The decline continues

IRE60 · 12-06-2020 9:37pm

That was a feature to cover the C19 sales period, according to them...however...

I can see everything going tits up. On News UK, their last cert said you can email a request for the figures. Still.....waiting........!

Muahahaha · 15-06-2020 11:11am

Id imagine the Indo and others are keeping close tabs on the ongoing Facebook/Google vs. the Australian print media case. The publishers are trying to establish a new system whereby Facebook pays them when their content gets shared.

Facebook are playing hard ball saying that if they got rid of all news from their site there would be no significant impact on their business. Also read a claim that in 3 months Facebook 'facilitated' 3 billion click throughs to Aussie news media sites which would have led to $195m in advertising revenues for them, according to Facebook themselves.

It seems to me like something is going to give here and it could be then used as a model worldwide if Facebook relent in Australia. The default position of the Australian media industry and government seems to be that something has to change, as like here they have had big job losses in media and the closure of lots of local newspapers.

Would imagine if Facebook come to a deal to pay to share content European titles will seek to do similar. Remains to be seen if such a system would pass muster with EU competition law, Facebooks claim is that they would be forced to subsidise websites that they are also competing against for advertising spends.

bcklschaps · 15-06-2020 11:20am

NIMAN wrote: »

I'm not sure what is going on with the Indo website but they have match reports from euro2012?

There's no current sport....and they have no staff to write about it even if there was. Soo they have some spotty intern dredging through their 'archive' to pull out some 'classics' to fill the newspaper/website.

jmcc · 15-06-2020 12:21pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Id imagine the Indo and others are keeping close tabs on the ongoing Facebook/Google vs. the Australian print media case. The publishers are trying to establish a new system whereby Facebook pays them when their content gets shared.

This is the kind of Google/EvilCorp scumbaggery that will give newspaper and other media publishers sleepless nights:

https://hackernoon.com/how-wikipedia-lost-3-billion-organic-search-visits-to-google-in-2019-qz6630u6

Regards...jmcc

expectationlost · 16-06-2020 12:29am

Muahahaha wrote: »

Id imagine the Indo and others are keeping close tabs on the ongoing Facebook/Google vs. the Australian print media case. The publishers are trying to establish a new system whereby Facebook pays them when their content gets shared.

Facebook are playing hard ball saying that if they got rid of all news from their site there would be no significant impact on their business. Also read a claim that in 3 months Facebook 'facilitated' 3 billion click throughs to Aussie news media sites which would have led to $195m in advertising revenues for them, according to Facebook themselves.

It seems to me like something is going to give here and it could be then used as a model worldwide if Facebook relent in Australia. The default position of the Australian media industry and government seems to be that something has to change, as like here they have had big job losses in media and the closure of lots of local newspapers.

Would imagine if Facebook come to a deal to pay to share content European titles will seek to do similar. Remains to be seen if such a system would pass muster with EU competition law, Facebooks claim is that they would be forced to subsidise websites that they are also competing against for advertising spends.

the wonderful australian press, we couldn't lose it and its contribution to democracy https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jun/14/journalists-at-the-age-express-alarm-over-increasing-politicisation-and-loss-of-independence

expectationlost · 26-06-2020 7:08pm

i Newspaper Available on the Irish Market From Tomorrow https://www.adworld.ie/2020/06/19/dmg-media-ireland-is-to-launch-the-i-newspaper-on-the-irish-market-tomorrow-june-20th/ are many going to buy this?

IRE60 · 26-06-2020 7:48pm

expectationlost wrote: »

i Newspaper Available on the Irish Market From Tomorrow https://www.adworld.ie/2020/06/19/dmg-media-ireland-is-to-launch-the-i-newspaper-on-the-irish-market-tomorrow-june-20th/ are many going to buy this?

Some fcuking necks. its 65p in the UK M-S and £1.20 on Sunday. Cant understand that. It's a crowded, declining and expensive market as it stands. There will be 13 Papers on the Newstands in the morning now!

L1011 · 26-06-2020 7:50pm

I saw one and was wondering when they'd (re?) introduced it.

Loafing Oaf · 19-07-2020 1:18am

Hugh Linehan scrutinising the Guardian's decision to slash its Saturday offering here. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/guardian-axing-its-popular-saturday-supplements-is-an-odd-decision-1.4306166
He really gets to the nub of that paper's predicament:

But with the Guardian, it has seemed at times as if the company wanted to accelerate the demise of its printed newspaper so that it could become purely digital as soon as possible.

