October 2009 Archives

Whitby Gazette

WALKING on the North Yorkshire coast was supposed to be a break from the hurly-burly of journalism, but it wasn't long before a headline caught my eye.

Whitby raid by 'Mustard Gang' sang out from the top of the page 1 nibs column of the Whitby Gazette, along with a colourful picture of a jar of Colman's Mustard.

A lovely, eye-catching touch I thought, and a news sub's trick that certainly caused me to part with 42p.

Was it a raider armed with a jar of the hot stuff who'd flung it at the face of a shopkeeper before grabbing the takings? Or was it a gang that specialised in running off with sacks of mustard for some spicy black market somewhere in this remote countryside? I was determined to find out.

In the end it was a far simpler tale of a gang of supermarket till raiders who described themselves to arresting cops as the 'Colman's Mustard Gang' because they reckoned they were so 'hot' at what they did.

Not so hot in the end, as the Glasgow-based criminals had been identified by sharp-eyed detectives reviewing the CCTV-footage following a raid at Whitby's Co-op store.

And it was local bobby DC Neale Graham who led the investigation that saw the five criminals jailed for a total of 15-and-a-half years at York Crown Court.

The full court story, headshots of four of the gang and a huge cut-out picture of the much alluded-to Colman's Mustard adorned page 3. This was the way to tell and illustrate a top local story that must have been the talk of the pubs in this close-knit seaside town.

The Whitby Gazette has been doing just that since 1854. The Johnston Press paper now publishes on Tuesdays and Fridays and covers Whitby, nearby coastal villages and the villages of the Esk Valley, still selling more than 10,500 copies a week according to the latest ABCs. Not bad for a paper where only 13,500+ people live in the main town it serves.

The 'mustard' edition was the 40-page Tuesday version of the Gazette, the slimmer companion to the more-expensive and fatter Friday publication. This soon became just 28-pages once you subtracted the 12-page commercial House & Home pullout.

But unlike some 'midweeks' I've seen, there appeared to be no slacking in the editorial quality of this October 20 edition coming from the white-washed Whitby newsroom that prominently sits smack in the centre of the town, next to the harbour bridge.

Personally, I'd have splashed on the mustard, so to speak, but, as described, it was enough to tease me with a classy page 1 nib.

The actual splash was a softer tale about the Queen Mary 2 liner paying tribute to a recently deceased Whitby lifeboat volunteer by sailing past close to the harbour and sounding its horn. He'd been a close friend of the ship's captain, who'd wanted to pay his special respects.

Although not hard-news, in this sea-faring town this too would have been discussed by all. And judging by the size of the crowd pictured watching the sail-past from Whitby's West Cliff, it would also have helped sell some extra papers.

With only 28 true editorial pages, the Tuesday Gazette provided a total of 43 individual local news stories, plus 34 reports on the 'Community Noticeboard' spread on pages 10 and 11, and 17 sports reports packed into the last four pages.

If this doesn't sound too-high a story-count, then consider that there were also a total of 20 local sports pictures and 58 - yes 58 - local pictures in the news pages. These included three picture spreads, with as many as 22 pictures from the annual wartime weekend held at nearby Pickering.

But while that particular history spread may have been overkill, there was plenty of other real news, such as 'Who claimed what in council expenses' on page 5.

This highlighted the top claimers at Whitby district borough council, costing a total of £34,810 in expenses - more than any other district council in the region.

The real show-up was the inclusion in reporter Carl Gavaghan's detailed despatch of the 'cheapest' councillor who claimed no additional costs. Coun Pat Marsburg was reported as saying: "My constituents elected me to help them and I don't expect them to pay my way. I'm fighting for them to get extras, not for myself."

Can we imagine many MPs saying that? Great quotes for an excellent local story.

Well done to acting editor Jon Stokoe and team for the detailed read I enjoyed after climbing the famous 199-steps.

COMING SOON...

EDITOR ON TOUR #2: The Weston & Somerset Mercury

LAST Tuesday, the long-awaited announcement on the future of the Birmingham Mail was made to staff, and then to the wider world.

Along with the changes to newspaper publishing strategies in Birmingham, the company also announced the departure of its Birmingham editors, including yours truly.

Since then, I've had many calls and emails from friends, colleagues and contacts asking all about the changes.

