SubScribe
  • Home
  • General Election 2019
    • Random thoughts
    • Guest blog
    • Daily Express
    • Daily Mail
    • Daily Mirror
    • Daily Telegraph
    • i
    • Metro
    • The Guardian
    • The Sun
    • The Times
  • Brexit
    • Whitetops immigration
    • Theresa's travels
    • Gove and Trump
    • Theresa May's trousers
    • Brexit blog
    • Events
    • Daily Express
    • Daily Mail
    • Daily Mirror
    • Daily Star
    • Daily Telegraph
    • i
    • The Guardian
    • The Sun
    • The Times
    • Daily Star Sunday
    • Mail on Sunday
    • The Observer
    • The People
    • Sunday Express
    • Sunday Mirror
    • Sunday Telegraph
    • Sunday Times
    • Sun on Sunday
  • The schedule
  • Blogs
    • Editor's blog
    • Gameoldgirl's Notebook
    • Pictures and spreads
    • Press box
    • General Election
    • Ukraine revolution and the threat to the West >
      • Putin wants more than Crimea, he wants half of Ukraine
      • Putin, the Man of Destiny, and dreams of a Eurasian empire
  • The industry
    • The nationals
    • Press freedom >
      • Attacks on the Press
      • Al Jazeera on trial: why should we care about journalists? >
        • Al Jazeera on trial: Peter Greste
        • Al Jazeera on trial: Abdullah Elshamy
        • Al Jazeera on trial: the court hearings
        • Al Jazeera on trial: the final session
      • RIPA
      • RIPA and the protection of sources
      • RIPA and the Press: guest blog
      • Journalists under surveillance
      • World Press Freedom Day
      • Surrendering press freedom: guest blog
      • Michael Wolff and the free Press
    • Press regulation >
      • From Milly Dowler to Sir Alan Moses
      • Letter to Murdoch
      • Leveson inquiry: an expensive hiding to nothing
      • Press regulation, history, hysteria and hyperbole
      • Parliament, Hacked Off and self-regulation of the Press
    • Journalists in the dock >
      • Too embarrassed to look in the mirror?
      • The tally
      • Operation Elveden
      • Phone hacking
      • Operation Tuleta
      • Journalists on trial 2014 archive
    • Local papers matter >
      • Local newspapers have to change
      • Monty's vision
      • The Full Monty: the Local World vision put into practice
    • Whistle-blowers
    • Journalism shouldn't be for the elite
    • A question of trust
    • News judgment >
      • Daily Star Hallowe'en special
      • Tesco profits scandal
      • Manchester kennels fire
      • Lambing Live
      • Lottery winners separate >
        • Love and the lottery winners, part 2
      • Give us news not puffs
      • April Fool >
        • The giant banjo
        • Deceived or deceptive, the paper must take the rap
      • The art of Sunday editing
    • Peter Oborne quits >
      • Guest blog: Why I resigned from the Telegraph
      • Peter Oborne: The Telegraph strikes back
      • advertising v editorial
    • Award winners >
      • Regional Press Awards 2013
    • Obituary
  • SubScribe commentary
    • Paris terror attacks
    • Mohammed Emwazi and Isis killings >
      • James Foley murdered
      • The murder of Steven Sotloff
      • David Haines and Isis propaganda
    • Charlie Hebdo massacre >
      • Charlie Hebdo aftermath
    • Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls >
      • Nigeria's abducted girls and massacre
    • Ebola
    • Frontline reporting
    • Typhoon Haiyan
    • Obama's selfie
    • It takes all sorts to make a family >
      • This is what a flawed feminist campaign looks like
      • A level results day: bring on the token boys
      • Kellie Maloney faces the world
      • Women in trouble for getting ahead
      • Pregnant soldiers
    • Ashya King and the force of authority >
      • Stephen's story: did the Press help his cause or take over his life?
      • Colchester cancer scandal
    • Poppymania
    • Cameron's tax cut promise >
      • The blue-rinse bingo Budget
      • Politicians need their holidays too
      • Cameron's reshuffle: bring on the women
    • Brooks Newmark sting
    • Scottish referendum >
      • Scottish referendum: the final editions
      • Scottish referendum miscellany
      • The Queen speaks
    • The European elections audit >
      • Election audit: the last wordle
      • Election audit: Daily Mail
      • Election audit: The Times
      • Election audit: Daily Express
      • Election audit: Daily Mirror
      • Election audit: The Independent
      • Election audit: Guardian
      • Election audit: Daily Telegraph
      • Election audit: The Sun
    • Maria Miller
    • Harman, Hewitt and the paedophiles >
      • Hewitt apologises and the Sun picks up the cudgels
      • Mail v Labour trio, day 6: Harman capitulates and the bully wins
    • Immigration >
      • Katie Hopkins and drowned refugees
      • A year of xenophobia
      • The Express and immigration
    • Prince Charles and the floods >
      • Prince George
    • Food banks
    • Why is football more important than all the news? >
      • Cheerleading
      • Kelly Gallagher beats the world
      • Jenny Jones struggles against Kate and ManU
      • Reading Chronicle and football hooliganism
    • The weather
  • Odds and sods
  • OpEd
    • Oped December >
      • Politics 22-12-15
      • Brexit: 21-12-15
      • Politics 18-12-15
      • Politics 17-12-15
      • Politics 16-12-15
      • EU referendum: 15-12-15
      • Politics 14-12-15
      • Right-wing politicians 11-12-15
      • Donald Trump: 10-12-15
      • Donald Trump: 09-12-15
      • Politics: 08-12-15
      • Politics: 07-12-15
      • Syrian airstrikes 04-12-15
      • Syrian airstrikes: 03-12-15
      • Syrian airstrikes: 02-12-15
      • Labour and Syria: 01-12-15
    • OpEd November >
      • Syrian air strikes: 30-11-15
      • Autumn Statement: 27-11-15
