And the beat goes on

January 31st, 2010
Picture 11

The lovely Sarah Hartley, who sadly for us is not based in Manchester any more, has instead been beavering away at Guardian HQ training up three so called ‘beatbloggers’ to usher in the future of local journalism.

Yesterday Sarah announced that they will be hitting their beats in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Leeds as of next week with blogs to be launched in the first half of this year.

This is a really interesting project which the wider journalism community is watching with bated breath. Sarah describes them as ‘talented journalists’ so I for one can’t wait to read their hyper -local blogs.

On the subject of local journalism, I was chatting to the director of a local charity this week who was concerned that the local media didn’t seem interested in the great hands on work they do in the community with groups who generally don’t get a lot of good press.

Maybe hiring talented local bloggers is one way busy news organisations can penetrate deaper into the community they serve without adding massive overheads.

I really hope the bloggers can get onto their beats and into the lives of their readers and wish Sarah and her team lots of luck.

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MEN named newspaper of the year

October 5th, 2009

I can’t help but have a fondness for the Manchester Evening News. Following months of difficult changes, and the loss of many talented journalists and photographers, it’s interesting to see that they picked up the top title at the 02 Media Awards for Greater Manchester and Lancashire held at Urbis in Manchester last week.

On Friday (the day where 39 staff left the paper), we saw a presentation by an ex-MEN staffer at TEDx. Sarah Hartley is a good friend of the agency and is a new head of digital for the Guardian. She spoke openly about the future of journalism and the challenges the craft faces following the growth in hyperlocal community news sites.

Amongst other examples, Sarah flagged the East Salford Direct TV project, (billed as the regional alternative to CNN) who deliver hyperlocal TV news over the Internet, as an example of how the face of journalism is changing.

Sarah talked about how the growth in community journalism represented a major challenge to the traditional regional paper, and discussed how the two could find a way to work together.

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The Yorker gets a redesign

May 26th, 2009

Now I understand if most of you don’t know what The Yorker is, but just for reference before we get going; it’s my baby.

As an undergraduate at York I did a little bit of English Literature degree and a lot of journalism, web design and writing. When a friend of mine asked if I’d like to do a recipe page (apparently I looked the type) little did I know how much I’d come to love The Yorker.

York is pretty renowned for its student media, the two campus newspapers Nouse and Vision regularly win Guardian Student Media Awards and I was lucky enough to work alongside some of the individual winners at The Yorker.

Anyway to cut a long story short we decided that York deserved something new for a new online type of student. We set up a homepage, gathered the stories, designed the pages and launched in 2006. Then followed a whirlwind of activity, as we live blogged controversial University news, learnt the pros and cons of the readers ‘right to reply’ and brought in writers, photographers and techies to help keep the site up to date, fresh and relevant; we made it happen.

And then we graduated. It’s a very strange process handing over your role to a willing second year but we all did it (I was Lifestyle Editor in case you’re wondering), and of course I pop over to check on them every so often and find out the campus goings on.

Imagine my horror then yesterday when it didn’t look like my Yorker any more. I was genuinely alarmed, and I definitely didn’t like it.

This morning though I went back a little calmer and I have to admit I prefer Yorker 2.0 to 1.0. It looks professional: it’s easier to navigate, it’s easier to read, it’s better organised. The Yorker has grown up.

It would seem that I’ve moved on to bigger and better things and so has The Yorker. Our first steps created a foundation for the next generation to evolve into something better. The result demonstrates the creativity and passion of the great people we handed the batton to as they continue to make it theirs.

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Sarah Hartley leaves the MEN

May 5th, 2009

On Friday, through her blog and Twitter Sarah Hartley, one of the figureheads of Manchester’s Online scene, told her friends and followers that she has left the Manchester Evening News.

I first met Sarah in my first few weeks at the agency when she showed me the inner workings of the MEN for the day; a prize Jen had bid for at Manchester Twestival. Understandably the prospect of this day with hardened hacks was slightly terrifying but Sarah had it all planned out and I never sat down for a moment.