As I'm sure you'd understand, here and now is not the right place or time to discuss the new strategy. That has already happened (eg: here and here and here), and the time is now right to move on.

The company owns the papers and has every right to plan their futures. It has done so after lengthy consultation with many parties, including me.

But what I can say is this.

It has been a privilege working on these fine newspapers. (I'm referring to the Birmingham Mail, Sunday Mercury and the Evening Gazette in Teesside here, the three papers I've worked for in my time with the company).

They have provided me with great experiences, from my days as a reporter to my last seven years as an editor. I've been really lucky and will never forget my 17 years with the company.

It has been quite a wrench to come to the decision to move on, but I feel it is the right time to seek new challenges elsewhere. I leave wishing everyone at the company the very best for the future.

The only thing I'd like to add re. my forthcoming departure is a note on the newly-announced editor David Brookes.

I've known David since I first spent some time on work experience with the Birmingham Mail as a student in 1990. He was then chief sub on the Mail.

Since then, he has served as deputy editor (production) on the Mail, moving on to around ten years as editor of the Sunday Mercury before the last year as editor of the Coventry Telegraph.

He has great experience on the Birmingham newspapers, and a life-long knowledge of the city.

David is committed to accuracy and quality, and loves to give readers something in their papers that they just have to pick up.

While it was a wrench to leave the Mail myself, I know that in David is a worthy successor. And whatever the various opinions on the new strategy for the paper, I know that David will lead it well and that it has the best chance of success with him in the chair.

Although I'm currently on a pre-booked holiday, I'm pleased to be returning to work as normal on November 2 and to be staying on until December to help pave the way for David.

It's going to be a difficult period to assist with taking 40-odd journalists into redundancy, but I'm wanting to be involved in that as I know all those affected, and want them to have the best-possible, most consistent approach as they go through this consultation.

And then, come the end of 2009, it's the time for new beginnings for many of us.

Any Editor's Chair followers keen on cute animals? Or do you have wives/girlfriends or children who are?

If so, for a fiver you can buy the Birmingham Mail Charity Trust's Animal Magic Calender 2010, adorned by touching pix of our furry, and sometimes muddy, friends.

Thanks to free contributions from the paper's skilled photographers, we've had a batch published and these are now ready to make that purrrfect stocking filler ('scuse the pun).

We're aiming to sell the entire 1,000 run which will double the investment made by the Trust, providing more funds for its grants to worthwhile community causes across the city.

The calendar showcases cuddly snaps taken at locations across the region, with a different type of animal for each month.

From cute cats to p-p-p-penguins, a huddle of hippos to plump puppies, the images are really heart-warming.

Just £4.99 plus 72p postage and packaging.

Click here for an order form

Funny how newspaper campaigns never quite die off...

In early 2007, the Birmingham Mail launched its 'Elected Mayor: Let the People Decide' campaign, insisting that the city council should allow its electorate to decide whether a change in the form of local government was wanted or not.

Many at the council were not happy, as councillors of the ruling parties enjoy selecting their own leaders.

That may well be the eventual wish of your average Brummie... but because of previously flawed consultations we'll never know until we ask them. See HERE for a full discussion on this issue.

Anyway, that campaign was calmed after a year, because the only way we could legally force a referendum was to have collected 36,000 signatures of registered voters. We managed 10,000+, but were well short of the total needed.

But the subject just won't go away.

Annoyed by various councils' intransigence, civil servants at the Dept for Communities and Local Government have been working away at new trigger levels (2% is the understood target in a white paper) and have also been researching digital petitions (the one we ran had to be in ink, with signatures, with no email or online support accepted).

And that's just the Labour government's attempts to further the idea of elected mayors.

The Tories, meanwhile, have long promised a forced referendum in all major cities, something that local council leader Mike Whitby, a Tory, has already clashed with his political boss David Cameron about.

Now, at this week's Tory conference, the party has confirmed that this will happen, with shadow local government minister and Meriden MP Caroline Spelman saying they would hold referenda across the country on the same day as soon as possible after coming to power.

This could be as soon as May 2011, a year after a general election, with voting coinciding with local council elections.

The BBC's Politics Show came to our offices at Fort Dunlop to film an interview with yours truly on the matter, and this will be shown in a special report tomorrow, (noon Sunday, BBC1).