I too went into council public relations. There’s no future in local papers
DARREN Rackham (“Laying off staff left right and centre”, last issue) might have unwittingly stumbled upon the truth about the print media in this country.
He suggests that some journalists are taking jobs on council newspapers “which will begin to appear to readers as though they are authoritative voices on local news and events”.
My career as a reporter started in 1966. Journos from competing papers used to gather around the bar at lunchtime and taunt one another about the scoops they expected would trounce the opposition.
There was an atmosphere of friendly journalistic competition and our respective titles sold in their tens of thousands every week/day.
Being a journalist was exciting. You were proud to see your byline.
The change has been astonishing. Big groups have taken over the print media with, I suspect, behind-the scenes state sponsorship. Think about it. Would the state want hundreds of privately owned newspapers publishing sometimes unfriendly articles about national and local government affairs? Better to have half a dozen big (brother) groups running the show — they would be easier to control (censor).
Having got that far it would be a matter of simplicity to dumb down the entire print media sector. TV and radio is already more or less state-controlled — so why not the print sector, too?
Of course there is no need of skilled investigative reporters in this scenario, is there?
Better to put copy typists posing as reporters in newsrooms and encourage them to blast the sub editors, where any remain, with “news” of police affairs, hospital bulletins and local authority “achievements”.
My local regional daily appears to revel in printing colour pics of policemen in day-glo reflective jackets — but from the rear.
Print media journalism is no longer an option for those seeking a genuine career with a realistic income. No wonder journalists are flocking to apply for jobs on local authority publications.
Like Paul Daniel, whose letter appeared on the same page as Darren Rackham’s, I swapped a job on a local weekly for one paying double that by joining a government agency. (I even got a car and free petrol thrown in!)
Then, as now, the position was that you either put up with the low pay and awful conditions in the print media or moved on to better things in the state sector.
It remains a mystery to me why so many youngsters seek a career in journalism when all their dedication and enthusiasm is rewarded by very poor pay, long hours — and nothing but a council job to look forward to.
Martin Weiss
Nottingham
Not quite such dross after all
I WAS quite happy to describe my local government reporting as dross back in the 1980s and now as an outsider looking in I can’t help but bemoan those picture-led Saturday supplements that seem to be so important to circulation.
But this poacher turned gamekeeper, happily earning a living as the provider of council news to a changing evening paper readership, was horrified to see my effort at whimsy headlined ‘The paper was dross. And it still is’ (last issue).
I couldn’t believe my carefully crafted prose was so misinterpreted. Thankfully, the thick-skinned former colleagues, while delighting in my discomfort, accepted my plea to “blame the sub”.
Paul Daniel
Teesside