This bold strategy would be more impressive if it weren’t for the fact that the Guardian has lost vast amounts of money in pursuit of it and would be insolvent by now if it hadn’t been able to draw on the substantial reserves held by its parent company.

JTMan · 20-07-2020 6:12pm

The magazine sector is particularly screwed ...

Q magazine to fold after 34 years. Article here.

In May, its owner Bauer Media had put the title under review along with a number of others in its portfolio, as sales and advertising revenues diminished during the coronavirus pandemic. “The pandemic and lockdown has further accelerated the trends already affecting the publishing industry,” Chris Duncan, the chief executive of UK publishing, said when announcing the plans. Its circulation had dwindled to 28,359, with less than half of that coming from newsstand sales, compared with a peak of more than 200,000 in 2001.

Beechwoodspark · 22-07-2020 9:54am

Would buy Q maybe 3 times a year and always a good read. I found myself gravitating more towards mojo and uncut in recent years as Q seemed to go down the pop route a bit more, maybe that’s just me getting older!

I particularly enjoyed their end of year issue with albums of the year count down.

I remember they did a great article about U2 and dublin a few years back too.

sad to see it fold.

Surprised they havnt started up a subscription based app instead?

JTMan · 22-07-2020 10:20am

A lot of magazines have digital subscription options but most have only achieved very low digital subscription numbers. Not enough to even slightly negate print decline.

JTMan · 23-07-2020 6:51pm

INM sells its 50% stake in Irish Daily Star to Reach. More here.

The consolidation trend in the declining newspaper market continues.

L1011 · 23-07-2020 6:55pm

The Irish Daily Mirror is fairly skeleton isn't it? Merged newsrooms would be the obvious thing there; the Star's remaining selling point is sports.

JTMan · 23-07-2020 7:24pm

Yeah, Reach merged the Express, Mirror and Star pressrooms in the UK after the acquisition there. One would guess that something similar will happen here.

At it's speak, The Irish Daily Star had circulation of 110k per day, it is now 32k per day.

Consolidation buys time.

Loafing Oaf · 26-07-2020 10:00pm

Interesting piece by John Burns about what's starting to look like a stampede by journalists into government jobs, presumably prompted by the recent defections by Fiach Kelly, deputy political editor of The Irish Times, and Susan Mitchell, deputy editor of the Business Post.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-journalism-no-longer-a-vocation-and-now-just-a-job-gn7hwp9jc?shareToken=3e7016c9eb98879659fe4d73f49087de

Although if, as Burns notes, this trend can be seen as "a symptom of industry decline", you'd wonder how much 'press' there will be left for these guys to advise government ministers on in the years to come.:p

strandroad · 26-07-2020 10:03pm

The Irish Garden magazine suspended publishing until the new year. Apparently their sales actually increased but advertisers were hit hard and could not commit. A supermarket stand staple gone...

dulpit · 26-07-2020 10:18pm

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Interesting piece by John Burns about what's starting to look like a stampede by journalists into government jobs, presumably prompted by the recent defections by Fiach Kelly, deputy political editor of The Irish Times, and Susan Mitchell, deputy editor of the Business Post.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-journalism-no-longer-a-vocation-and-now-just-a-job-gn7hwp9jc?shareToken=3e7016c9eb98879659fe4d73f49087de

Although if, as Burns notes, this trend can be seen as "a symptom of industry decline", you'd wonder how much 'press' there will be left for these guys to advise government ministers on in the years to come.:p

Where is Fiach Kelly going? Hadn't heard anything..

Loafing Oaf · 26-07-2020 10:25pm

dulpit wrote: »

Where is Fiach Kelly going? Hadn't heard anything..

Press adviser to Helen McEntee

dulpit · 27-07-2020 10:18am

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Press adviser to Helen McEntee

Shame. Good for him I guess, but I enjoyed his work.

Loafing Oaf · 27-07-2020 10:28am

This trend first struck me a few years ago when Chris Donoghue left Newstalk to work as an advisor for Simon Coveney. I mean here was a guy who you would think would have had his pick of positions in radio leaving the sector for what I would have regarded as a 'boring civil service job'.