This was such a great way to get stuck in to the journalism scene of Manchester and since then I regularly see Sarah at various geek events from which she’s usually live-blogging or tweeting.

All the comments on Twitter and her blog reflect how instrumental she’s been in establishing the MEN’s online presence.

All the commenters also wish her every success in her new mystery venture and I for one am looking forward to what happens next.

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The Press Gazette goes under and The Lady gets a makeover

April 6th, 2009

The Democracy office is in shock: The Press Gazette is closing its print version after 43 years and removing news content from the website.

This is the latest sad news to reach us. We’ve been carefully watching news of the changes at the MEN as well as hearing the concerns of our friends there and it would seem that it’s not a good time to be journalist.

And yet, in the same newsweek, The Lady (beating the Gazette’s 43 years by 80) is undergoing something of a revamp as the title continues to thrive.

Famed for its recipes, etiquette tips and adverts for domestic staff (apparently used by the royal family) The Lady’s relevance to its market is key to its success.

With a weekly circulation of 30,000, the makeover is intended to move its readership from an average age of 78 to mid 40s.

Although the demise of The Press Gazette will continue to fuel the debate that traditional media is dead, the news from the Lady reminds us all that people will always consume editorial and advertising media content from a respected source that is interesting and relevant to them.

As many of the respected stalwarts of the journalistic world embrace the changing world of communications here’s hoping they get snapped up by niche communities who appreciate their work.

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Homework: Use Facebook for 2 hours.

April 2nd, 2009

I’m sure this week you’ll have read the news that Birmingham City University is to offer MA degree courses in social media, teaching students to use the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Bebo.

Being a final year student, this has been a hot topic around the campus.

Yet some of the resident students at Birmingham University have criticised the course, complaining that it offers nothing which couldn’t be self taught.

Being a student living in the ‘digital generation’ I understand more than most that using social media for PR, journalism and advertising is a different ball game to personal networking.

The rules, models and best practices are still being created.

Although a degree, with a set agenda at this moment would be a waste of time – a Masters with a great deal of research can only be a good thing.

There is still so much to be discovered about the online world, how communities work together and ideas are shared, that offering a forum for some of the best minds in PR and journalism to expand our knowledge seems like a good idea.

Who knows – I might even sign up!

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Journo for a day

March 9th, 2009

Last Thursday I spent the day as a newshound at the Manchester Evening News.

Democracy had bid for the pleasure at Twestival last month and I was the lucky recipient of a day as a journalist with self confessed Blogger, journalist, foodie and social media junky Sarah Hartley.

I met Sarah bright and early at Urbis to take a peak at Channel M‘s Breakfast Show. I was amazed by the levels of calm in the studio; that was until we popped down to the gallery and heard what was going on behind the scenes and in everyone’s ears.

Following a quick dash across the city I met the very charming people at the Newsdesk then headed out to meet journalist Chris Osuh at the County Court.

After a morning learning about court reporting I returned for the 12.30 conference where the editors of each section share their stories for the next day’s paper.

Dianne Bourne of The Diary Page then injected some glamour into the day as the three of us went out for a lovely lunch at San Carlo (apparently a celeb favourite although sadly I didn’t spot any).

Back to it and a whistle-stop tour of the important people of the Newsroom including Business and Sports editors as well as the Sub Editors.

What struck me most was the way the whole newsroom is getting involved in providing online content alongside putting together a paper which is published three times a day.

Quick stop at the 4pm conference then off to the spectacular Great John Street Hotel with Dianne to meet Debbie Rush (Corrie’s Anna Windass) and her lovely family for a Mother’s Day feature.

The cakes that formed part of the afternoon-tea themed interview sustained me until 7.30, and 12 hours after I’d met Sarah I’d definitely got the full picture of life at the MEN.

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