We've been pretty pleased so far with the reaction to our new HoldtheFrontPage blogger - former Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson.
Although not everyone has necessarily agreed with his weekly critiques of local and regional newspapers, that wasn't the point. He has generated plenty of discussion and debate and the page views so far are more than justifying our decison to take him on.
That said, we never expected Steve's blog to win ministerial praise. After all it's not often that politicians start dishing out compliments to journalists!
That's however exactly what happened today after Creative Industries Minister Sion Simon dropped by to reveal he was an "avid reader" of the blog.
He wrote: "Having followed Steve here from the Birmingham Mail (a succesful local paper which makes a lot of money), I'm really enjoying this column.
"I'm a huge advocate of hyperlocal bloggers and of taking 'citizen journalism' seriously, but that doesn't mean that local newspapers are dead. They're not.
"I think Steve's column is a great read, done with verve and chutzpah.
"For me - an outsider except as consumer - it brings to life an under-pressure sector which deserves to walk a bit taller, with a little more swagger than it does."
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Friday 22 January 2010
Dundee here we come?
At the conclusion of his speech to last year's Society of Editors conference, its incoming president Donald Martin announced that next year's gathering would be held in Glasgow.
"Where better to celebrate next year's conference than in the great newspaper city of Glasgow. That's a place where we work hard and party even harder," said the then editor of the city's daily Herald and Times titles.
Following today's surprise announcement that Donald is quitting the Newsquest-owned titles to edit DC Thomson's Sunday Post, we wonder whether the SoE might be forced to change its plans.
Will it be a case of 'Dundee here we come?'
"Where better to celebrate next year's conference than in the great newspaper city of Glasgow. That's a place where we work hard and party even harder," said the then editor of the city's daily Herald and Times titles.
Following today's surprise announcement that Donald is quitting the Newsquest-owned titles to edit DC Thomson's Sunday Post, we wonder whether the SoE might be forced to change its plans.
Will it be a case of 'Dundee here we come?'
Will the Tories destroy the regional media's only lifeline?
The emerging battle to run the three regional TV news pilots in Scotland, Wales and the North-East is shaping up to be the big media story of the year, with several rival newspaper groups bidding for the franchises.
Meanwhile, shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is threatening to render the whole exercise academic by pledging to scrap them if the Tories win the forthcoming election.
The Tories want to see a network of much smaller, more local TV stations, some owned and operated outright by local newspapers, although these plans are, to say the very least, somewhat less than fully-formed.
The growing political row provoked a strongly-worded piece by Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford this morning on his publication's blog, The Wire.
Says Dominic: "By scrapping the IFNC scheme in favour of a free-market pipe-dream, Hunt is removing the only chance we had of salvaging ITV’s existing network of regional broadcast journalists."
He also points out that combined TV and print franchises along the lines the Tories are suggesting do not exactly have a great track record to date - Manchester's loss-making Channel M being the obvious example.
Meanwhile, shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is threatening to render the whole exercise academic by pledging to scrap them if the Tories win the forthcoming election.
The Tories want to see a network of much smaller, more local TV stations, some owned and operated outright by local newspapers, although these plans are, to say the very least, somewhat less than fully-formed.
The growing political row provoked a strongly-worded piece by Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford this morning on his publication's blog, The Wire.
Says Dominic: "By scrapping the IFNC scheme in favour of a free-market pipe-dream, Hunt is removing the only chance we had of salvaging ITV’s existing network of regional broadcast journalists."
He also points out that combined TV and print franchises along the lines the Tories are suggesting do not exactly have a great track record to date - Manchester's loss-making Channel M being the obvious example.
Friday 15 January 2010
Top marks for Examiner
Fans of mock news websites such as the thedailymash.co.uk and the petersfieldnewswire may wish to check out the latest edition of the Framley Examiner.
The crack team of reporters in the mythical 'town' have been out on their 'patch' compiling another compelling paper full of hard-hitting stories.
Gems include the sorry story by Taunton Mishap about a maniac gunman who commenced a bloody mass killing spree by turning the gun on himself – so good they ran it twice.
There is also a budget row at a local mental home, which one councillor branded "correctional madness gone political", and the chance to win a lifetime's supply of funerals.
Click through to framleyexaminer.com to enjoy the issue.
The crack team of reporters in the mythical 'town' have been out on their 'patch' compiling another compelling paper full of hard-hitting stories.
Gems include the sorry story by Taunton Mishap about a maniac gunman who commenced a bloody mass killing spree by turning the gun on himself – so good they ran it twice.
