Journalism Daily: Trinity Mirror’s Midlands consultation, Wikipedia’s editorial changes and the industry chicken and egg conundrum

Media Release: Birmingham Post launches sister title Birmingham Post Lite

April 16th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Local media, Media releases, Newspapers

As reported by The Business Desk West Midlands earlier this week, Trinity Mirror is launching a new freesheet as a sister paper to the paid-for Birmingham Post, which changed from a daily to weekly publication last year.

Birmingham Post Lite will be delivered to around 18,000 homes in the south Birmingham areas of Harborne and Moseley and will contain a selection of the Birmingham Post’s editorial content and material from its Post Property magazine, says a release.

The new newspaper will not carry the paid-for Post’s specialised business
and financial news. Instead it will combine south Birmingham news with the features and leisure content from the Post’s award-winning team.

The BusinessDesk (TBD) had the date pegged as April 22, but suggests the launch is a direct response to plans for a new rival title, the Birmingham Press, from newspaper entrepreneur Chris Bullivant.

“The title (…) is intended to go head-to-head with the Press in the battle to secure advertising from the city’s mid-market estate agents,” says TBD’s report.

Tags: Birmingham Post, Birmingham Post Lite, Birmingham Press, Chris Bullivant, local and regional media, Local newspapers, Trinity Mirror

Former Birmingham Post editor to launch West Midlands business site

January 27th, 2010 | 1 Comment | Posted by Judith Townend in Journalism, Newspapers, Online Journalism

It is thought that Marc Reeves, former editor of the Birmingham Post, is to launch a West Midlands franchise of TheBusinessdesk.com.

First publicly reported on Jon Slattery’s blog and on the Drum (in a story with a dead link), the news follows industry speculation and hints of pastures new on Reeves’ blog.

Journalism.co.uk has learned the site will be run by Reeves – who left the Post at the end of 2009 when the the Trinity Mirror title went weekly – and two other journalists. One of the journalists involved is believed to be the former Birmingham Post deputy business editor, Duncan Tift.

It is understood that Reeves has begun offering banner advertising for the new site.

Reeves, who we were unable to contact today, was recently appointed to the panel to decide the Independently Funded News Consortia pilots.

The Business Desk, who could not be contacted for comment today either, was launched in 2007 as business online-only news site for Yorkshire, by former Yorkshire Post business editor, David Parkin. Former Yorkshire Post journalists Ian Briggs and Anastasia Weiner also joined the site.

In 2008, the Business Desk also launched in the north west. At the time Parkin told Journalism.co.uk:

“We think it can work in every region in the country. We’ve got to see how it goes in the north west, but we don’t want to stop here.”

“We are purely online, that’s all we do. All the other players in the area have a print product to support,” he added.

Tags: Anastasia Weiner, Birmingham Post, Business, David Parkin, Duncan Tift, Ian Briggs, Jon Slattery, Marc Reeves, media, Trinity Mirror PLC, West Midlands, Yorkshire Post

A video every regional newspaper editor (and journalist) should watch

January 2nd, 2010 | 2 Comments | Posted by John Thompson in Journalism, Multimedia, Newspapers

Former Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves made the following speech “Does business news no longer make for a good business?” to Warwick Business School back in October 2009 (while he was still in post).

Although ostensibly focused on business journalism, it is also a succinct analysis of the current state of newspaper publishing and the true nature of its economic model, with some suggestions for what could well become a blueprint for the future recovery of the industry.

You can also read a full transcript of the speech on Reeves’ own blog.

Tags: Birmingham Post, Marc Reeves, Newspapers, YouTube

The Drum: Marc Reeves on leaving the Birmingham Post

December 23rd, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Newspapers

On New Year’s Day 2010, I will for the first time in 25 years not be employed by a newspaper publisher.

Marc Reeves, outgoing editor of the Birmingham Post, describes his reasons for not only leaving the paper, but leaving the newspaper industry altogether.

(…) I’ve decided to get out, not because I think there’s no future in newspapers, but because I believe that they and and a whole new generation of media brands and services are more sustainable if they’re unencumbered by the legacy and costly infrastructure of the big media owners.

