Society Of Editors Convene ‘Meeting of Elders’ to Save Journalism

We’ve reported on the woes of the print media a number of times in the last few weeks, but now the panic is really setting in. Adding to the collective misery are Trinity Mirror, who are cutting dozens of jobs from their north-east papers despite expanding their online arm; the Metro has been getting rid of positions; and the Big Issue – a publication whose very name is built on getting people into work – is also in on the act. Dramatic moves are being made by editors to secure their future in the market, which seems to mean either making redundancies, or expanding online – or both.

As Richard Holbrook, a media analyst, summed up in last week’s Observer: ”It’s a perfect storm. Where are the positives? Classified advertising is very volatile because it’s directly linked to property, recruitment and motoring – all of which are going very badly for the UK economy…They are doing what they can on the internet, but the growth isn’t strong enough to make up for falling profits in print and you can’t replicate cover prices online.”

Cue the Society of Editors‘ annual huddle in Bristol, which has been going on the past couple of days. While Holbrook is shouting doom, most media big wigs have utter faith in online movement.

The Guardian’s Alan Rusbridger was there, outlining the current paper-online ‘integration’ underway. It involves the creation of ‘pods’ – where the newsroom will be organised around content rather than platform, and the cutting of production staffing from 14 ranks to a measly four. So far, so predictable.

The FT’s Hugh Carnegy, meanwhile, is already two years into his integration, and has pulled in a specialist multimedia team to do the job, for the quite sensible reason that “everyone can’t do everything.”

Media research group Ifra must have made knees wobble, then, when they revealed that the only model actually making any money online at the moment is the ‘specialist’ kind – such as car-of-the-year competitions or business start-up sites. “It’s not news or current affairs that was sold,” director general Schantin explained. “It’s easier to monetise specialist topics and special interests.”

Still, some people just won’t be told. This is what Michael Rosenblum has to say:

Posted by Ruth Stokes in Creative Economy | November 12, 2008 8:00PM |