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The HTFP Editor’s Blog has previously had a number of different homes including The Journalism Hub and HTFPConnect but it can now be found here on the main site. Editor Paul Linford and his colleagues on the content team will be giving their take on current industry developments and also highlighting other interesting journalism news and commentary from around the web.

That’s enough Enders – Ed

I have blogged before about the American-born media analyst Claire Enders and her prediction that the next four years will see the loss of 650 of the UK’s 1,300 local and regional newspapers. My instinctive reaction to her pronouncements is

Credit where credit’s due

Will Green, my successor-but-one as political editor of The Journal, scored a notable exclusive by persuading Minister for the North-East and Labour Chief Whip Nick Brown to go on the record with his thoughts about Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.

Is Digital Britain turning into a dog’s breakfast?

After some confusion as to whether Sion Simon or Stephen Timms would be taking over the Digital Britain brief from the now-departed Lord Carter, Downing Street has now ruled in favour of Mr Timms. But anyone expecting any degree of

Paid-for content: Will the regionals follow suit?

Much excitement in Medialand today about Rupert Murdoch’s announcement that, from next summer, he will charge people to read his newspapers’ websites. Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford reckons it could herald a new ‘Murdoch Revolution’ 23 years on from the

Where there’s news, there’s a chant

People losing their jobs and livelihoods is never a laughing matter and sadly the press and media industry has been too full of stories about redundancies recently. Still, one can always rely on that most positive-thinking of demographics – the

Would Franzen have done better?

Former That’s Life presenter Esther Rantzen today struck a blow for the journalistic profession by announcing she will stand for Parliament at the next election in the Luton seat being vacated by expenses row Labour MP Margaret Moran. But if

Express & Star group gets ‘fantastic manager’

When former North-East and Midlands MD Steve Brown left Trinity Mirror in a company restructure earlier this year, the response from his former employees in Newcastle and Birmingham was startling. The NUJ chapel in Newcastle passed a vote of no

You are the strongest link…..goodbye!

Times are tough in the regional press and it’s a constant gripe among the rank and file that wages are low. So no-one can blame Salford Advertiser reporter Pamela Welsh for trying her hand at winning some extra PIN money

Three out of four ain’t bad

Congratulations to Oliver Luft who starts work as online news editor at Press Gazette on Monday, joining from Media Guardian. Having previously worked for Journalism.co.uk, he now only needs to come and work for HoldtheFrontPage to complete a full-house of

Slow mews day in Lichfield?

We’ve had the one about the town that ran out of custard (see previous post) – now here’s the one about the dead moggie that united a Midlands cathedral town in grief. Well, it is July after all…..  

The case of the disappearing story comments

Earlier this year, HoldtheFrontPage ran a piece about a weekly paper in Kent which had published a story about a mum-of-three complaining that the local shops had run out of custard. It provoked a lively debate, both on HTFP and

The joys of Twitter

As well as being one of the best observers of the national political scene either inside or outside the Lobby – check out his blog Outside the Bubble – David Higgerson is an enthusiastic Twitterer in his role as Trinity

Coulsongate

Or should that be The Wages of Spin? Thanks to cartoonist Slob for this take on the potential political ramifications of the alleged News of the World phone hacking affair – it was originally posted on my political blog but

Nothing ‘Plain’ about this entry

We at HoldtheFrontPage always try to be clear and concise in the way we write our stories. So it was with no little amusement that we stumbled upon this titbit from the Plain English Campaign – the lobby group launched

Farewell to the Sporting Star

An interesting news item from the regional press has just landed on HoldtheFrontPage’s radar. After 90 years of publishing, the Midlands-based Sporting Star will cease publication at the start of the forthcoming football season. The Sporting Star is owned by