      • Autumn Statement: 26-11-15
      • Russia in Syria: 25-11-15
      • Comment awards 24-11-15
      • Paris attacks: 23-11-15
      • Politics: 20-11-15
      • Paris attacks 19-11-15
      • Terrorism: 18-11-15
      • Paris attacks 17-11-15
      • Paris attacks 16-11-15
      • Politics: 13-11-15
      • Politics 12-11-15
      • Politics: 11-11-15
      • Britain and Europe: 10-11-15
      • Remembrance: 09-11-15
      • Sinai jet crash: 06-11-15
      • UK politics 05-11-15
      • UK politics: 04-11-15
      • State surveillance: 03-11-15
      • Poliitics: 02-11-15
    • OpEd October >
      • Politics: 30-10-15
      • Tax credits: 29-10-15
      • Tax credits: 28-10-15
      • Tax credits: 27-10-15
      • Lords v Commons: 26-10-15
      • UK politics: 23-10-15
      • Politics: 22-10-15
      • Xi Jinping: 21-10-15
      • Xi Jinping: 20-10-15
      • China visit: 19-10-15
      • Politics: 16-10-15
      • Politics 15-10-15
      • Politics: 14-10-15
      • EU referendum 13-10-15
      • Europe: 12-10-15
      • Politics 09-10-15
      • Cameron's speech: 08-10-15
      • Conservatives: 07-10-15
      • Conservatives: 06-10-15
      • Conservatives: 05-10-15
      • Politics 02-10-15
      • Labour conference 01-10-15
    • OpEd September >
      • Politics 01-09-15
      • Europe 02-09-15
      • Migrant crisis 03-09-15
      • Migrant crisis 04-09-15
      • Migrant crisis 07-09-15
      • Migrant crisis 08-09-15
      • OpEd: Drone strikes 09-09-15
      • OpEd: Migrant crisis 10-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 11-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 14-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 15-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 16-09-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 17-09-15
      • OpEd: Labour 18-09-15
      • OpEd: Politics 21-09-15
      • OpEd: "Pig-gate" 22-09-15
      • OpEd: Politics 23-09-15
      • OpEd: VW 24-09-15
      • OpEd: Volkswagen 28-09-15
      • OpEd: Politics 25-09-15
      • OpEd: Politics 29-09-15
      • Oped: Labour conference 30-09-15
    • OpEd August >
      • OpEd: Calais 03-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 04-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 05-08-15
      • OpEd: Kids Company 06-08-15
      • OpEd: Kids Company 07-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 10-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 11-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 12-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 13-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 14-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 17-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 18-08-15
      • OpEd: Labour 19-08-15
      • OpEd: Student debt 20-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 21-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 24-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 25-08-15
      • OpEd: Politics 26-08-15
      • OpEd: Jeremy Corbyn 27-08-15
      • OpEd: TV shootings 28-08-15
    • OpEd July >
      • OpEd: Grexit 01-07-15
      • OpEd: Heathrow 02-07-15
      • OpEd: Greece 03-07-15
      • OpEd: Taxation 06-07-15
      • OpEd: Greece 07-07-15
      • OpEd: Budget 08-07-15
      • OpEd: Budget 09-07-15
      • OpEd: Budget 10-07-15
      • OpEd: Greece 13-07-15
      • OpEd: Greece 14-07-15
      • OpEd: Iran 15-07-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 16-07-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 17-07-15
      • OpEd: Boris Johnson and Greece 20-07-15
      • OpEd: counter-terrorism 21-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 22-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 23-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 24-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 27-07-15
      • OpEd: Lord Sewel 28-07-15
      • OpEd: Labour 29-07-15
      • OpEd: Calais 30-07-15
      • OpEd: Calais 31-07-15
    • OpEd June >
      • OpEd: Fifa 01-06-15
      • OpEd: British politics 02-06-15
      • OpEd: Charles Kennedy 03-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 04-06-15
      • OpEd: Fifa 05-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 08-06-15
      • OpEd: Europe 09-06-15
      • OpEd: politics 10-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 11-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 12-06-15
      • OpEd: Politics 15-06-15
      • OpEd: Social mobility 16-06-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 17-06-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 18-06-15
      • OpEd: Greece 19-06-15
      • OpEd: Greece 22-06-15
      • OpEd: Greece 23-06-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 24-06-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 25-06-15
      • OpEd: Brexit 26-06-15
      • OpEd: Tunisia 29-06-15
      • OpEd: Grexit 30-06-15
    • OpEd May >
      • OpEd: Election 01-05-15
      • OpEd: Election 05-05-15
      • OpEd: Election 06-05-15
      • OpEd: Election 07-05-15
      • OpEd: Election 08-05-15
      • OpEd: Scotland 11-05-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 12-05-15
      • OpEd: The Labour party 13-05-15
      • OpEd: The Labour party 14-05-15
      • OpEd: Ukip and Labour 15-05-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 18-05-15
      • OpEd: The NHS 19-05-15
      • OpEd: The Labour party 20-05-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 21-05-15
      • Oped: UK politics 22-05-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 26-05-15
      • OpEd: Europe 27-05-15
      • OpEd: The Queen's Speech 28-05-15
      • OpEd: Fifa 29-05-15
    • OpEd April >
