An Focal Editor Steps Down

Stephen_Byrne

An article which surely warrants discussion.

http://www.thomondstudenttimes.com/index.php/news/227-darraghroche

It was always going to be difficult to write a paper and do fourth year at the same time.

Stephen

lanysmiles:)

Yeah don't know how anyone could handle that work load...

just to clarify whats happened?
A letter to the editor in an focal stated that the editor had resigned?

I don't follow....

Stephen_Byrne

Yeah, thats the only indication that was given. A letter to the editor from someone lamenting Darragh's resignation. Nothing from Darragh himself nor from An Focal or the SU.

lanysmiles:)

wow......thats......odd?

Does anyone want to speculate on the AGM motions having anything to do with this.....

MiamiMortimer

lanysmiles:) wrote: »

wow......thats......odd?

Does anyone want to speculate on the AGM motions having anything to do with this.....

I don't think that has anything to do with it. What Stephen said about the balance between fourth year and juggling the paper is a lot more apt, from what I've heard - An Focal is a huge responsibility for anyone to shoulder. It's better to get out now, early on, than to struggle on and allow the workload to impact on his degree.

lanysmiles:)

Oh obviously...but who wants to be captain on a sinking ship?

wnolan1992

Real shame.

Would hope that it is just the balance of fourth year that's the problem, though the article and letter seem to suggest otherwise.

I doubt the AGM motions had anything to do with it tbh.


I vote Stephen to be next Editor anyway! :pac:

lanysmiles:)

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Real shame.

I vote Stephen to be next Editor anyway! :pac:

here here!!

Jester252

Just a heads up it a letter from the editor.
Also inflated ego much?

reunion

Well I checked online for the letter to the editor and there was indeed an article for letters to the editor but it didn't include the letter in question.

I grabbed the paper (as it is not available yet on issuu.com) and found Darragh Roaches letter from the editor on page 2. Very well written article and I wish him the best and I hope he enjoyed his time as editor.

There is a letter to the editor on page 9 (which has a charmander dissected below it ), This makes an incorrect point about the Union killing off a student voice; there was a motion brought forward by students for students to vote on. The motion was to stop the printing of newspapers and magazines which still allows a voice through an focal.ie and issuu.com and TST.

Yelling at coop students, especially from a non-senior member of staff is unacceptable (particularly if they are unpaid). I might be wrong, but the general manager would be the coop students manager, the education officer would has no right to create a hostile work environment (near bullying). I hope a complaint was lodged to the general manager and appropriate action was taken.

The article mentions the Union providing less and less services but at the same time doesn't know what the potential savings from a reduction/halting of printing of ULSU funded newspapers and magazines would go towards. As said during the presentation about motion at the general meeting; it was never about the quality of the paper

I agree (to a certain degree) with the point raised that "elected officials are only there for their self-interest and couldn't care less about the average student". I think this was clearly evident with an officer running previously for durex instead of mojo condems and that was the only campaign point. However, I think the candidates so far have tried to engage the average student as much as possible and I think they have been more engaging then previous years. I think C&S, Elected Reps and An Focal contributors are nearly acting independent (at least thats the feeling I get).

With a referendum for a new student centre, we should be looking to get everyone working together, not against each other and we should be looking to make that a permanent feature of the union and not limit it to the only time when people need something.




Anyway back on topic, I hope Darragh enjoyed his time as editor and I wish him the best.

(*note didn't get time to proof read this so sorry for spelling mistakes and points that are unclear/incorrect)

nash19

I have to say it's a shame I was really enjoying reading an Focal this year there seemed to be a bit of life in the paper. Hopefully whoever takes over from mr Roche will keep up his good work.

lkionm

Anybody know what Paddy said to her?

Gotta love a bit of controversy on these cold windy nights.

sceptre

Stephen_Byrne wrote: »

Yeah, thats the only indication that was given. A letter to the editor from someone lamenting Darragh's resignation. Nothing from Darragh himself nor from An Focal or the SU.

