Paper dragon draws closer to the flames
Wales Business — By Duncan Higgitt on October 19, 2009 6:00 am
Traditional reporting as we know it - where does it go from here?
ONE wonders how Wales Today might have reported it had the ballot gone ahead in a light engineering factory in Cwmbran. As it was, the BBC decided to devote just one web page to potentially the most significant industrial incident to hit Welsh journalism in many a decade.
If the 96 members of the National Union of Journalists chapel at Media Wales decide on a walk-out, it will be the first time in almost three decades that a strike has gone ahead at what used to be called Western Mail and Echo. Then, as now, relations between the NUJ and the management team (then from Thomson Newspapers) had deteriorated to the point where the writers felt they were left with little option but to down typewriters. Incredibly, for the seven weeks between December 1978 and January 1979 that the strike went ahead, its editor Duncan Gardiner single-handedly produced the Western Mail‘s entire news content, working up to 16 hours a day to complete the task. No doubt the irony will not be lost on some.
This latest dispute centres around the compulsory redundancies of 13 posts, but the background is important. In the past decade, numbers of staff at Western Mail and Echo/Media Wales have fallen from around 800 to approximately half that. This includes everyone from press operators to sales executives, the promotions team and garage mechanics. But away from the impact of job losses on the families directly affected, it is in editorial that many people believe this trimming has been most noticeable.
Now it seems that the journalists have drawn a line in the sand. “We are determined that those who remain will not be expected to undertake excessive workloads under the new working arrangements which we shall be negotiating with the company,” Martin Shipton, NUJ father of chapel at Media Wales, has said. He was backed by Jeremy Dear, the union’s General Secretary, who pledged the whole union’s support against “compulsory redundancies and excessive workloads”.
Media Wales responded: “We are disappointed that NUJ members have voted for this action, which does nothing to address the issues which are currently facing the Media Wales business.” Yet it is precisely because the Trinity Mirror management is responsible for creating many of those issues that Welsh journalists now find their backs to the wall.
Much of the blame lies with the boardroom culture ushered in by, or at least positively encouraged, by Trinity Mirror’s chief executive, Sly Bailey. True, there had been so-called “efficiency” job cuts at Western Mail and Echo prior to her arrival in 2003. However, it became quickly apparent that Bailey was considering two business models for her newspapers: that of the Daily Mail, which had undergone a period of huge investment during the 1990s – when “they threw gold bars at it,” as former Western Mail editor Neil Fowler once put it; and that of the Daily Express, whose proprietor Richard Desmond quickly acquired an infamy among journalists following a series of swingeing cuts and his refusal to see much merit in trained writers. Bailey chose the latter, and she got it wrong.
But not at first. When this model worked, it worked extremely well. At one point, around four years ago, Western Mail and Echo was the third most profitable company in Wales, producing profit of around 35p in every £1 of turnover. However, it’s hard to overstate the short-sightedness of this approach, not least because it took almost no account of future risk. Not the threat of recession, not the possibility of changed competition, and not a consideration that the advertising market might collapse. All of these factors have transpired. The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing, but when the City and Wall Street have been so roundly pilloried for steering us into recession, surely it is acceptable to condemn newspaper executives for the way they have led the industry?
But to blame Bailey is easy. It suggests that with her removal matters will improve, which of course they won’t. Bailey is servant to a system that has – at least until now – placed share price above all else. Of course all companies must make money for their shareholders, but this is a classic case of tail wags dog. Had executives of perhaps only 15 years ago been told that profits of 10% were possible, they would have found the news considerable cause for celebration. Shareholders, most commonly in the form of financial institutions, entered into the newspaper market with seemingly little regard to its economic history. Had they done so, they would have realised, quite quickly, that it is a resource-heavy industry. As David Simon, the former Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of The Wire put it: “Reporting the news cost money”. It costs to have decent writers, it costs to fly them around the world, and it costs to equip them with the means of delivering the story. In recent years, because of this City-imposed attitude towards spending, the cost has become prohibatively expensive.
