Thursday, July 27, 2006
News Letter’s new editor appointed
Former newspaper and UTV television journalist, Darwin Templeton, has been appointed as the new editor of the News Letter. What does he need to do with the paper to build on the progress of Austin Hunter?
Fair Deal @ 12:34 PM
Mick - an swift intervention with the loony-pruners to keep this thread on topic please?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:30 PMThe Irish News while at times being incidentally close to the SDLP has always managed, in my opinion, to deliver a detached and independent analysis of nationalism from a nationalist viewpoint. The problem with the News Letter is that it has either set itself up as Ulster Unionist or DUP linked newspaper depending on which way the wind was blowing. It did little to actually have an impact on that wind. Fair Deal mentioned in the initial post the progress made under Austin Hunter and then in a subsequent post said specifically what Mr Hunter did not do. What, in fact, did he do?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:33 PMI’ve always liked Darwin’s stuff. He’s a cracking journalist and not afraid to step on people’s toes.
I just hope he makes the Boozeletter a success and stops the current trend in the Newsletter of slagging off the UUP and singing the non stop praises of the DUP.
eg. A few weeks ago when the debt was announced of all the parties, the newsletter’s front page headline was UUP IN DEBT OF 500,000. There was no mention of the DUP debt.
I understand it is a unionist newspaper but quit trying to be the Daily Sinn Fein for DUP voters.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:55 PMWhy the Boozeletter? Is there a drinking culture?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:00 PMFunny, I didn’t hear boshank and others complaining when Geoff Martin slavishly devoted the paper to supporting the UUP at every turn. The result? The readership was halved.
The News Letter should be broadly reflective of the thinking and attitude of the Unionist community - don’t blame Austin Hunter for the fact that 2/3s of that community votes DUP.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:09 PMOne criticism I would have - please give no more coverage to FAIR or Willie Frazer.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:13 PM‘What, in fact, did he do?’
Gave his son a job.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:19 PMWillie Frazer deserves good coverage, what about a comic strip in Viz !!
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:19 PMFor my money the best unionist columnist around at the minute is Davy Adams at the Irish Times. He is a very good writer who isn’t afraid of laying it on the line for unionists every bit as much as for republicans.
Good columnists should challenge status quos and spark debate.
Darwin Templeton should go for Adams to do this at the News Letter.Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:29 PMGood suggestion RoundHouse.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:32 PMI raised the point before about the state of the media in this country and unfortunately Mick F seemed to ignore the question. Can we have a proper debate about the media given:
UTV staff are jumping ship left right and unionist
Newsletter and Belfast Telegraph staff morale is at an all time low and the quality of output is sinking faster than that 1million pound boat
rumour kicking around that there is to be a cull at the bbc post the directors departure
What are we left with when producers and senior managers are much more interested in salious, poor journalism disguised as populist clap.
If you want an example of poor journalism take a look at how far the standards have slipped at the Belfast telgrammar were its become teeth and tits paper.
Yes it would be grear to see a balanced newspaper in NI along with a balanced TV channel
Maybe its because we live in age were shitte is acceptable as the younger generation don’t remember when journalists were journalists.
I despair at the thought of the Minka whale steven nolan considering himself a journalist.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:33 PMMick,
Ulick is on the money, let’s have a proper debate plato style ‘who guards the guardians’, having worked with the media in NI i have to say with a few notable exceptions they are a piss-poor. I crave an NI freedland, parris etc...some proper analysis and big picture stuff.
Given the quality of our hacks is it any wonder people switch off from proper political debate and discourse?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:45 PMUlick
The problem with the quality of journalism is the boom in PR. For the most part PR is better paid than junior journalism so that the vast majority of the more capable graduates become gamekeepers rather than poachers.
And as for Simon Hunter getting a job at the Newsletter, a perfect example of the shameless nepotism and favouritism pervading the media here. Another example is all the people who took a severance package at the BT being brought back in on a freelance basis, some working five days a week.Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:50 PMYes, Davy Adams is excellent and he would be a fantastic choice as a News Letter columnist.
It would give the DUP a dangerous opponent without signally a swing back to the UUP - which would surely be a commerically disasterous signal to send.
Emerson would be most unwise to leave the Irish News if he was offered a column on the News Letter, he has his feet well under the table there, plus he doesn’t have the necessary working-class credentials (not that he ever pretends to, to his credit.)Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:51 PMI agree totally let’s have a proper discussion in which we challenge the media. Let’s not forget that most of us except west belfast pay a tv licence. I’d like to see that being used properly. IN repsect of the quality of output we are now seeing it’s awful. There use to be a sense of pride in journalists and that’s gone. What we are left with are production runners and coffee makers in media buildings being elevated to positions and presenters jobs. No ability whatsoever and creativity gotta be kidding me. Look at the people on BBC Radio - old boys and girls network.