      • OpEd: Election 01-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 02-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 07-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 08-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 09-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 10-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 13-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 14-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 15-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 16-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 17-04-15
      • OpEd: SNP 20-04-15
      • OpEd: Refugees 21-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 22-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 23-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 24-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 27-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 28-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 29-04-15
      • OpEd: Election 30-04-15
    • OpEd March >
      • OpEd: Election 31-03-15
      • OpEd: Depression 30-03-15
      • OpEd: Prince Charles 27-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 26-03-15
      • OpEd: David Cameron 25-03-15
      • OpEd: Singapore 24-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 23-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 20-03-15
      • OpEd: the Budget 19-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 18-03-15
      • OpEd: race in Britain 17-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 16-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 13-03-15
      • OpEd Jeremy Clarkson 12-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 11-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 10-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 09-03-15
      • OpEd: Scotland 06-03-15
      • OpEd: Isis 05-03-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 04-03-15
      • OpEd: Radicalisation 03-03-15
      • OpEd: Russia 02-03-15
    • OpEd February >
      • OpEd: UK politics 27-02-15
      • OpEd: minority party leaders 26-02-15
      • OpEd: the Greens 25-02-15
      • OpEd: Rifkind and Straw 24-02-15
      • OpEd: world affairs 23-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 20-02-15
      • OpEd: Chelsea and racism 19-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 18-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 17-02-15
      • OpEd: Copenhagen 16-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 13-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 12-02-15
      • OpEd: politics 11-02-15
      • OpEd: politics 10-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 09-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 06-02-15
      • OpEd: Isis atrocity 05-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 04-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 03-02-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 02-02-15
    • OpEd January >
      • OpEd: rape law 30-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics, 29-01-15
      • OpEd: Greece 27-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 28-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 26-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 23-01-15
      • OpEd: Chilcot inquiry 22-01-15
      • OpEd: Page Three 21-01-15
      • OpEd: anti-semitism 20-01-15
      • OpEd: religion and freedom 19-01-15
      • OpEd: world politics 16-01-15
      • OpEd: election debates 15-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 14-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 13-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 12-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 08-01-15
      • OpEd: Charlie Hebdo 09-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 07-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 05-01-15
      • OpEd: UK politics 06-01-15
  • You have to laugh
  • Backnumbers
    • Front pages December >
      • Front pages Dec 27-31
      • Front pages Dec 20-26
      • Front pages Dec 6-12
    • Front pages November >
      • Front pages Nov 29-Dec 5
      • Front pages Nov 22-28
      • front pages Nov 15-21
      • Front pages Nov 8-14
      • front pages Nov 1-7
    • Front pages October >
      • Front pages, Oct 25-31
      • Front pages Oct 18-25
      • front pages Oct 11-17
      • Front pages Oct 4-10
    • Front pages September >
      • Front pages Sept 27-Oct 3
      • Front pages Sept 20-26
      • Front pages Sept 13-19
      • Front pages Sept 6-12
      • Front pages Aug 30-Sept 5
    • Front pages August >
      • Front pages August 23-29
      • Front pages Aug 16-22
      • Front pages August 9-15
      • Front pages Aug 2-8
    • Front pages July >
      • Front pages July 26-Aug 1
      • Front pages July 19-25
      • Front pages July 12-18
      • Front pages July 5-11
      • Front pages June 28-July 4
    • Front pages June >
      • Front pages June 21-27
      • Front pages June 14-20
      • Front pages June 7-13
      • Front pages May 31-June 6
    • Front pages May >
      • Front pages May 24-30
      • Front pages May 17-23
      • Front pages May 10-16
    • Front pages April >
      • Front pages May 3-9
      • Front pages April 26-May 2
      • Front pages April 19-26
      • Front pages April 12-18
      • Front pages April 5-11
      • Front pages Mar 29-Apr 4
    • Front pages March >
      • Front pages Mar 22-28
      • Front pages Mar 15-21
      • Front pages Mar 8-14
      • Front pages Mar 1 - 7
    • Front pages February >
      • Front pages Feb 22-28
      • Front pages Feb 16-21
      • Front pages Feb 9-15
      • Front pages Feb 1-8
    • Front pages January >
      • Front pages Jan 25-31
      • Front pages Jan 18-24, 2015
      • Front pages Jan 11-17
      • front pages Jan 4-9, 2015
      • Front pages Dec 29-Jan 3
  • About SubScribe
  • Join the SubScribers
  • Contact us
  • Subscribe to SubScribe


