Is The Paper Of Record Giving Up On News?
January 7th, 2009 by Mark Hanson
Interesting chat with a senior news contact at The Times about future direction of the paper. Seems to be disquiet over the emphasis being placed on news versus comment within the paper, to the extent that some journalists estimate that the actual reporting of news has halved in recent months as new editor, James Harding, concedes that the internet ‘does’ news and reasons that newspapers should become more reflective.
In common with many other nationals (especially Will Lewis’ Telegraph), Harding is looking to the Daily Mail, pinching staff and essentially treating the audience as ‘consumers’, looking for more planned news and features (I recall Harding nicked one of the Mail’s best planners) and piling resources into the Saturday paper.
It’s not news to say that papers are investing in high-profile comment writers but it’s interesting to note the extent that middle and junior ranking news journalists are asked to write comment-type pieces, often being asked to offer technical insight into topics they knew nothing about until that morning’s news conference!
Has important implications for (good) PRs. Need to think ahead more, rather than just ringing the newsdesk at 9am and saying ‘I’ve got a story’! it also means a greater demand for trusted experts who can translate issues well enough for a journalist to write that insightful comment piece, especially stock market and banking experts in the current climate.
Tags: comment writers, james harding, shake-up, The Times