Although we have yet to see anything other than anecdotal research into readers’ attitudes towards Welsh newspapers, it is fairly safe to say that many people think standards have declined. The Independent‘s Rob Williams has even gone as far as to suggest that many Welsh papers are not worth saving. Simon has also claimed that US papers have become so denuded of quality that its owners are no longer in a position to charge for online content. And here lies the rub for Welsh journalists and, on a broader canvas, for Welsh journalism.
Many people reading this might feel the same about Media Wales titles as Williams does about Welsh newspapers as a whole. But the fact remains that the organisation retains many fine writers. It’s just that, going back to Shipton’s comment about excessive workloads, management has neatly sidestepped the thorny issue of employment legislation by maintaining the same output while reducing the workforce, rather than overtly giving reporters additional work. There is a difference.
And many people will mistakenly believe that we no longer need the Western Mail and titles like it. They will argue that they get their news from a plethora of sources, none of them Media Wales. And they will counter that news can be free – just look at the blogs. But they are missing the point about quality. Most of us could construct a cabinet to put our television on, but wouldn’t we rather buy something superior from Argos? And it is a complete myth that blogs are the same as news. They are almost exclusively opinion-based, and take it from this writer that producing opinion is a lot easier than reporting news.
Another factor fogs the plight of journalism in Wales, and that is the BBC’s continued difficulty in admitting that there are other news producers in this country. At its most basic form, it involves the appropriation of a story that is then presented as its own. This was particularly galling when BBC Wales received – and trumpeted – an award for its coverage of the Clywch Inquiry. Had it not been for a long and often lonely investigation by the Western Mail‘s Patrick Fletcher, often in the face of considerable establishment hostility, then crachach darling John Owen wouldn’t have been unmasked as a monstrous pervert and wrecker of many young lives.
The BBC has also faced its share of job losses over the years. As a consequence, it might follow that decision makers there could regard Media Wales journalists as fellow travellers in need of support in their plight. Yet it is a dog-eat-dog approach to the competition – which plagued Fleet Street for decades – that prevails. Like Trinity Mirror executives, the BBC is missing the bigger picture.
Fortunately, individual members of the Assembly do not. It has come to something when it is politicians that appear to understand better the social responsibility that a free press has to the democratic process than those who run the industry. Unfortunately, AMs have yet to find a conclusive answer to how that free press can be supported. Some, like Leanne Wood, have suggested public funding. But this is fraught with difficulties, not least because of the connotations that “state-sponsored media” conjures. We don’t like it when those words have Iran, or North Korea, in front of them, and its unlikely that media consumers will feel comfortable with the idea.
What is clear from the growth of the blogosphere and social media is that there is a possibility of smaller, lower profit making, more localised media organisations to be explored. They may take the form of websites, perhaps supported with freesheets. The idea requires dedication, and an understanding that Trinity Mirror-level profits will never come. But, given the growing number of out-of-work journalists in Wales, there is a capable workforce out there. Such new enterprises may well grow in importance as circulation figures for established media become a factor also for public relations agencies (which have both helped to stop journalists working themselves to death while bringing a halt to truly independent journalism) as well as advertisers.
Where perhaps the Assembly could assist is in the establishment of a journalism business college. It could bring together facets of traditional reporting, such as impartiality and accuracy, with the disciplines of running a small business and a new media research and development facility. There must also be an emphasis on growing a business organically, rather than through the preferred route of providing buckets of upfront investment, because this is an untested and a potentially highly volatile market.
In the short term, those Media Wales reporters and editors deserve our support. They are highly skilled workers and fit perfectly with the Welsh Assembly Government’s description of the knowledge economy. In the longer term, perhaps we can be thinking about extending that knowledge economy so that it encompasses the media. If only to save Welsh journalism from its owners.