Montgomery's vision for local papers
 - translated into plain English

David Montgomery
David Montgomery. Photograph from InPublishing
November 22, 2013
It's a tough job, but someone had to do it. David Montgomery has finally spelt out his vision for the Local World group of newspapers.
Strangely, for someone who has been a tabloid chief sub and editor of the News of the World, he seems to have difficulty with plain English. He chose instead to communicate with his staff in a mixture of jargon, cliche and soundbite. Maybe it was an initiative test. Maybe it was to mask the horror of what he plans to do.
He has deliberately thrown out all editorial terminology. The only word to survive is 'journalist' and this all-journalists-are-equal jack of all trades is for some reason designated a 'senior journalist'.
Editorial becomes the content department. Editors become content managers, news editors are swept away, as is anyone with sub in their title. No one will write stories or handle copy. Everything will be content. Newspaper titles become 'franchises' and they are, of course, published across many platforms. The newsroom becomes the office and it will be shorn of the experienced staff who help to train up cub reporters - the network dismissed by Montgomery as a 'hydra-headed nanny' must be decapitated. How jaundiced can you get?
Any reporter working for Local World will have to metamorphose into Superman or Wonderwoman when the new regime comes into effect. They will each have to be a multi-tasking a specialist, taking responsibility for covering every area of their subject from grass roots to international level. That includes writing, subbing and publishing in every format.
They won't have a desk in an office, but will have to work from home - which means subsidising the company by using their own heat, light, paper, printer cartridges etc.
There are many concerns about this 'vision', apart from the obvious worries about the workload and difficulty in maintaining quality, let alone lifting it.
If everyone is working solo, the papers will immediately lose the benefits of team thinking, idea sharing, camaraderie. Anyone who has worked remotely for any length of time will say that while it's nice to set your own hours and not have to commute, they miss the feeling of being part of the team that comes with going to the office.
More seriously, perhaps, is it wise to give so many outsiders access to your computer system?
And if they are posting material before it has gone through any editorial hands, what about legal worries?
But I'm sure that once you've read SubScribe's 'plain English'  translation below, these and other pitfalls will soon become even more apparent.


