Sunday Business Post post Taylor

Raspberry Fileds

This passed me by: Cliff Taylor is stepping down as editor of the Sunday Business Post; Pat Leahy, Political and Deputy Editor, now acting editor.

Taylor leaves Sunday Business Post after decade as editor | Irish Times

First, has the esteem of the SBP really sunk so low that Taylor's move got not one mention in any of Ireland's non-Twitter online discussion forums - Boards.ie, Politics.ie, PoliticalWorld.org, Journal.ie, Broadsheet.ie? Twitter, whose attraction I've yet to fully understand, merely had well-wishes and eulogies from people within Media.

Circulation has declined from 58k for the first half of 2009 to 34k for the second half of 2013 - a whopping 40% decrease (for context: the Sindo decreased from 270k to 230k (15%) over that period and the ST decreased from 115k to 90k (20%)).

As much as it pains me to say it, I can see no future for the SBP in anything resembling its current guise. It doesn't quite have a niche: though it probably covers business and markets to a greater extent than the IT's Business supplement (and certainly more than the IT's main section), it is not equivalent to the FT; though it attracts professional readers, there's nothing especially unique about what it produces. I wonder, therefore, is thee name not off-putting to those unfamiliar with it. Though it recently received a redesign, perhaps a rebranding is in order which would make it attractive to a wider audience - "The SBP", perhaps! It could also convert to a magazine - there is something of a niche in that market after the demise of Magill and (effectively) Village; doing that would allow the paper to remain on the stands week-round.

As a weekly paper, its online offering of unimpressively-written business news during the week ("Daily Post") plus content from the print edition is not enough to attract subscribers. The only attraction of an online subscription is that it is 35-50% cheaper than the print; however, the SBP app is very poor- reviews from iTunes:

A joke of an app

By the looks of this app, I would say the SBP requested at the initial design meeting that the app be cheap and easy for them to manage. And it certainly hit the mark on both of those...

For a national news paper app this serves the award for worst app on offer. I've had this app on my iPad since it came out and was instantly put off by the layout and look. However, I decided to give it a go, and bought a Sunday issue. Unlike its counterparts, it's nothing like reading the newspaper. Instead you get a website style about that links to their articles. It's lazy, unattractive and just not accessible or true to the newspapers format.

Honest,y, avoid it. Is a waste of a download and even worse, a waste of an issue if you end up being foolish enough to buy one.

Woeful - do not subscribe

This app is truly woeful. I feel cheated. I wrongly assumed I was subscribing to an on-line version of the Sunday paper. What I got is a confusing website (little distinction between articles from the sunday paper and the 'daily post' website). There is no 'paper' to read - its simply a collection of article titles from the paper categorised into sections with absolutely no feel of a paper. You are left with a sense that you have neither 'read the paper', 'seen the paper' or even 'read a section'. No front page, no photographs, captions etc.

I really want my money back. I should have read the reviews prior to subscribing. I just assumed...

There isn't a large enough journalistic staff to expand on what it produces on Sundays - already, the likes of Pat Leahy and Ian Kehoe have upwards of four articles each week, and it's highly unusual for the editor to pen a piece, as Cliff Taylor did; it's unlikely that any more copy could be forced out of them without compromising quality. As a weekly paper with no daily sister-publication, and which provides semi-in-depth analysis, I think it should mimic the online strategies of the likes of The Economist and the Spectator in the UK which have very active blogs that keep their sites ticking-over alongside their weekly-updated content. Either way, it needs to drastically improve its online offering.


What are your opinions on what the strategy of the Sunday Business Post should be?

*Some of the above came from something I previously posted (how lazy I am!)

catallus

What the hell is the "Sunday Business Post"

jmcc

The poor old SBP is beginning to resemble that joke about how to make a small fortune in publishing (start with a big fortune). It was a good paper but it seems to have had problems coping with the changed economic conditions.

Regards...jmcc

IRE60

JTMan wrote: »

When Paul Cooke took over the Sunday Business Post he said something about how it would be profitable in 1 year. 1 year later, Taylor is gone and they are looking a commercially focuses editor. Translation, the SBP is burning through cash and they are looking for a miracle worker.

Paul Cooke will not find a miracle worker. The SBP is a niche regional, Sunday only, business, old media operation. Newspaper sales will continue to dwindle as part of the terminal decline of newspapers, no replacement for Taylor can do anything about that. App sales and website sales will continue to be a niche of a niche product, a drip drip increase in sales but not enough to pay wages.

The SBP are screwed. There is only one thing that keeps it going and that is Paul Cooke's big pockets. The question is just how rich is Paul Cooke? He was MD of Independent Star but that hardly made him mega bucks. He has made money from Key Capital but again I don't think it was mega bucks. For how long will he allow this old media venture dent his bank balance before he bows to the inevitable?