Presumably job security is a major factor driving the trend but wasn't this always an issue to some extent in the media? As Burns says, better pay and conditions must also be behind it to some extent...

yosser hughes · 27-07-2020 10:58am

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

This trend first struck me a few years ago when Chris Donoghue left Newstalk to work as an advisor for Simon Coveney. I mean here was a guy who you would think would have had his pick of positions in radio leaving the sector for what I would have regarded as a 'boring civil service job'.

Presumably job security is a major factor driving the trend but wasn't this always an issue to some extent in the media? As Burns says, better pay and conditions must also be behind it to some extent...

Really? I thought he was a complete lightweight and came across as very wet behind the ears. Not to mind his inability to be impartial but that doesn't seem to matter these days. I don't think anyone else would have been queuing up to offer him anything.
Getting the government gig would have been a massive pay rise for him. Of course he grabbed it with both hands. It's a promotion way beyond his competence. I couldn't believe he was offered it.

J_M_G · 27-07-2020 12:32pm

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Interesting piece by John Burns about what's starting to look like a stampede by journalists into government jobs, presumably prompted by the recent defections by Fiach Kelly, deputy political editor of The Irish Times, and Susan Mitchell, deputy editor of the Business Post.

Although if, as Burns notes, this trend can be seen as "a symptom of industry decline", you'd wonder how much 'press' there will be left for these guys to advise government ministers on in the years to come.:p

It's almost as if the refrain we've heard all these years from journalists (activists) about how essential they all are for "speaking truth to power!" and how they are an independent force for "protecting our precious democracy!" and are "definitely not just mouthpieces for the establishment in any way!"....

...is looking increasingly clear to anyone paying attention, to have been a giant steaming pile of bs. Are the dissident voices of independent analysts, bloggers, youtubers, etc who routinely oppose the establishment narrative going to be offered any nice cosy jobs in the public sector? I think we all know the answer to that.

The reality is that the entirety of the legacy media was ALWAYS something that paid lip service to holding politicians to account. Sure you can find examples here and there of some exposé of a corrupt minister or what have you. But no serious ideological opposition or even mere questioning of the status quo has existed in a long long time.

Maybe journalism was once a genuine endeavor, independent of the establishment. A fourth estate that reflected the opinions of the populace it purported to represent. That time, if it ever existed, is long gone however. The legacy media can't die quick enough.

Gloomtastic! · 27-07-2020 1:21pm

But surely political advisors only last as long as their political masters. So you might get four/five years work out of it but what then?

J_M_G · 27-07-2020 1:35pm

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

But surely political advisors only last as long as their political masters. So you might get four/five years work out of it but what then?

Onto the next TD or councillor! When there's little to no ideological difference between them, it's not unrealistic to simply keep hopping from one to the next. And sure if there's no available positions, there's always the NGO fallback. God knows we have a seemingly unlimited supply of those. Many at least partially government funded too. And all essentially ideologically aligned with the progressive liberal orthodoxy of the day. How convenient!

Worst case scenario, five years on the gravy train and a CV that proves your establishment bona fides for your next job hunt isn't too bad a deal if you're a careerist shill like these ex-"journalists". Especially one who has no qualms about trivial things like honesty, integrity or responsibility to something greater than their own personal enrichment.

dulpit · 27-07-2020 2:01pm

J_M_G wrote: »

Especially one who has no qualms about trivial things like honesty, integrity or responsibility to something greater than their own personal enrichment.

Yes, but what do you really feel about this? :pac:

J_M_G · 27-07-2020 2:55pm

dulpit wrote: »

Yes, but what do you really feel about this? :pac:

If I told you how I really feel, I'd be banned instantly.

IRE60 · 27-07-2020 4:00pm

The primary focus of any political advisor is to get their boss re-elected!

Loafing Oaf · 27-07-2020 4:12pm

IRE60 wrote: »

The primary focus of any political advisor is to get their boss re-elected!

Well yeah surely anyone accepting one of these positions is agreeing to toe the party/government line and knows that if they started using it to advance their own political agenda they would be out on their ear quick smart. Rather than 'ideological conformity', I suspect the reason so many of them are offered to former journos, particularly those with editorial experience, is they will have built up a very relevant set of skills for the job.

Anyway, the pertinent question for this thread is not why so many 'special advisor' are offered to former journalists but why so many journalists, even those in prominent roles, have been rushing to take up such positions in recent years. As Burns implies, it does seem to reflect a pervasive loss of confidence in the future of the profession...

IRE60 · 27-07-2020 5:03pm

In summary, the industry in which they plied their trade has 'sh1t the bed'

The decline continues

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