Today, a powerful statement from the NUJ dropped into my inbox.
It was apropos yet another round of cuts by the Newsquest organisation in the UK.
You can read it in full here.
This paragraph jumped up at me:
“In Scotland the job cuts include four reporters on The Herald/Herald on Sunday, two sports staff, one job on the picture desk, one journalist from the National, one administrator and four staff on the weeklies. The Scottish Farmer magazine is planning to cut one photographer and one member of staff from the editorial team.”
It is worth noting that, at this rate, there will be very few folks left of the sports desk at that stable of titles.
As regular readers here will know this site has emerged as an unintentional Samizdat on Planet Fitba precisely because the local media in Glasgow refused to cover the goings-on at Ibrox.
That was true of the crisis that final killed Rangers in 2012 and it is also the sorry saga that is the Sevco shitshow.
The answer to all of this is to invest in journalism and to have more reporters not less.
Moreover, allow them to…well…report!
That would mean telling their readers what is really happening.
Fewer journalists working on titles means that they have to do the work of those who have been let go.
I am amber of the NUJ’s Health & Safety Committee, and I have been increasingly concerned about the health impact of round after round of job cuts on those who are left to pick up the slack.
Here is a short video that I produced a few years ago.
It was shown to the biannual delegate meeting of my union in 2016.
As more and more journalists are let go, it inevitably means that those who remain in the building are under intolerable strain.
It also means that they are increasingly reliant on well-funded PR operations for copy.
Of course, that leads to breathless exclusives about wealth off the radar billionaires.
That also creates a situation where staffers are welded to their workstations processing press releases.
Now, if they are doing that, then they’re not out and about finding stories.
As I have often remarked here, if the Fitba Fourth Estate did their job, then there would be no need for a freelancer in Dún na nGall to be digging for scéal.
I’m convinced that part of the blame for that failure to serve the Public Interest must be laid at the door of the media organisations who own these titles.
Quite frankly, endless austerity does not produce quality journalism.
At times like this, I can’t imagine why anyone working in the media is not a member of my union.
I’m sure that the NUJ will provide excellent representation to the journalists at those Newsquest titles.
These are tough times for the Fourth Estate across these islands, and collective action is non-negotiable.
One really has to concede that The Herald was beastly – Mama always said that – and that they deserved a right good tobering hopefully a-bouncing.
They could have saved themselves, maybe they’ll have a vision queing up.
Probly Not.
Never Mind.
In a recent edition of the once quality Scotsman newspaper,we were treated to a detailed description of a goal scored by the,at that time,loanee,Ianis Hagi,Joel Sked,.the “ journalist” in question,was moved to paint a picture depicting the young Hagis movement as” like a gazelle stalking its prey”, in the interests of accuracy,gazelle are herbivores,grass and other plant life are their only scource of nourishment,now,I’ll be honest and admit I have only been alive for 62 years and can’t claim to know everything but,any gazelle found”stalking” these foods is probably not the best representation of the species.The wider point is,how does this “ journalists” inferior output get past an editor and into to newspaper in the first place.
The written press are caught in a weird catch-22 type Spunkfest. If they report the truth without fear of a blue uprising they will lose more than half of their remaining but dwindling readership. If they placate the blue pound they’re journalistic integrity is ridiculed for the nonsense that it is…. But financially they can plod along giving the blue pound all the hope in the world that all is Rosy in the Garden of William. Most of em journalists grew up wearing a Rangers shirt with Gascoigne or Laudrup emblazoned between their shooder blades…. They are nothing but cheerleaders for a club they wish was still alive. I stopped buying the written press as soon as they peddled the Rangers survival myth… My thinking being if they were prepared to lie about football…. What other lies were they peddling in their chip wrapper…. I do miss the crossword though.
What exactly is meant by the term ‘written press’ ? Is there any other kind of press, apart from perhaps publications which comprise exclusively of pictures? This term ‘written press’ frequently rolled of the tongue of Martin O’Neill and has always puzzled me. Perhaps you can enlighten me Jim.
Messi wants to leave Barca, how long before we read “MESSI IN GERS MOVE LINK!!!”
Neither the Glasgow nor the Edinburgh Herald (aka The Scotsman) will last much longer. They are poor publications all round. You do wonder if a national Scottish quality paper like the Guardian or Boston Globe is financially feasible. We sure as hell need one.
My heart bleeds purple piss for Scottish newspaper journalists.
There’s more deserving employees being hit worse in other industries.
Their output is merde and has been getting worse for decades. No one of quality joins the ‘profession’. Hack was never a profession. They ask readers for stories and photos. Citizen Reporters are the way ahead.
With no jobs there, kids shouldn’t choose it at college or uni. A dead end decision.
Kids with good Highers at A & B join the professions. Lawyers, Doctors, Accountants, Engineers, IT, Pharmacy, Vets,… you’re really at the lower end of society as a Hack.
Sports Hacks are worse. Triple Merde. They write downright lies then use their columns to apologize to one side of the fan divide when proven to have duped those fans. Who reads or pays for that?
The age of the tabloid is now over. No one wants fake news, lurid or sensationalized, it’s unexceptional and inferior.
Let’s not blame Covid19 for this. The tide went out and we can see who is swimming naked.
A barrel of Chancers. Any Celtic fan who buys the Daily Record is a mug. Any Rangers* fan who buys it is a repeat Dupe Monkey.
The Herald deserves publishing extinction. It’s natural.
Just as video killed the radio star, blogging killed the newspaper star, social media is killing the MSM star.
The world doesn’t need stenographers when actual real people reporters are already in situ at every situation that arises, reporting immediately.
You’ve moved on Phil, they should too.
Put the old nag down and get a tractor as the said in the 1920s.
What you say in this piece is true enough, but there’s also an argument that if people don’t believe a newspaper is reporting stories without fear or favour, they won’t buy that newspaper. The Herald is the architect of its own troubles. And karma is still a bitch.
Phil.
What has happened to the journalist profession over the past 10 years or so is tragic. I trained as a journalist about 20years ago but couldn’t get a break so ended up in a completely different profession. (mental health nursing)
I follow a number of different Celtic blogs cause this is the only way to get any accuracy around the reporting of my club. I’m incredulous when I hear Celtic fans getting angry at reading a story in any of the newspapers in Scotland. I don’t understand why anyone still reads their lies.
Making assumptions about why publishers don’t want to upset Sevco’s fans by telling the truth in case the fans boycott, why do you think they’re happy for Celtic fans to stop reading their titles?
Any Celtic fan who buys a red top rag, should hang their head in shame