Post before going freelance in 1981.

He covered the Midlands and South Yorkshire football beats for the Sunday Telegraph, wrote for The Times, The Independent and The Guardian, and worked for BBC local radio before launching Breedon Books in 1984.

Anton added: “I have a great affection for the Derby paper which I first joined in 1965. It’s been a privilege to work with so many talented journalists, in particular the current sports department.

“On top of the Derby Telegraph and Burton Mail sport pages, I’m told they are taking on more responsibility for Nottingham Post sport pages with Leicester Mercury sport pages further down the line. They are one of the best regional sports teams in the country.

“I started in the days of manual typewriters and scrounging a telephone, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. There are now different ways of delivering news, but print editions giving readers good local content and building up trust with them could still prosper given a chance.

“A few years ago I saw a cartoon where a youngster is asking an old journalist: ‘You mean you used to take what was on your website and print it on paper?’ It was funny then, but, regionally at least, print is now becoming a neglected afterthought.

“The other day I was telling a young reporter that we called the stop-press the ‘fudge’. He said: ‘Sorry, what was the stop-press?’ So maybe it’s time for me to go. I’m not retiring, though. I’ve signed contracts for four books for a major publisher over the next three years.”

Telegraph editor Julie Bayley said: “Anton is held in high regard by all at the Derby Telegraph and we couldn’t be more grateful for his commitment to the paper over the years.

“Unfortunately we have had to look at our freelance spend and reluctantly made the decision to let Anton go.

“Anton wrote to me only this morning to say: ‘The header on the story posted on HoldtheFrontPage today may give the impression that I left the Derby Telegraph in rather a huff. Nothing could be further from the truth. I regard the parting of the ways as entirely amicable.’

“‘I just wanted to underline that, despite any impression to the contrary, I have nothing but fond memories of the paper, and I am not in any way upset about being ended. It is the way of these things and I am surprised that my column lasted for 20 years.'”

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  • April 24, 2019 at 9:31 am
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    “…print editions giving readers good local content and building up trust …could still prosper given a chance”
    It can and they are in the shape of the many new independent local publishers providing the level of news and advertising audience numbers the bigger groups no longer see as important leaving them to focus on approval and popularity of their online output while the new boys grow audiences and revenues.

    The announcement from JPI ( and all the other main regional groups tbh) that they’re fully focusing on digital leaves the door wide open for ex staffers to open more community newspapers in areas the others have given up on yet where there’s a ready made audience for quality local grass roots news.

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