Picture
Why local newspapers have to change
and
The Full Monty: how the plans are being put into practice - and what the journalists think


Picture

Ashley Highfield wants Johnston Press to emulate Mumsnet and create 'themed digital destinations'. 
Is he mad? 
Why local newspapers matter


What he said....                                     ...and what it means

Role of the Journalist in the Transformed Local World
Apart from the elite and usually elitist newspaper writers the role of the journalist remains entrenched in the industrial age as a medium grade craft. Usually it is a role involving a single skill organised in hierarchies invented to ease production and work flows when typewriters, fixed line phones and pencil wielding sub-editors all inhabited long benches shrouded in cigarette smoke.

The school leaver culture of learning a trade dominated or media school graduates poured into newspapers with unquestioning academic thinking that perpetuated this industrial past.
The Local World model will migrate journalists a million miles from this tradition and because it has festered for so long the change needs to be swift and all embracing.

It will be propelled by the technology that drives every other transactional business.
Local World will develop a truly elite professional body of journalists each with managerial skills frequently exercised with full autonomy.

Underpinning our model is the need to comprehensively serve every one of communities with content that is rich and comprehensive so there is no other place than the local publisher that our audience and readers need to find.  Clearly that objective can not be fulfilled by the single story, single task practices that are still mostly at work within our and everyone else’s newspapers. Nor can the much vaunted and much misunderstood UGC sufficiently augment our offering with the right sort of content.

The role and the scope of the journalist needs to be redefined, as does the structure for content collection and dissemination, and the recruitment and training of future journalists should be reassessed. An initial framework for the latter is contained at the end of this essay.

Apart from grand columnists writing for posh folk, journalism is a craft on a par with bricklaying. It’s stuck in a mould of everyone doing a specific job and newcomers have been indoctrinated.

This way of working has festered for so long that we need  a swift wholesale revolution. Technology will rule.


Local World journalists will have to do everything, often with no guidance from above.

We want to offer such rich and comprehensive coverage that no one needs to look anywhere else.

We can’t do that with the existing structure and just getting the readers to contribute won’t give us enough of the right stories. 

So we’re going to change the journalist’s job description, approach to news gathering and the way we publish stories. We will also change the way we recruit and train journalists.



Skills and tasks of the senior journalist
After training the journalist will assume control of a segment or segments of content. He will singly be responsible for sourcing this content, collecting it and publishing it across all platforms.

The majority of this content will be produced by third party contributors and some examples are given below. The senior journalist will negotiate with the providers of the content and organise its collection usually by self-serve by the provider. The journalist will have the task of providing attractive formats for this third party content in the first instance online and for constantly monitoring the content to instigate its promotion to a position of prominence on any platform or in some cases
eliminating it.

The tradition of journalist shifts will be abandoned. The specialist segment journalist - and there will be no other category of journalist excepting content managers - will cover his content territory autonomously within the brief of the local publisher and he will work remotely. Clearly neither the content nor its providers are situated in the newspaper office.

The journalist will embody all the traditional skills of reporter, sub-editor, editor-in-chief, as well as online agility and basic design ability, acquired partly in training but in the case of on-screen capability this is expected as a basic entry qualification as it is now generally present in most 12-year-olds.

The content harvesting process is a mix of interpersonal and managerial skills. Journalists have always prided themselves on their foot in the door ability so this just needs to be updated and matched by organisational ability.

For instance take the crime, policing and courts content segment that could be extended to involve traffic, underage drinking, even immigration and other areas of life overseen by legislation. The journalist will write and extend his own brief on this and other segments.

The task of harvesting content from the various sources demands he uses his initiative and is highly productive. The first port of call will be as high in the police as he can go in his geographical territory but it is not unreasonable that the local publisher should have access to the chief constable himself for at least an introductory encounter. The purpose is to request that the publisher acts as the main conduit for police information of every type - not for the odd photofit in a dramatic crime but for all humdrum information like crime prevention that the police seek to promote. In return the journalist will offer an attractive platform for this content and a large measure of control presumably by the police information office. 