Even before we get into the detail - perhaps some perspective and correction to the above. Paul owns 17% of the Company, the staff 6% and Key Capital the rest. So, its not a matter of Paul's' deep pockets at all.

Szero

@JTMan - Your point is broadly right regarding deep pockets. You have the ownership wrong.

@IRE60 - You also have the ownership wrong. Key Capital do NOT own the remainder of the company. You are repeating widely incorrect media statements.

Here is the correct ownership. It is complex. Understandably some people are confused.

Brindisi own 100% of the SBP.

Who owns Brindisi? As at inception of Brindisi the ownership was as follows:
Paul Cooke: 16% stake.
Mallcot: 71% stake.
KCII: 13% stake.

There are press rumours that staff now have 7% of the company which would probably have been via a pro rata dilution of the above shareholders. There have been no CRO filling to confirm the 7% ownership thus far.

Conor Killeen and Mary Killeen jointly own Mallcot.

Conor Killeen is the biggest shareholder in KCII. There are other KCII shareholder as well.

KCII have an equity stake in Key Capital. Not visa versa.

Hence, Paul Cooke owns very little of the SBP. Key Capital own zero of the SBP despite the incorrect media reporting and comments above to the contrary. There is an indirect link to Key Capital never the less.

The effective owner is Conor Killeen.

The deep pockets comment is relevant in the context of Conor Killeen. He is the CEO of Key Capital. I have no idea how wealthy he is but one would think he has a few bob if he is burning money into old media newspapers.

IRE60

Szero wrote: »

@JTMan - Your point is broadly right regarding deep pockets. You have the ownership wrong.

@IRE60 - You also have the ownership wrong. Key Capital do NOT own the remainder of the company. You are repeating widely incorrect media statements.

Here is the correct ownership. It is complex. Understandably some people are confused.

Brindisi own 100% of the SBP.

Who owns Brindisi? As at inception of Brindisi the ownership was as follows:
Paul Cooke: 16% stake.
Mallcot: 71% stake.
KCII: 13% stake.

There are press rumours that staff now have 7% of the company which would probably have been via a pro rata dilution of the above shareholders. There have been no CRO filling to confirm the 7% ownership thus far.

Conor Killeen and Mary Killeen jointly own Mallcot.

Conor Killeen is the biggest shareholder in KCII. There are other KCII shareholder as well.

KCII have an equity stake in Key Capital. Not visa versa.

Hence, Paul Cooke owns very little of the SBP. Key Capital own zero of the SBP despite the incorrect media reporting and comments above to the contrary. There is an indirect link to Key Capital never the less.

The effective owner is Conor Killeen.

The deep pockets comment is relevant in the context of Conor Killeen. He is the CEO of Key Capital. I have no idea how wealthy he is but one would think he has a few bob if he is burning money into old media newspapers.

Fair enough, "the names have been changed to protect the innocent" - the parties involved are all the same, their nomme de guerre may have changed.

Loafing Oaf

Congratualations to Ian Kehoe on his appointment to the captaincy of The Titanic...
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/media-and-marketing/ian-kehoe-named-new-editor-of-sunday-business-post-1.1947874

Cooke talking up the 'new digital initiative', we'll see what that amounts to in time I suppose...

JTMan

Paul Cooke, in that article, claims that circulation has stabilised. Circulation was down 11.2% YoY and worse if you strip out increasing bulks. He also claims that circulation is over 34,000 by including free bulk copies in his numbers.

The Sunday Business Post digital version has been nothing short of a commercial disaster so far. There is little demand for a regional Sunday business publication. Difficult to see what Ian Kehoe can do to address this. He will be managing decline.

Raspberry Fileds

There's no way Pat Leahy was passed over in favour of a junior and less respected colleague (and if he was, you can expect his iminent departure from the paper). Therefore, he declined the top job. Why? Did he want to stay with the writing side of the paper? Possible, but, given that Taylor had a by-lined piece in each issue, unlikely. It is possible that he didn't want to involve himself in production, managemnt, strategy, etc, but what seems most likely is that he was not confident about the paper's prospects and elected not to tie himself to the mast. Does that mean he may soon be leaving?

IRE60

I note that the Pheonix had Ger Colleran tipped (published just prior to announcement). PC and Ger worked together for years in The Star.
I also note with iinterest that the Sunday Times went on its own and upped the cover price to E3. As some of you are aware, I spit out numbers over at ilevel.ie, I was just looking and one of the most visited single pages there is one on Irish Newspaper Prices (Just a table I keeep updating). Just shows you the interest in those stats.

C

manageit

So The Sunday Times has gone to €3, Indo next week.
Read the SBP today new editor in place, liked it.
Pat Leahy still writing piece on back page. Hope he does not leave he is a good journalist.
We badly need the SBP it is different. The Times and Indo are so alike they should merge, same political and economic viewpoints.

JTMan

manageit wrote: »

So The Sunday Times has gone to €3, Indo next week.