... apart from an article entitled "letter from the editor" (about 350 words) on the bottom of page page 2 saying that he was resigning and offering his reasons for that decision and a cartoon on the top of page 3.:)

Gael23

So it would seem there has been some incident between Paddy Rockett and Lorna Bogue? Im disappointed that Darragh has come to this Decision, weather its for his own reasons or something else doesnt really matter but hes a huge loss and with Jason Kennedy gone, its hard to see someone else stepping in.

Polar Ice

reunion wrote: »

Yelling at coop students, especially from a non-senior member of staff is unacceptable (particularly if they are unpaid). I might be wrong, but the general manager would be the coop students manager, the education officer would has no right to create a hostile work environment (near bullying). I hope a complaint was lodged to the general manager and appropriate action was taken.

Yelling at anyone about anything in a work environment is unacceptable regardless of reporting structure.

Gael23

Any thoughts on his replacement? Lorna Bogue and Gerard Flynn have to be the 2 most likely people

Polar Ice

What about Inanimate Carbon Rod?

https://www.facebook.com/anfocal/posts/10151053025680194

wnolan1992

*awaits the return of the Cambridge account to claim he's going to apply and totally revamp and rejuvenate the paper*


Would it not make more sense to have Co-op students be the editor? You'd have a different editor each semester instead of each year, but at least you'd have someone who can dedicate their full attention to it.

Gael23

wnolan1992 wrote: »

*awaits the return of the Cambridge account to claim he's going to apply and totally revamp and rejuvenate the paper*


Would it not make more sense to have Co-op students be the editor? You'd have a different editor each semester instead of each year, but at least you'd have someone who can dedicate their full attention to it.

I think the Editor has to be someone permanent, the editor changing every 6 months wont work too well IMO

Jester252

ryanf1 wrote: »

I think the Editor has to be someone permanent, the editor changing every 6 months wont work too well IMO

But with a volunteer you don't have a stable time for them to be in place. Coop students would be the best option.

Fishooks12

Colm Fitzgerald has now resigned his post as features editor

End of days for an focal?

Jester252

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Colm Fitzgerald has now resigned his post as features editor

End of days for an focal?

Where did you see this?

Fishooks12

Jester252 wrote: »

Where did you see this?

As Marvin Gaye sang............

wnolan1992

Fishooks12 wrote: »

As Marvin Gaye sang............

You want sexual healing?

How is that relevant?

Where did you hear it?



:pac:

Fishooks12

wnolan1992 wrote: »

You want sexual healing?

How is that relevant?

Where did you hear it?



:pac:

Ah I heard off a friend who's on his email list for an focal!

highlydebased

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Colm Fitzgerald has now resigned his post as features editor

End of days for an focal?

Comment Ed

Fishooks12

highlydebased wrote: »

Comment Ed

I'm afraid this is lost on me!


......or is it!

freyners

wnolan1992 wrote: »

*awaits the return of the Cambridge account to claim he's going to apply and totally revamp and rejuvenate the paper*


Would it not make more sense to have Co-op students be the editor? You'd have a different editor each semester instead of each year, but at least you'd have someone who can dedicate their full attention to it.

banned again i think

i reckon cambridge4editor is going to be the next one

Gael23

If thats true about Colm Fitzgerald's resignation then yes, things are not looking good for an focal

lanysmiles:)

Aw thats a pity, I thought Finn did a really good job a few years ago making it into an almost proper paper!
Compared to what it was "ooh sex joke, bwhahaha, and some presumable decent sports coverage"
It was actually beginning to be interesting, despite having reviews that were months out of date!

I think it's a pity to see it crumble like this.
I also think they missed a big opportunity with ulfm.

Anyone think there's anyway it/they could be saved?

reunion

lanysmiles:) wrote: »

Aw thats a pity, I thought Finn did a really good job a few years ago making it into an almost proper paper!
Compared to what it was "ooh sex joke, bwhahaha, and some presumable decent sports coverage"
It was actually beginning to be interesting, despite having reviews that were months out of date!

I think it's a pity to see it crumble like this.

When there was a threat of losing the paper, not a single suggestion from the an focal camp to even attempt cost saving or innovate in anyway. The only thing is they may start to innovate when the irish times stops printing.