Reeves does think there could be a reversal in fortunes for some large regional groups, but adds:

There may even be newspapers that, having taken radical steps to meet the challenge, will improve their circulation performance (note performance – not sales). The trick for the big companies is to keep all these plates spinning long enough to reach the moment when revenue from their digital operations is sufficient to underpin the whole business.

Full post at this link…

Also worth a read is departing Birmingham Post journalist Jo Ind’s farewell blog post: http://blogs.birminghampost.net/lifestyle/2009/12/bye-bye-birmingham-post.html

Tags: Birmingham Post, Marc Reeves

Trinity Mirror announces exit for Birmingham Post and Mail editors

October 20th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Job losses, Jobs, Newspapers

UPDATE – Full report on changes at BPM Media now available on Journalism.co.uk.

Trinity Mirror has announced that Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson and Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves will step down from their roles by the end of the year, as part of wider changes at BPM Media.

Dave Brookes, Coventry Telegraph editor, has been named as editor-in-chief across all BPM titles (Post, Mail, Telegraph and Sunday Mercury) and as editor of the Birmingham Mail.

The changes, which are the result of a consultation at Trinity’s Birmingham division, will include:

The Post going weekly
A risk of approximately 40 editorial redundancies
A further 42 redundancies from the transport, distribution and newspaper sales departments

Tags: Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post, Trinity Mirror

#FollowJourn: @steve_nicholls/multimedia editor

September 30th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Donna Goddard in Recommended journalists

#FollowJourn: Steve Nicholls

Who? Multimedia editor, Birmingham Post.

What? He previously worked as multimedia editor for Trinity Mirror Midlands and BPM Media (Midlands).

Where? @steve_nicholls and http://www.birminghampost.net/

Contact? steve.nicholls [ at] birminghampost.net

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura [at] journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

Tags: Birmingham Post, BPM Media, editor, multimedia editor, Steve Nicholls, trinity mirror midlands

Journalism Daily: More on online sub-editing and public interest journalism

September 7th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Journalism Daily

A daily round-up of all the content published on the Journalism.co.uk site. You can also sign up to our e-newsletter and subscribe to the feed for the Journalism Daily here.

News and features:

Ed’s Picks:

Tip of the Day:

Get journalism training updates

#FollowJourn:

@stevewollaston/multimedia editor

On the Editors’ Blog:

Tags: Australia, BBC, BBC Radio Devon, Birmingham Post, Coventry University, e-newsletter, EnvironmentGuardian.co.uk, Foundation for Public Interest Journalism in Australia, GBP, greg keane, Guardian.co.uk, Journalism Daily, Journalism. co.uk, Managing Editor, Mark Grinnell, News Corp, Online sub-editing, Putin, the Journalism Daily

Birmingham Post: Coventry University launches health journalism course

September 7th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Training

Coventry University has launched a postgraduate course in health journalism. The university believes it is the first of its kind in Europe and hopes the new MA will address the ‘massive gap’ in training of specialist journalists in this area.

Full story at this link…

Tags: Birmingham Post, Coventry University, Europe, health journalism

Birmingham Post News Blog: ‘Why the Post must go weekly’

August 26th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Newspapers

Marc Reeves, editor of the Birmingham Post, explains the economic and structural reasons behind publisher Trinity Mirror’s decision to switch the Post from a daily to a weekly title.

In exemplary style on the site’s news blog (‘it’s absolutely the right thing to do to give the whole region a say in what could be the most important decision for the Post in its 151-year history’) Reeves outlines why the move to weekly is the best option for the Post in light of these pressures.

“The weekly model will provide a much more comprehensive package of information, entertainment and advertising, and I believe will do more to preserve the brand values of the Post, and therefore offer a more sustainable future for the title. We think we will be able to retain most of the essential elements that exist in the current model and incorporate them in a weekly Post.”

Full post at this link…

Tags: Birmingham Post, editor, Marc Reeves, the Birmingham Post, Trinity Mirror