Tags: industrial relations, journalism
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7 Comments
We’ve since had this sent to us by a Media Wales insider:
“Since 2003 the number of employees in the Media Wales editorial department will have gone down by about 80 once the current cuts are implemented. This figure combines redundancies with long periods where there was a policy of non-replacement for leavers. It is obvious that this has had an impact on the ability of the remaining journalists to produce high quality newspapers that people want to buy. We now have a situation where the Western Mail is selling less than 30,000 copies a day and where the South Wales Echo sells less than 40,000 copies a day. In 2003 the Echo had five editions a day; now it has one. The paper used to carry daily live copy – now it is produced overnight.
“Over the same period the level of autonomy exercised by local management has reduced further. Strategic decisions are taken in London, within Trinity Mirror HQ. To a large extent, this involves issuing orders to local management about the size of cuts. Earlier this year, Media Wales ceased to have a managing director. It is now effectively a sub-office answerable to Liverpool, which heads a super-region from Huddersfield to beyond Haverfordwest.
“Because of the reduction in staff and the closure of district offices in places like Carmarthen, Neath, Aberdare and Ebbw Vale, we are now remoter from the communities we are supposed to be serving, and the bulk of the papers’ content is produced by people who rarely leave the office.This has increased the tendency towards sausage-machine journalism, and it shows. Is it any wonder, for example, that the Gwent Gazette has lost a quarter of its readers in a year since it was produced from Merthyr instead of Ebbw Vale, or that the Neath and Port Talbot Guardians’ circulation collapsed following the Neath office closure to a point where it was no longer sustainable to keep them going?
“None of these changes are to the liking of the editorial staff, many of whom are contemplating leaving Media Wales or journalism altogether.
“While blogs can partially fill a void in certain niche areas, nothing can replace the complete package offered by a newspaper. Everyone in Wales should be alarmed by the death by a thousand cuts policy now being pursued at Media Wales – even those who don’t buy the papers.
“Alternative business models are being considered, within the NUJ and beyond. But the downward spiral is accelerating, and the danger is that irrevocable changes will occur before anything is done to save what we still have.”
It is one of a number of private messages that has been sent to us by journalists both present and former that served on these newspapers.
Excellent article Duncan.
There seems to be a popular argument that says having local newspapers, despite a lot of them being rubbish, is a good thing because it ensures plurality of the media. Trouble is that this is based upon the idea that local newspapers contribute to the variety in the marketplace of ideas.
Unfortunately, these days, that’s not the case.
I do think that the Assembly is more culpable in this than you suggest. Over the summer we had various reports looking at ways to improve the Welsh media as a whole. By and large the recommendations made were unhelpful.
The Welsh Media Commission, for instance, was a good solid idea but was supported with the recommendation that public money should be used to fund it – rescuing defeat from the jaws of victory. The Digital Britain report has called for top-slicing of BBC digital switch-over funds to help local broadcasting – an idea which was welcomed by AMs despite the fact it would undermine BBC independence and allow MPs to micro-manage BBC funding.
Worst of all, from one Assembly committee, we had the recommendation that cross-media ownership rules should be relaxed, a move that would further erode plurality in the Welsh media. Huw Lewis made the weird suggestion on the back of this that Welsh newspapers could run their own local digital channels, another move that would strike a blow for plurality, and is, frankly, unfeasible.
Where the reports have attempted to solve the problems of the Welsh media they seem to have ignored new media options and focussed on creating something that links Welsh press with Welsh broadcasting. It’s worth noting that Welsh broadcasting is on it’s knees as well, so this is unlikely to help.
Newspaper owners have failed to respond to the changing environment and as a consequence are suffering falling circulation figures. With the cutbacks there has been a fatal decrease in the standard of journalism.
From my perspective, the Assembly and the owners of newspapers have done too little to respond to this problem. Without a wholesale re-assessment of their product and the role it has to play in society these newspapers will go under.
