As their fellow Johnston Press journalists vote on strike action in the wake of what are touted as new efficiency proposals, it has been confirmed that 18 out of 38 sub-editors at both the Blackpool Gazette and Lancashire Evening Post have been deemed surplus to requirements.
Some of those remaining will form a new, Preston-based, “content design unit” which will act for both papers, whilst others will be shifted to news desks.
It’s a move that has been described as a massacre by the National Union of Journalists.
Gasjet staff have already walked out once after an almost 90% vote in favour of strike action because of plans to install the ATEX content management system. This system allows journalists to publish content directly into the paper or online without the need for a sub-editor, and Johnston Press signed a megadeal to install it back in October last year.
I am informed that this system doesn’t do anything that their current content management system does not already do, but Johnston Press staff are refusing to be trained on it nonetheless.
A NUJ spokesperson said;
“Editorial resources have been cut to the bone to pay for the Johnston debt mountain created a through a foolish policy of buying up other titles at high cost. Now their bankers are telling them to start making repayments. Our members refuse to be the victims of that mismanagement car crash.”
If that’s true, surely it makes sense to start axing? Money doesn’t grow on trees, after all, and everyone will be a victim if the staff kill off the newspapers.
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Given the Gazettes apparent bias towards WBC and Blackpool Council and Liebour, I dont, and cant, have much sympathy.This is the age of the internet, where you can get the real deal for free without journo bias/spin.
For uptodate news ,blistering blogging,intelligent debate,no censorship nor bias, PHILTHEONE is the way forward for all your news and entertainment.
PHILTHEONE, the vanguard of 21st century media.
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In fairness most if not all of my stories are lifted from traditional press or their online representations.
The Gasjet is undeniably biased towards the council but as I have mentioned before it would be illogical to start taking shots at a source that provides the lions share of popular stories!
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and don’t forget the council hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to the gazette in advertising!!!!!!!!
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This is a shame. Reductions in trained and experienced journalists don’t benefit anyone who wants to be/stay informed, and there is enough room in people’s lives for both blogs and more traditional news sources.
Whilst the acquisition of media titles at high prices might have contributed to the decline in profitability, certainly in this part of the world, the key factor has been the withdrawal of advertising revenue – particularly from estate agents who have set up their own production facility which is now given away free at supermarkets and all sorts of places. The loss of that advertising revenue, coupled with the difficulty in getting online advertising revenue to replace it is what is killing the traditional media here. No doubt the Estate agents would argue they were about to become deceased golden geese and were forced into the move. But either way it’s a sorry event.
Twenty years ago, the (weekly) LSA express had a staff of five or six journalists, now it’s two or three and (maybe less after this announcement). That can’t be good for democracy or the community.
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No it can’t but newspapers don’t exist for the good of the community or for democracy. That might be why they started, but in this day and this age, they’re just businesses like any other and are subject to financial pressures just like any other.
I have been informed that JP made around £45m profit last year, though, so I am a bit confused by this move, particularly as I am told the Chief Executive doubled his own salary up to £950k.
It’s been suggested as more a change of policy by JP that has caused the standoff and redundancies than any cost saving initiative, which makes it, all in all, quite baffling as to their motivation for doing it.
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And on the subject of the advertising revenues, yes, they have dropped undoubtedly.
But the solution isn’t to sit there crying about it because that isn’t going to bring it back. As you mentioned, estate agents have gone off and set up their own thing, although the Gasjet at least does have a regular property thing packed with ads.
The solution, for me at least, for them to boost revenue is to write more interesting stories to increase their readership. At the moment if you write them a letter it’s cut up more than Peter Sutcliffe’s lunch, stories are dumbed down and the language used is far from evocative. Obviously, it’s a news paper not an opinions paper, but the writing style doesn’t interest me that much, which I guess is why I have a habit of picking up stories off them and rewriting them.
There also seem to be agendas powering stories in the paper; as someone from the Gasjet told me themselves that they are often told that they can’t write a certain angle on a story because it conflicts with the line the paper is trying to tow.
And then you have the shorter stories, a large amount of which go a bit like this;
“Drunk man in court.
John Worthington, 29, of Grasmere Road was today in court for being drunk and disorderly after an all-night drinking binge at the Belle Vue.
He was sentenced to 24 hours flower arranging in Stanley Park”
I think they should go for a more tabloid approach with those stories, such as;
“Kangaroo discovered living on moon.
Astronomy boffins last night announced that one of Australia’s famous hopping marsupials was spotted living on the moon.
It’s reported that the powerful hind legs of the animal allowed it to bounce up to 87 feet off the ground in the Moon’s low-gravity conditions.
Bruce Irwin of the National Australia Zoo protested that this story was “pure poppycock” and that there is no way an astronomer could see such a small creature so far away.”
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Here is an interesting article http://www.lep.co.uk/news/lepcouk-to-get-a-newlook.6157878.jp but I am slightly annoyed the LEP is getting it first when clearly the Gasjet needs it much much…. more with the criminally ridiculous amount of malicious deleting going on. Apparently the new system will make it much harder to remove comments as all complaints have to be reviewed by a moderator. Why couldn’t they have done this to begin with?
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My sympathies go to some of the very loyal and hardworking staff who appear to have been treated like sh*t by both JP and its management.
Phil is of course right when he says that the newspaper is a business and needs to be profitable.
My fear is that the biggest victim is going to be Truth. Its all well and good getting immediate news from the internet but (generally!) you can rely on most newspapers to be honest, albeit with therir own political slants.
The gazette have missed a brilliant opportunity to oversee debate. They should have invested more in their website and provided a properly moderated forum for people to be able to speak freely about their views. Until they do that, they only come second to excellent blogs like Phils who are providing the service that they are not!
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I agree with Jon,
The Website doesn’t knock you over with its inspired layout.The only people it attracts are the die hards who are determined to try for some worthwhile debate even with the prospect of deletion if a wrong word or a contrary standpoint is voiced.
I think they have missed a real chance as there are some bright people who regularly contribute to the comments pages,These people amaze me that they have not been deterred from contributing to the website despite the immediate delete button.
It is a shame that jobs will go.Difficult times are ahead for newsprint.A crisis like this hasn’t arisen in the UK since the Murdoch debacle in the 80′s.
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