Why are journalists so bad at this stuff?

I’m of the generation of journalists who started out about 20 years ago (that can’t be right, surely) in well-staffed offices which were just coming to terms with what was grandly called “new technology” -  ie computers.

I cut my teeth in a district office of a big regional daily. In my office alone (never mind the main newsroom) we had eight reporters. Circulation was also about 20,000 higher than now.

It’s tempting to say that newspaper sales have fallen because newsrooms have lost so many staff and therefore decent content – tempting but also naive.

While I think it is madness for Scottish papers in particular to be cutting back on Scottish reporters (which means tossing away their big advantage over the London “nationals”) there’s obviously a hell of a lot  more to circulation falls than staff cutbacks.

But if papers do have to make redundancies why do they have to do it so badly?

There’s a brilliant example of this in The Guardian media section which publishes memos from Rebekah Wade, John Witherow and other News International editors, explaining why they are making  job losses.

Any quarter-decent journalist reading these memos would recognise that the top line is the job losses themselves. All the stuff about investing in editorial and the necessity of combining online and paper editions may well be true – but these memos read like the kind of useless spin operations governments and companies out out while burying the obvious (and usually damaging) news angle further down.

Only one editor uses the word “sorry” about the redundancies and there’s a general tone of “don’t worry about these minor job losses – onward with News International!”

Why not just be honest with the people who know what the real news is: sorry, we have to make these redundancies. We think there is some good news but we know that most of you will not be concerned about that at present.

It’s almost as bad as the  incredibly insensitive interview given by the managing editor of The Herald titles, who went on Newsnight Scotland to talk about the exciting time ahead for the group on the same day that all staff had been told they would have to re-apply for their jobs.

Why can’t these people just tell it straight?

Sunday Times Scotland – secrets revealed

It’s been tough without her, but  Sunday Times columnist Jenny Hjul is back this week after her Christmas/New Year break.

 I imagine the conversation between between Hjul and her boss, Carlos Alba, discussing the content of her columns this year, went something like this:

Hjul: Hi Carlos, Jenny here.  It went so well last year that for 2009 I thought I’d devote every single column to the theme – why Scotland is crap and why the SNP is making it even worse.

Alba: Every column?

Hjul: Yes – every one.

Alba: Ok, but don’t you think there are other things you could write about – just every now and again?

Hjul: No. This saves time – I only have to change a few words each week.

Alba:  Don’t you think our readers might be getting a bit bored with this stuff – I mean it’s nothing more than crude propaganda that would make even Jim Murphy wince – isn’t it?

Hjul: He’s way too soft on the Nats – they’re dangerous. They’ve got to be stopped. Imagine what this country would be like if people living in Scotland were actually running it?

Alba: Can’t argue with that I suppose.

Hjul: Good.

Alba: By the way – we’re working on a feature for next week – why Scotland has the worst education system in the world: “From Kames and Kelvin to Klowns” – what do you think? After that I thought we’d go for why Scotland is the unhealthiest nation on earth and after that, why Scotland is the most violent country on earth and then maybe, why Scotland has the worst politicians in the world and then to round it off something along the lines of what has happened to this once proud nation of ours that has turned it into the worst in the world?

Hjul: Fantastic. Makes me proud to work for this paper.