The journalists, who are largely blameless, are right to strike and deserve our support, there will clearly be a further decline in standards at the newspapers which are suffering these cutbacks – this will be both in the quality of journalism and the quality of workplace conditions for staff.
I do hope they win their battle but can’t help feeling it’s all a bit too late.
“This has increased the tendency towards sausage-machine journalism, and it shows.”
Well yes it does show and has shown for nearly a decade now. It is symptomatic of the rise of ‘new media’, citizen journalism (whatever that is) and the dominance of TV news. One could argue that the most talented people will always go where the action is and that is certainly not in so-called’ regional’ newspapers like those owned by Trinity Mirror whose agenda doesn’t and never has encompassed anything either Wales-flavoured or non-profit making. Your article seems to suggest that there is a huge pool of talented ‘journalists and writers’ in Welsh newspapers being suppressed or exploited by remote Newspaper barons. This is not the case any more – the talent has or is waiting to move on. Also, coming out of uni journalism school and sitting in front of the Reuters or PA newswire all day cutting and pasting, is probably not what any young entrants to the trade are looking for.
This is not to say that ‘journalism’ skills and values are not missed locally – they are. As you quite rightly quote in your article, proper news investigation and reporting costs alot of money and requires skilled and intelligent people. Most blogs, as you rightly point out, do not have these values and never will. Trouble is, local newspapers cannot now even afford to provide a training ground for would be journalists as they ‘pay their dues’ working their way up through local to regional to national news.
When the time comes ,as it surely will and has for many, when I can look for a job, advertise my car for sale , find a ‘love match’ , see who has died, what the stars hold in store for me, and what crimes have been committed by my neighbour, all online, then the ‘dead trees press’ will surely be dead and consigned to history.
This may not be true for magazines.
A Change of Personnel joins in the debate here:
http://achangeofpersonnel.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-ideas-for-welsh-media.html
“It’s always interesting to read what journalists themselves have to say about possible ways forward for Welsh media which is why Duncan Higgitt latest WalesHome piece and Rob Williams of the Independent’s reply are worth a read”
Business4Wales,
I’m not sure which piece you’re referring to, as the first comment goes down in my name but it was sent to me anonymously by someone who works for TM.
“Your article seems to suggest that there is a huge pool of talented ‘journalists and writers’ in Welsh newspapers being suppressed or exploited by remote Newspaper barons.”
I think that slightly overplays what I wrote. Nevertheless, there remains a good talent ratio among staff at Media Wales. Yes, it is a lot easier to walk from college straight into a job in Canary Wharf, and it shows. I can remember Nick Speed once saying to me: “The Western Mail shouldn’t be your first job in journalism”, and he was absolutely right. And there are people who know they are stratospherically good, and find themselves bumping around at the top end of the industry in no time.
However, for every star, there are plenty of journeymen, craftsmen who spend at least the first few years of their career learning the ropes, freezing their behinds off on court and council press benches. Everyone has to start somewhere, and for many would-be writers, getting a job with the local paper still has kudos, at least until they get there.
I don’t agree with you about talent. During my time on the newsdesk and as news editor, I either directly or indirectly played a part in bringing through around 50 journalist trainees. I was amazed – still am amazed – by this country’s ability to produce talent. West Wales in particular where, in the space of no time, we found Tom Livingstone, Daniel Davies and Gareth Morgan, all excellent writers. I believed then, as now, that regionals always lose their best talent (although Tom came back to the Western Mail, of course), so those papers owe it to those reporters to prepare them as best they can. That attitude was engendered and encouraged by Trinity Mirror, which had an excellent trainee programme.
You’re right about churnalism. But many of those writers caught in such a cycle are finding other outlets for their creativity. On the day that the newspaper groups finally realise that they wrong-stepped the nation’s news habits, they will also realise that what consumers need (and care about) is writers, not news organisations. Rob is right to say that it’s too late – too late for the companies. Do they deserve saving? Or do we instead concentrate on preserving and encouraging writing talent in this country? I believe we should focus on the individuals, and find solutions for them, rather than for their employers.