As trust is developed the range of content will be extended and provides an exclusive public service and will be a rich source of more traditional stories. The journalist will maintain and develop this relationship. Before anyone asks, this does not make the police or any other institution immune from scrutiny or criticism but the depth and breadth of the relationship with the local publisher will be insulation from the inevitable stresses and strains between the media and the public services.

This same model can be applied to all content segments: hospitals and general health and care, education and every school, businesses large and small, sport at all levels, entertainment and culture. This is very different from the traditional perception of UGC, usually associated with individuals who will still have a part to play but usually as professionals inside an institution like a college, a company or a leisure or sports activity.
There will be only a single rank for senior journalists. All will have a content segment or segments as their specialisation. 

Of course in the once in the lifetime event of the jumbo jet down in the High Street then everyone will muck in but it is self-evident that in the most traumatic news story that the specialisation of journalists will be a great resource.

This model will give the publisher an unchallengeable local knowledge and create a one-stop shop for content.

Every journalist will be put in charge of a ‘segment’ and will have to deal with other people’s offerings as well as finding their own stories.  They must then assess them, write them, sub them and publish them on mobile, web, tablet, newspaper, Twitter, Google and anything else we can think of.

Most stories will come from unpaid stringers and various local vested interests who will put their copy directly into the system. The journalist will then have to make it look pretty, turn it into English and placate the contributors if they don’t like the result. Once the story is up online, the journalist can see whether it’s any good and turn it into a page lead or spike it.

Rotas and shifts will be abolished. Each journalist will work from home and be responsible for their ‘segment’ 24/7, 7 days a week.

We won’t accept anyone who isn’t tech-savvy – any 12-year-old can do it – every journalist must be a reporter, sub, editor, designer and be able to post stuff online and tweet about it. They must also have foot-in-the-door determination and be able to juggle a thousand tasks at once.

For example, the poor sap covering the police, crime and the courts will also have to take on traffic, underage drinking, immigration and other anything else that is covered by any law. They must be  highly productive and use their initiative to get stories. 


The crime hack should start out by offering the chief constable free access to the paper/website for all police propaganda, from photofits to stolen bikes and crime prevention campaigns, promising to make it look good and handing control of most of it to the police press office. Once the cops trust us, they’ll start giving us proper stories that people might like to read. 

 Don’t worry,  that won’t stop us criticising the police, but the journalist will be so pally with the cops that they won’t mind.

The same system will apply to other ‘segments’ such as health, education, business, sport and culture.  The stuff they put up on our system won’t be at all the sort of thing that people usually think of as stringer copy because it will come from professionals on the inside.

All journalists will be equal and they will all have a speciality. But if a jet crashes in the High St, everyone will have to muck in.


Role and skills of the Content Manager/Director
There will be just one executive command layer within the modern content department. In the smaller operations there will only be one Content Manager. For the time being this remains a journalistic role but with audience data increasingly driving content exploitation it could in future mean that the content manager comes from a publishing background without having performed as a line journalist.

The Content Manager is the role traditionally occupied by the editor and his or her lieutenants. The Editor remains a prestige title and worthy of being continued if it describes the Editor-in-chief but that individual should be seen by all the company as being the Director of Content for the franchise across all platforms. And that role, like senior journalists, is far removed from tradition. The Content Director will spend little time selecting page leads and instead be concerned with high level decision making - the content strategy, the distinction of the different platform products, the quality and breadth of the content and setting the general tone and style in tune with the community served.

Those areas of taste, legalities, and newspaper style should be absorbed by the rank and file senior journalists as part of their responsibilities rather than being presided over grandly by the man in the glass office.

Once the content management systems have been refined or replaced it will be expected that every Content Director and Content Manager has the skills to single handedly assemble all content within a newspaper format which will be highly templated. 

On the smaller weekly titles a single individual, Content Manager, will skim largely online published content to create the newspaper in a single session or small number of sessions rather than a number of staff following a laborious and time-consuming schedule spanning many days of the week.

On daily papers only a handful of Content Managers will be office bound and will orchestrate all products across the platforms. Senior journalists will episodically visit offices with free seating to discuss strategic or quality issues rather than to sit and wait for a story briefing. 