Keep in mind anfocal.ie was an idea for the losing canditate for communications office in the 2011 eletions. Why hasn't anfocal.ie even mentioned anything about darragh or colm stepping down?

lanysmiles:) wrote: »

Anyone think there's anyway it/they could be saved?

yes it could be saved, however it would need someone who isn't so paper focused.

I suppose I will get the ball rolling for ideas to save the paper....

1. Offer to sell the paper to alumni's. I never understood why this was never offered. I'm sure Finn or any previous Communications officer would love to see how the paper is doing since they left (not to mention other sabbats and possibly other students). To put this in terms of money: 360 alumnis at ~€50 for 12 issues = €18,000 the extra money needed to run the paper last year and this is within the amount that is thrown away (so far) of each issue.

2. Reduce the print run of an focal, make it once a month. The money saved could be used to print flyers that have a few main headlines and then a QR code and a thing saying visit anfocal.ie for more info. This could be printed more often then the paper could and for a lot less money.

3. make the news available on anfocal.ie. anfocal.ie doesn't even have the same news stories as the paper. At this stage it's a joke that Thomond Student Times does a million times better website than an focal. At the moment I'd give TST €3,000 rather than give an focal any money. They need to realise the paper needs to change urgently.

4. Allow people to sign up to an focal for regular updates (via email) and push that in week 1 for new students.

5. Get more involvement from C&S. What happened the C&S grid? That was a great idea! This at least allowed space for all C&S unlike last year where articles were not published.

6. Stop advertising an focal inside an focal... Make a fake website and advertise that. Record the hits and use that for the impact of an focal. I'm sure if someone knew that an focal generated X number of hits for a website it would be better than knowing that a good % of the paper is thrown out.

7. Don't throw away the papers! Give them (after the 2 weeks) to some shops around the area so they can give them away for free to some people around the area. At least that way the local residents can see the good students do (and might complain less during RAG charity week).

lanysmiles:) wrote: »

I also think they missed a big opportunity with ulfm.

Recording the AGM was a great idea. However, I would still like to know how many people actually listen? (last year's link doesn't work)

Unfortuently, as an internet radio station, you are competing with youtube (which has a personal playlist), grooveshark (which will find you music that is similar to what you listen to) and streaming videos.

Deano7788

reunion wrote: »

1. Offer to sell the paper to alumni's. I never understood why this was never offered. I'm sure Finn or any previous Communications officer would love to see how the paper is doing since they left (not to mention other sabbats and possibly other students). To put this in terms of money: 360 alumnis at ~€50 for 12 issues = €18,000 the extra money needed to run the paper last year and this is within the amount that is thrown away (so far) of each issue.

I honestly don't think there would be many takers if they were charged €50. That's over €4 an issue, which is extremely high for what they would be getting.

wnolan1992

reunion wrote: »

When there was a threat of losing the paper, not a single suggestion from the an focal camp to even attempt cost saving or innovate in anyway. The only thing is they may start to innovate when the irish times stops printing.

Well that's rather over-simplifying what happened IMO. The An Focal editor (at the time) stated that the paper was on track to make a profit this year due to increased advertising revenue. He also stated that there had been cost saving since you now had 3(?) students running the paper as volunteers instead of a salaried Sabbatical Officer.

1. Offer to sell the paper to alumni's. I never understood why this was never offered. I'm sure Finn or any previous Communications officer would love to see how the paper is doing since they left (not to mention other sabbats and possibly other students). To put this in terms of money: 360 alumnis at ~€50 for 12 issues = €18,000 the extra money needed to run the paper last year and this is within the amount that is thrown away (so far) of each issue.

TBH, I doubt you'd even get 50 people to pay €50 a year for AF. Let's face it, most alumni who would be interested enough to get AF probably live in the area, so could easily get a free copy. Not to mention the paper is put up on issu.com, so why would they pay for a physical edition when they could just read the entire thing for free.

2. Reduce the print run of an focal, make it once a month. The money saved could be used to print flyers that have a few main headlines and then a QR code and a thing saying visit anfocal.ie for more info. This could be printed more often then the paper could and for a lot less money.