This is an interesting addition to this discussion: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8303381.stm
The current challenges facing Media Wales is of course common to all broadcasters and media outlets. The causes of the challenges, whilst well known and by now well documented, are too many to discuss here.
However, the initial and I would dare say personal response to the imminent crisis of Media Wales has to be addressed within the wider debate as to the change in the ecology of news, media and politics in Wales. Whilst it is understandable that the specific issues at Media Wales dominate our thoughts – after all these are friends and colleagues’ jobs and livelihoods at stake – we must remember that this is just one part of a wider news, media and political ecology under threat.
The current Assembly prompted debate into the future of print media cannot be undertaken in isolation. For about 80 years or so our understanding of political communication as rested on the trusted paradigm that sets journalism within an established framework of normative practices, financial and economic systems as well as political interests. Our advanced – and more importantly advancing – networked society – means that this model has become outdated. The solution cannot simply be to prop up one national title by state subsidy not even in search of a solution to address all that will be lost along with our old conceptions and in particular our ability to trust an impartial and unbiased media. Increased media plurality will be helped by a greater number of media outlets but it cannot be guaranteed by it. True plurality only comes from a divergence of voices. And in a wholly practical sense it is impossible to conceive of a place where a state funded media can be wholly independent.
Also, I would question the desire to follow an idealised model of media for Wales. By idealised I mean the conception that we need x number of broadcast, y number of print and a smattering of blogs but with the main focus being on institutional media. Is it that we want a ‘national media’ with national titles and institutions because they help create a sense of national identity? Or rather, are we looking to establish and engender a political culture within Wales that is efficient enough to deliver greater participation by a greater number of people in a public sphere that is clearly identified as being Welsh without being limited to its cultural and geographic boarders? It is an honest answer to these questions that will determine the shape of the media in Wales. The answer regrettably may be cold comfort to those working within traditional media outlets.
An excellent response, Iestyn, and one that moves on considerably the points I was making. Instead of looking backwards and poring over what went wrong, as I have, you’ve chosen to look to the future and place the media within the context of the demographic framework here in Wales. As such, you’ve made some excellent points on how we go about shaping the media. Indeed, you appear to arrive at the same conclusions that I’ve been coming to since I first wrote this piece – how can we shape a media when nobody knows what we are going to have in 10 years’ time? It’s a little like rewinding a decade and trying to predict Facebook.
However, some good news. Had this through today from our colleagues at Media Wales:
“The NUJ has withdrawn its threat of strike action at Media Wales in Cardiff after the company confirmed that no union member will be made compulsorily redundant.
“In a ballot result announced last week there was a 96% vote in favour of a strike following an announcement that 13.2 editorial jobs would go at the Trinity Mirror subsidiary. The company publishes the Western Mail, the South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the Celtic series of weekly papers.
“The redundancies form part of a group-wide cost-cutting programme that this week saw the announcement of proposals for 40 editorial job losses at Trinity Mirror Midlands.
“NUJ Media Wales Father of Chapel Martin Shipton said: “We are very pleased that industrial action will not now be necessary. Our clearly stated aim in these circumstances was to ensure that none of our members were forced to leave employment against their will and that has been achieved. A number of NUJ members decided to opt for voluntary redundancy and they will leave with our best wishes.
“”We look forward to working with the company to ensure that new working arrangements do not create excessive workloads for those who remain.”
“NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: “The Media Wales Chapel deserves to be congratulated for its strong stand against compulsory redundancies and on the result achieved.
“The survival of the newspaper industry depends on groups like Trinity Mirror being prepared to invest in quality journalism. A strategy based entirely on cutbacks and job losses will lead to only one outcome.”"