August 2008 Archives

The Post Office/Government decision to ignore pleas to extend its meagre six-week consultation period over the closure of dozens of Post Offices in Birmingham is a disgrace.

We asked - in a petition backed by 7,000+ readers - that the powers-that-be 'Think Again on Post Office Closures', engaging community leaders in in-depth discussions to ensure that the right decisions were made so that our communities were not further fractured.

We and our readers knew that the closure programme would go ahead, but we demanded the right of locals to play a real part in carefully planning exactly where and how deep the cuts would be.

As our report today tells, we and our readers have been snubbed. Click here for the story.

Yes, a single Post Office on the long list has been 'saved'.... and well done to readers who fought that particular battle. But the need for proper, meaningful consultation has been ignored. Six weeks for a programme of cuts that affected the everyday lives of hundreds of thousands of people?? Post Office Ltd and Government claims that they would listen have been proved a sham.

As a result, the Birmingham Mail will be carrying out the promise we made two weeks ago, and the following statement will be published in our paper - and on this blog - for the long-term:

'This notice marks the fact that the Labour Government and Post Office Ltd in August 2008 ignored the pleas of thousands of Brummies to have proper, meaningful consultation on the proposed closure of scores of Post Offices in the city. This arrogant act will never be forgotten in Birmingham.'

We did warn 'em. And only the resumption of real, meaningful consultations will change our mind.

...or at least that's one version of a headline that could accompany the news announced in Birmingham today.

Another headline could have been: 'Birmingham Mail and sister papers reinvent themselves for multi-media revolution'.

Best leave the headers and get to the actual detail of the story. Today is announcement day and Day 1 of a three-month consultation period that may result in up to 65 redundancies (hopefully voluntary) at Trinity Mirror Midlands, publishers of the Birmingham Mail, Sunday Mercury, The Birmingham Post and Coventry Teleraph.

And it was a sombre day indeed for me as an editor in having to announce changes that will require fewer journalistic staff (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/19/trinitymirror.pressandpublishing for more details) in a newsroom I've worked in since student placements back in 1989.

And yet, as a Brummie-born and bred hack, I'd far prefer to be involved personally in the detail of how this all works for our newsroom than 'fiddling while Rome burns'.

Fact: the multi-media world is changing journalism (as this blog shows). For our brands to remain intact, we simply have to change the way we go about producing our titles... in print and online.

To put it even more bluntly, the internet has contributed to falls in newspaper sales over the years, which means a revenue loss. While we've stemmed the level of this decline in recent years at the Mail and on the Sunday Mercury, the current economic climate has exacerbated the revenue loss in the form of less advertising.

I've seen the figures, and we can simply no longer afford to exist as sister Midland titles is silos (ie: with the Mail, The Birmingham Post and the Sunday Mercury, etc having their own management, writers and production departments working separately).

We have to share content, share production and cleverly approach management of titles' planning so that we do this while at the same time maintaining brand values. That's what our plan - referred to in the above link - intends to do.

I'll be referring to various detail that can be aired in public in the next few days and weeks, although many details of discussions and change in how it affects individuals will, of course, need to remain confidential and so will not be blogged about.

As said, it's Day 1. There's a lot of consultation to do. Feedback. Tweaks. Individual ideas. We now have to work hard with all our staff who want to be a part of the way forward for our titles.

Just in case the Post Office or Government think we've forgotten about our campaign to make them reconsider the closure programme with proper, reasonably-timed consultation, we haven't.

The Birmingham Mail petition has now been delivered both to Number 10 and the Post Office, and while the original 'consultation' is by now due to be over, we've been told to wait until the end of August to find out what the response is.

We won't half kick up a fuss if the opinions of 7,000+ signatories are ignored...

Something like the following will appear in-paper, forever:

'Labour Government 2008 ignored Birmingham: This notice marks that the Labour Government in August 2008 ignored the pleas of thousands of Brummies to have proper, meaningful consultation on the proposed closure of scores of Post Offices in the city. This arrogant act will never be forgotten in Birmingham.'

Let's hope, Mr Brown and watchers, that it doesn't come to that...

We await your response.

What a result to come back from hols to...

After a number of conversations via Sports Editor Ken Montgomery, it's now been confirmed that Villa legend Paul McGrath has signed for the Birmingham Mail.

From this Tuesday he will pen a two page review of the Premiership weekend.

Should be a scorcher for footy fan readers. Really pleased.