There is also a budget row at a local mental home, which one councillor branded "correctional madness gone political", and the chance to win a lifetime's supply of funerals.
Click through to framleyexaminer.com to enjoy the issue.
Thursday 14 January 2010
Will cameras in court mean death of shorthand?
There has been an interesting development in the thorny issue of not taking recording equipment, namely TV cameras, into our courts.
As any newspaper journalism student will testify, after having it repeatedly rammed into their subconscious for the duration of their course, shorthand is vital for in-depth and accurate coverage of court cases.
The skill is rarely, if ever, included in the syllabuses of broadcast journalism courses however so it is, perhaps, unsurprising that Sky News is launching a campaign to overturn the ruling banning photography and video cameras in court.
The legislation dates back 85 years but cameras have been allowed in Scottish courtrooms since 1992, albeit under strict guidelines. Sky News is also planning to start a petition once the general election is over.
Its head John Ryley addressed the Cambridge Union Society on Tuesday night, saying: "There remains one more branch of our democratic system which broadcasting has still not properly penetrated - the courts.
"If the legislature is to be subject to far greater scrutiny so too must the judiciary, so the public can fairly judge the balance of responsibility between them.
"Sky News will be campaigning hard to lift the ban on cameras in courts. We will explore every opportunity to mount a legal challenge against the ban on cameras."
As seen through its battle to bring the Labour, Tory and Lib Dem leaders together for live pre-election TV debates, Sky is an influential body so who's to say they'll fail on this one.
If they do succeed, will it mean dictaphones and other recording devices can be taken into court as well - thus rendering shorthand in this context obsolete?
As any newspaper journalism student will testify, after having it repeatedly rammed into their subconscious for the duration of their course, shorthand is vital for in-depth and accurate coverage of court cases.
The skill is rarely, if ever, included in the syllabuses of broadcast journalism courses however so it is, perhaps, unsurprising that Sky News is launching a campaign to overturn the ruling banning photography and video cameras in court.
The legislation dates back 85 years but cameras have been allowed in Scottish courtrooms since 1992, albeit under strict guidelines. Sky News is also planning to start a petition once the general election is over.
Its head John Ryley addressed the Cambridge Union Society on Tuesday night, saying: "There remains one more branch of our democratic system which broadcasting has still not properly penetrated - the courts.
"If the legislature is to be subject to far greater scrutiny so too must the judiciary, so the public can fairly judge the balance of responsibility between them.
"Sky News will be campaigning hard to lift the ban on cameras in courts. We will explore every opportunity to mount a legal challenge against the ban on cameras."
As seen through its battle to bring the Labour, Tory and Lib Dem leaders together for live pre-election TV debates, Sky is an influential body so who's to say they'll fail on this one.
If they do succeed, will it mean dictaphones and other recording devices can be taken into court as well - thus rendering shorthand in this context obsolete?
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Don't miss Steve Dyson's new blog
Former Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson's new blog "Dyson at Large" launches on HoldtheFrontPage today.
Each Wednesday, Steve will be looking at a different regional title and giving his assessment of its strengths and weaknesses and today he kicks off the series with a look at the Nottingham Evening Post.
We're really pleased to have someone of Steve's experience and high profile in the industry blogging for HTFP and we're confident it will give people even more reasons to visit the site.
Bookmark this URL to see all of Steve's blog posts on the site.
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Dead man walks it
Over the past fortnight we've been carrying out a poll to find your favourite HTFP press funny of 2009. Our original shortlist of ten featured our choice of the best mis-spellings, subbing errors, bizarre news judgements and missing headlines of the past year and we asked visitors to rank them in order.
We are pleased to say the poll produced a clear winner, proving yet again that good old journalistic black humour continues to thrive through these recessionary times....
For the record, the Welwyn and Hatfield Times' A-board received 40pc of the vote, with the Daily Express's unfortunate "Can Dec Anally Match Ant?" headline in second with 21pc, and the Lichfield Mercury's lead story paying tribute to a dead cat on 16pc in third.
Keep the funnies coming in to editor.htfp@and.co.uk and hopefully next year's will be even better!
We are pleased to say the poll produced a clear winner, proving yet again that good old journalistic black humour continues to thrive through these recessionary times....
For the record, the Welwyn and Hatfield Times' A-board received 40pc of the vote, with the Daily Express's unfortunate "Can Dec Anally Match Ant?" headline in second with 21pc, and the Lichfield Mercury's lead story paying tribute to a dead cat on 16pc in third.
Keep the funnies coming in to editor.htfp@and.co.uk and hopefully next year's will be even better!
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