News and content lists will be compiled by the senior journalists online rather than by the traditional processes of news and features editors and the Content Managers will be guided in their decision making and quality control by these. In this respect the senior journalists will be required to keep up with local, national and international content relating to their segment specialisation. For example the environment segment will be overseen by a senior journalist who knows that a storm is coming rather than being told that by the clunky old newsdesk which anyway will not exist. Nor will the farming segment journalist need to be told by the news editor (a defunct title and function) that Government has ordered a badger cull.

The high level functions of Content Managers will be acutely aligned to the commercial operation of the local publisher seeking means to exploit content in platform distinct ways.

Again the Content Managers will direct how the various products on the various platforms are differentiated from one another and complement each other.

There will be only one executive layer above the journalist. The titles editor, news editor, chief sub will all disappear to replaced by content managers, who will have equal ranking. In small operations there may be only one – and they may not have an editorial background.

Well, actually there may be another layer. Instead of having an editor-in-chief, we will have a director of content, who won’t do any journalism but sit and have grand thoughts about strategy and how to give papers and websites built by template a distinctive feel. 

The man in the glass office won’t have time to worry about things like style, taste, legalities. That should all be the responsibility of the rank-and-file journalists.

The content director and managers should, however, be able to put a printed newspaper together single-handedly.  On smaller weeklies, the content manager should be able to regurgitate stuff that’s up online in a couple of hours.

On dailies, a handful of content managers will work in the office overseeing  the paper, website etc. There will be no news conferences, although journalists may pop into the office from time to time to brief the content manager or discuss stories. 

The newsdesk and news editors will be abolished. Specialists shouldn’t need them to tell them what’s going on in their patch locally, nationally or internationally.

Content managers will have to work closely with the publisher to make sure we make the most money possible from the stories we publish.


Recruitment and Training of journalists
The following is an outline proposal that needs to be further refined and debated. However the objective is to professionalise the Content Department of all of our franchise centres.

At the same time we need to maintain flexibility to admit recruits of exceptional creativity or with exceptional relevant experience and from unusual backgrounds.
A loose graduate only recruitment programme is suggested and certainly not necessarily from media studies departments. The key attributes are a high degree of literacy, inquisitive and presentational skills, strong but not necessarily confident personality and a broad general knowledge manifested in part through educational attainment.

It might be regarded that these are some of the accepted traditional requirements but the critical difference is that candidates should have a combination of the skills of multi-platform communication and organisational and management ability. Enabled with a broad and deep general knowledge, particularly in current affairs, this will allow the recruit to fly solo at an early stage. The old-fashioned publishing structure that acted as a hydra-headed nanny will no longer exist.

Training should be predicated with short print and online writing techniques courses but with no attempt to standardise reporting as has been the practice for decades. Instead there will be a tolerance to individual styles and an emphasis on comprehension in line with the culture where people are communicating successfully with each other on their personal devices minute by minute.

Then recruits should understudy a number of content segment senior journalists as well as becoming familiar with the content and commercial direction by following the executives in these areas.

All recruits would immediately develop a live content stream based on their own personal experience or activities provided it is relevant to the local community and then expand their role gradually working up to senior journalist status.

Finally none of this role definition defies the traditional practices of journalists. Each must be able to cover any unfolding situation or production task but these skills are a very small part of the expanded role of the new operating model journalist.

We will hire only highly literate graduates of exceptional creativity. 

They must be inquisitive and have strong personalities and presentational skills. They will need management ability and a deep and broad general knowledge so that they can be sent off to work on their own without any backup as soon as possible.

The newsroom of experienced hacks who traditionally guide a rookie through their early months - the 'hydra-headed nanny' - won't be there.

They won’t be taught how to write news stories; if they can text their friends all the time and be understood, they should be able to communicate.

Trainees will shadow senior journalists covering different ‘segments’, but they must start blogging on their first day.

Finally, all of this is on top of all the traditional journalistic practices. Everyone must be able to deal with anything we throw at them.

Oh dear, shame on me. It took three hours to read Monty's magnum opus, translate and post it here, complete with researching a picture and setting up hyperlinks. He expects his staff to be able to put together an entire weekly paper in that time. Best I don't apply for a job.
But I do wonder how long it took him to write the original.  


comments powered by Disqus

Quick links

Picture
Main sections:
The industry
The schedule
Press freedom
Press regulation
News judgment
Phone hacking
Front pages
Picture
About SubScribe
Send an email


Blogs:
Pictures and spreads
Editor's blog
Press Box
Gameoldgirl's notebook
OpEd 
You have to laugh

Picture
The old blog