Across the pond
Yesterday, we were hosts to a group of journalists visiting from the UK. They were in town to look at our editorial system, which is called Content Watch, as a replacement for their current system. CW is what we use to manage files through the production process. They work for a company called Trinity Mirror plc, which is the largest publisher of newspapers in the England, Scotland and Wales. Their titles include regional papers in Birmingham and Wales and the national paper, the Mirror, which has a circulation of well over 1 million, is their flagship paper.
The Mirror’s history is part of the very fabric of journalism. It was the first tabloid newspaper, for many years was the best-selling newspaper in England, and then was taken down by Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. and the Sun. Now it’s one of several tabloids jostling for space and market identity on the newsstands. Wikipedia has a reasonably cogent summation of the Mirror and its ups and downs.
In my conversations with these folks, it’s clear the British journalism is a lot different than that practiced in the U.S. They’re much racier, and celebrity-focused, and because British consumers tend to be single-copy buyers rather than subscribers, they have to make their bones every day. That said, we face a lot of the same issues—the value of print in a digital world, a changed workforce with neither the time or inclination to read, the eternal search for what readers want: today, tomorrow or the next.
This past Sunday, I gave a talk to a group called “The Tankers,” which as I understand it, is a collection of retired and semi-retired university types and assorted friends who are interested in public affairs. They had asked me to come talk about politics and the media. I’ve attached a copy of the speech in a pre-delivery shape. They were a good group that asked a lot of pointed but reasonable questions.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
british journalism is a lot like our brand in that government intervention is allowed all the time. the bbc intrudes and censors. after 9-11 you couldn’t hear AC-DC on the radio because The Clear Channel banned its “Highway to Hell.” The conversation usually goes like this:
“Hey, it’s me. How about killing that story?”
“It’s going to run. I can’t do anything about it. It’s 6 p.m. for goodness sake’s.”
(Sounds of ice tinkling into a scotch tumbler.)
“Well you’d better do something about it. Your big advertiser will jump ship if I make a call.”
A fox clicks it into a hollow, rotten log in the middle of a desolate forest as thumping hoof clops pass. It wiggles down to the other end where the coast looks clear. Suddenly a hound slobbers and bites the neck, cracking it. They still do this over in Britain.
Before the North Myrtle Beach St. Patrick Parade, I interviewed the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. and his buddy, the former S.C. House Speaker and now the U.S. ambassador to Canada, was begging me not to ask him the money question. I poured on Southernese, acting dumb.
“Are you all still clubbing baby seals?”
“Well, ah, yes. There are too many fish. It’s just Mother Nature’s way of making things balanced.”
Before he finished I had walked off. Just because folks talk fancy doesn’t mean they are erudite and classy. Francis Marion would tell you, lay low until the time is right, then strike. Both countries circumvent war news, cowards to governments.
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