That will send circulation further south.

No doubt the SBP will hike their cover price too.

Loafing Oaf

JTMan wrote: »

That will send circulation further south.

Probably, but presumably they've calculated the extra they're taking in per issue will offset that. Although you'd imagine this particular revenue-raising strategy has now run out of road, and any further price increases would be counter-productive. Similar ceiling of €2 applies for the daily broadsheets I'd imagine...

flogen

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

There's no way Pat Leahy was passed over in favour of a junior and less respected colleague

His stint at Prime Time aside, you'd be certain to find at least one Kehoe story on the front page of each week's newspaper (and a few more inside). Aside from that, he has held a number of editorial roles in the newspaper over the years.

It's not accurate to describe him as junior to, or less respected than, Leahy.

As for why he got the job over Leahy - only a few people know the exact answer to that. That being said, if they're looking to maintain a niche as business-focused, it would make sense to go with someone with pedigree in that area, rather than one focused on politics.

Raspberry Fileds

flogen wrote: »

His stint at Prime Time aside, you'd be certain to find at least one Kehoe story on the front page of each week's newspaper (and a few more inside). Aside from that, he has held a number of editorial roles in the newspaper over the years.

It's not accurate to describe him as junior to, or less respected than, Leahy.

As for why he got the job over Leahy - only a few people know the exact answer to that. That being said, if they're looking to maintain a niche as business-focused, it would make sense to go with someone with pedigree in that area, rather than one focused on politics.

The reason for the quantity of Kehoe-articles is that there is such a small staff of journalists; Leahy also has several articles per issue.

Leahy is the Deputy Editor, so he is objectively senior to Kehoe. There are instances where the editor might be recruited from below that position (eg Kevin O'Sullivan from news editor), but, IMO, those are situations where the deputy editor isn't anymore involved in frequent writing. As conveyed above, that is not the case at the SBP.

As for being well respected, there's little doubt that Leahy is far more recogniseable than Kehoe; perhaps that's not the case within the paper (but I doubt it).

Since when has the SBP been business-focused? Yes, it covers business more than other titles, but it is more distinguishable by the greater depth of analysis in its stories - in whatever section. As economics editor at the IT, Taylor would have been closer to politics than business.

flogen

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

The reason for the quantity of Kehoe-articles is that there is such a small staff of journalists; Leahy also has several articles per issue.

So Kehoe has consistently had multiple front-page stories in the SBP because they were short-staffed? (And I never said Leahy wasn't prolific)

Leahy is the Deputy Editor, so he is objectively senior to Kehoe. There are instances where the editor might be recruited from below that position (eg Kevin O'Sullivan from news editor), but, IMO, those are situations where the deputy editor isn't anymore involved in frequent writing. As conveyed above, that is not the case at the SBP.

Kehoe was assistant editor - is that junior to a deputy?

That aside, you're suggesting deputy editors tend to be next in line for the top job, but that's not borne out by the facts... just look at editorial movements in the IT and Indo over the past few years (even decades) and you'll struggle to see any moves from deputy to editor.

As for being well respected, there's little doubt that Leahy is far more recogniseable than Kehoe; perhaps that's not the case within the paper (but I doubt it).

Firstly, you're equating 'recognisable' with 'respected'. And what makes you doubt that one is more or less recognisable to colleagues than the other?

And when you say recognisable, what do you mean? Is it that one does analysis on TV and radio programmes you tune into more than the other? Is that an important factor in choosing a newspaper editor?

Since when has the SBP been business-focused?

The clue is in the name.

As economics editor at the IT, Taylor would have been closer to politics than business.

Taylor - and the role of economics editor in general - is not more of a political position than a business one.

Raspberry Fileds

@flogen: Your style of argument irks me, so I'm not going to respond.

Just noticed that Taylor has been appointed Managing Editor at the Irish Times with a "lead writing role in areas ranging from business to politics": Cliff Taylor appointed ‘Irish Times’ Managing Editor | Irish Times.

IRE60

"Kehoe was assistant editor - is that junior to a deputy"

Deputy is normally one and second in command to the Editor - assistants- there can be many

flogen

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

@flogen: Your style of argument irks me, so I'm not going to respond.

Okay so.

IRE60 wrote: »

"Kehoe was assistant editor - is that junior to a deputy"

Deputy is normally one and second in command to the Editor - assistants- there can be many

I don't know enough about the inner workings of the SBP to say which role was more senior, or even what the workload of each involved. From what I can see, though, it can differ from place to place. I'm also not sure if Kehoe was the only assistant there, or one of many.

PirateParty

flogen wrote: »

Okay so.



I don't know enough about the inner workings of the SBP to say which role was more senior, or even what the workload of each involved. From what I can see, though, it can differ from place to place. I'm also not sure if Kehoe was the only assistant there, or one of many.

Assistant is below Deputy Editor. Now continue.