EDITOR ON TOUR #3: Kissogram mystery solved, but more answers on the Stafford buttock shooting please

Staffordshire Newsletter

WHO'S the happy chappie in this picture, and why was the scantily-clad kissogram sitting on his lap in the old editorial offices of this proud newspaper?

The aging 1970s-style snap had been found by modern-day hacks, but long-gone were the in-office memories, and no date or caption was available. Oh, how to solve this mystery...

The answer, of course, is to ask your thousands of readers... one of them is bound to know.

And so was the case in the November 5 Staffordshire Newsletter I picked up in the little village of Brocton after my taxi duties for my lad's football team playing in this weekend's junior Staffordshire Cup tie.

There on the Nostalgia Notebook page was a full recall from reader Anne James, the former front desk manager from way back when.

Apparently, then cub reporter Aiden Goldstraw had a string of speeding and parking tickets, so the office asked Cheryl the kissogram, a regular classified advertiser, to perform a freebie trick.

"He was gobsmacked," remembers Anne. "Great times, great people, great place to work!"

I bet... Oh for those newsrooms before political correctness crept in!

But while this mystery was solved, the Newsletter created another one with a report lacking a few details on page 1.

A shooting at a Stafford industrial estate was a good story, and a painful one for the victim who was shot in his buttock.

But with my news editor's hat on, what was the name of the victim? (The incident happened nearly two weeks before, so there must have been time to find out).

Also, having read the incident was "just the latest in a catalogue of problems at the site" involving "boy-racers", I almost assumed that it was an air-rifle prank. But the story doesn't specify the type of weapon. (If it was a 'real' gun, far more alarm for readers).

Nor was there any police number for witnesses to phone.

The shooting took place at the estate's car body shop, but there were no quotes from anyone there.

We don't know how hard the Newsletter reporters tried, of course, or how obstructive the local police were, and there may well be a follow up in this week's paper or on the website.

The good thing is that the story was the hardest news in the paper, rightfully made the splash, and caught my attention long enough to pose these questions.

Elsewhere, the Newsletter, which sells around 18,000 copies* a week and is published by Iliffe News & Media, is a solid, informative read. The edition I bought was 64-pages, which included a 12-page Property pull-out.

In the remaining 52-pages, there were a total of 83 news, business, farming and entertainment stories, 33 related pictures, 36 sports reports and 18 sports pictures.

Plus there was a Community News spread with a total of 80 short but detailed reports from local villages, churches and neighbourhood groups.

Not bad for 60p.

Yes, the county town of Stafford, with a population of 60,000+, is served well by editor Killoran Wills and team, whose sense of humour I commend in including that kissogram on the nostalgia pages.

Just a few more hard facts for the page 1 splash please.

* ABC Jan-Jun 2006