Really like this idea. Could double as advertising for other SU services as well (ULFM, any events they're organising, etc)

3. make the news available on anfocal.ie. anfocal.ie doesn't even have the same news stories as the paper. At this stage it's a joke that Thomond Student Times does a million times better website than an focal. At the moment I'd give TST €3,000 rather than give an focal any money. They need to realise the paper needs to change urgently.

Completely agree. I can't for the life of me understand why EVERY story that goes into AF isn't put up on the site day-and-date. If it's a case that they don't have enough man-power to do this, then FFS put out the call for web editors.

7. Don't throw away the papers! Give them (after the 2 weeks) to some shops around the area so they can give them away for free to some people around the area. At least that way the local residents can see the good students do (and might complain less during RAG charity week).

Don't know how many people from the area would actually read it, but if shops were willing then it would be better than throwing them out or recycling all the left over copies IMO.

reunion

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Well that's rather over-simplifying what happened IMO. The An Focal editor (at the time) stated that the paper was on track to make a profit this year due to increased advertising revenue. He also stated that there had been cost saving since you now had 3(?) students running the paper as volunteers instead of a salaried Sabbatical Officer

But the paper is then just relying on advertising revenue as it has been for the last couple of years. It sounds harsh I admit, but at the same time, what has changed in the last couple of years for an focal? Bar, what seems to be the unwanted child, anfocal.ie; I see no difference from the paper when I was in 1st year and now. what has changed about the paper?

Also the communications officer's job was not solely the paper. Just every person elected gave a high % of their time just to the paper.

wnolan1992 wrote: »

TBH, I doubt you'd even get 50 people to pay €50 a year for AF. Let's face it, most alumni who would be interested enough to get AF probably live in the area, so could easily get a free copy. Not to mention the paper is put up on issu.com, so why would they pay for a physical edition when they could just read the entire thing for free.

If you got 50 people, that's still an additional income for relatively little work. While I don't think you'd get 360 people, you may get some current 4th years who are leaving signing up for it for the year they are gone. Personally someone might like to know how there club/soc was doing, updates about the new student centre, etc. You could get a few people.

These are just ideas, it could be a useless idea, it could only be alright. I admit that idea is a stretch for making €18,000 but it surely would make some money.


You could also allow people to donate to an focal via the website.

Or reduce the print run and make 4 big issues, 1 at the start of each semester and another at the end of each semester.

Deano7788

reunion wrote: »

If you got 50 people, that's still an additional income for relatively little work. While I don't think you'd get 360 people, you may get some current 4th years who are leaving signing up for it for the year they are gone. Personally someone might like to know how there club/soc was doing, updates about the new student centre, etc. You could get a few people.

These are just ideas, it could be a useless idea, it could only be alright. I admit that idea is a stretch for making €18,000 but it surely would make some money.

I honestly don't think it would, unfortunately. As was said already, it's available for free online as it is. Most past students, and current ones, know this, so there would be zero incentive to pay for it.

There's also the issue of delivery. Graduates could be spread all over the place so it could prove costly. The cheapest/easiest to deliver to would be in Limerick but they could just as easily call in to the campus and pick one up if they wanted. Again, zero incentive.

Polar Ice

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Well that's rather over-simplifying what happened IMO. The An Focal editor (at the time) stated that the paper was on track to make a profit this year due to increased advertising revenue. He also stated that there had been cost saving since you now had 3(?) students running the paper as volunteers instead of a salaried Sabbatical Officer.

He stated that.
At the same time, An Focal has a budget of €10,000 from the SU. Why does it need SU funding if the (ex) editor claimed it was on track to make a profit?

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Completely agree. I can't for the life of me understand why EVERY story that goes into AF isn't put up on the site day-and-date. If it's a case that they don't have enough man-power to do this, then FFS put out the call for web editors.

This is what I don't get. There's a perfectly good website. Relative to the costs of producing a paper, adding content to the website has a negligible cost (~€5000 per month vs ~€10 per month).
What seems even more daft is the content is already being produced. Copy Paste!