‘cull’ need more than than ulick you need a blank page
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:52 PMcato
welcome to NI - Spot the number of presenters kids now working at the BBC hmmmmmmm.....
Spot the number of young ladies and men who been open ...to persuasion who now are in senior positions
look at the tv output and who presents them .....
worse than that look at the morons who run media companies who think that farmer hugging, christian value laden, don’t upset anyone, frank mitchell guess the town loving, hole in the head wanking, programmes are the way to go.
jobs for boys and girls - how low can they go...I leave you to work that out
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:58 PMCato
He got it out of the pro-Agreement hole it had dug itself into and increased its sales after literally decades of decline. Also he was only in the post 18-24 months (with periods of ill-health) so to be fiar he couldn’t do everything.
There are rumours his moving on was to do with ‘editorial’ differences with the executive board not just his health problems. However, I’ve never managed to find out in which directions they were respectively wanting to pull the paper. So the rumours may simply be based on the usual assumption that when someone says health grounds it isn’t.
On David Adams columns to quote Bart Simpson “I never thought it was humanly possible, but this both sucks and blows.”
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:03 PMUlick Magee
I almost whopped with joy when I read your 4:33.
The shite that gets covered here and the stuff that gets ignored just in case it upsets someone is deeply depressing.
Nolan is the living example of all that is wrong with local journalism. Talkback seems to have taken fright at his meteoric rise and is now playing catch-up by plumbing the same depths of banality.
The whole point of the BBC is that it should not be just about audience figures. UTV is populist shite, send Nolan there or give him a free transfer to the SUN where he would be in his element.
The local newspapers are just varying degrees of crap as well, with the Irish News less awful than the rest. How anyone, regardless of political viewpoint, can take Daily Ireland seriously or even consider it a proper newspaper is way beyond me. They couldn’t even get the hunger strikers names right, for fuck sake.
In local print journalism, grammar, sentence and paragraph construction as well as spelling, are now a movable feast. How long before we get the newspaper equivalent of text messaging?
Deeply, deeply depressing.Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:04 PMSorry fair deal, but as a DUP hack your dislike of Davy Adams only confirms his success as a columnist. His maturation as a writer over the past few years has been a big part of the pleasure of reading his columns - apologies if that sounds patronising.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:05 PMI think it’s interesting that some of the people calling for Kane’s head are the same UUP members/supporters who defended Reg’s dalliance with the devil the most vociferously on this site. Kane is interesting and engaging. He should be kept.
As for young Gavin Robinson - he’s getting better. The articles are more punchy than before, but he should try to steer sometimes into other topics and not stick solely to the UUP vs. DUP stuff.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:12 PMI always liked Stalford’s stuff, even if it was a bit Tory boy-ish.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:14 PMJohn
Thanks for the stereotyping. I obviously lose all conjunctive abilities simply beacuse I put my X beside a particular political party.
1. By your logic I should love Gavin Robinson’s piece and not be able to stand Alex kane’s material. Yet the reverse is true.
2. Failed politicians I generally find make poor columnists.
3. I want a columnist not to simply comment on a situation and say how “both sides are wrong you know” or “what is wrong with unionism is the exact same thing as I said last month but you’ve probably forgotten about it so I’ll knock it out again for a few quid more. Also no matter what people do or say I won’t prevent that from me banging out the same again next month.” I am looking for something fresh not the same old.
4. The columns are also long-winded and whingey. Its why I prefer Newton Emerson, packs a punch and doesn’t descend into a gurnin mode.Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:27 PMWhy can’t you stand Gavin Robinson’s stuff?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:31 PMfair_deal
There must be two Davy Adamses writing for the Irish Times and you are reading the other one from me.
I just do not recognise your criticisms as being in the least bit valid.
But I’m not for getting into a whole tennis match over it, each to his own tastes or prejudices.
I am now more interested in the other thread you have opened on the local media.Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:39 PMTaughmonagh
1. 3rd grade UUP bashing
2. Follows the party line too strictly. a column should be at the minimum a critical friend at best challenging and suggesting new ideas.
3. Too unoriginal. I get the DUP press statements by email I don’t need them repeated in a column on Saturday morning.
Combine the three and he just doesn’t make me think which is what I want from a columnist.Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:41 PM
