Guest 684- Registered: 26 Feb 2009
- Posts: 635
Hear hear, Bern - this forum and others do the job these days (and this is a former local hack admitting this with a heavy heart). Sorry to say it but the new 'Express' format looks loose and old-fashioned. Laudably there's a lot in it, but as Andy Stucken inferred, you get a strong sense of remoteness in the editorial content; a feeling that it's not really speaking to the reader.
The 'yourdover' series, with its strong multimedia cross-promotional savvy and sparkier editorial ethos is the present and future of local rags. That newspaper group seems to have left the older Kent regionals floundering, although the KM are responding reasonably well with the revamped Kent Online.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Yes thats an interesting one Bern...in fact something of similar nature was brought up on the Andrew Marr political show on BBC1 less than an hour ago.
The main problem is this.....
Websites dont have any money, nor can they generate any money( unless they are obviously commercial like Currys etc). Newspapers raise cash every day or every thursday as the case may be, so are able to have enough staff to go out and about and cover school events and local theatrical stuff and community hall events and what have you. The kind of stuff that broadly speaking makes up a community. Therein lies the cohesion.
Back to the Andrew Marr show...there were two noted editors on the sofa. Tina Brown english but formerly big time New York editor of cosmopolitan, and Andrew Neil former Sunday Times editor. Tina Brown now edits a big website. They were talking about websites and how good they are etc but also about how they cannot compete with something like the Daily Telegraph because of revenue shortfall.
The Daily Telegraph, said Andrew Neil, had 25 journalits working around the clock on the Expenses scandal. They also have a huge team of lawyers backing the journalists up, with a pot of money at their disposal so huge that they care little if anyone takes them to court. If only we had a tiny bit of that at our disposal we could certainly do a lot more.
As is probably gathered we have no money whatsoever but soldier on...doing the frontpage takes a lot of time to produce and of course there arent 25 journalists helping out.
So newspapers are here to stay, or should be, as they can generate the cash to make a difference.
Good newspapers, PaulB, not rubbish ones whose main function is to raise money for the owners and which bear little resemblance to proper journalism.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
getting back to pauls post about website forums not generating revenue.
i don;t think that the local press will exist in the long term, the advertisers will then have no choice but to use website forums.
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
express going under weill be no loss to me
To anyone, Keith. They are sub-standard rags run by sub-journalistic hacks who will be unable to find a proper job after the closure of their papier-mache sick bags. I am, of course, a moderate.
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
The editor still thinks he works for the Sun
and its far from a COMMUNITY paper as it boasts
That word has three syllables too many for a local journo to understand!
Guest 660- Registered: 14 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,205
I see Kent on Sunday now costs 90p it was free,most of the local newsagents were asked to deliver it to regulars but didn't want to pay for it,and many newsagents refused because the poor newspaper person would have had double the weight.
If you knew what I know,we would both be in trouble!
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Read it online for free :)
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
That's what I do Paul - and the Saturday Observer and YourDover.
Roger