Nick Cohen and the Observer

[Serge Forward]

I don't think the Guardian has ever been the most popular newspaper website - at least not in recent years.

Because it's a friend dropping in?

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I think it's going to pivot on what 'used for news' means isn't it. The Mail site gets more visits - do they go there 'for news' though?

ETA: TBH though it's not that important is it? It's a major news site for sure, that's enough for the point to stand.

 

[editor]

Because it's a friend dropping in?

I've literally no idea what you mean here, sorry.

 

[Serge Forward]

It was the old advertising slogan of the Manchester Evening News... admittedy, that was in the 70s when I used to deliver it, so a bit obscure.

Aargh... and I replied to the wrong post. It should have been to killer b 's!!!

 

[TopCat]

Filth right wing nonce cunt.

 

[Smangus]

Filth right wing nonce cunt.

I think you should say what you mean for once.

 

[TopCat]

I think you should say what you mean for once.

I know, I keep beating around the bush.

 

[Dystopiary]

Unless I'm missing something really obvious, the silence from the liberal blue tick people on twitter so far has been deafening.

There's no way they can all have missed this. Aside from Maugham and Dr Gurdasani, nobody with any kind of significant public platform seems to be prepared to stand up for these women, ask Cohen to respond or call out his employers. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Dystopiary]

No column from him in the Observer today. Still a wall of silence from his associates.

 

[William of Walworth]

Why bother trying to make the distinction on a thread exposing someone as a sex pest? You don't want the sex pest associated with your beloved newspaper? Hard luck there - it's a distinction your beloved newspaper is very happy to blur so they can have content on Sundays and more readers for their sister newspaper's articles.

Bolded bit : That's insanely! out of order. Apologise, please.

I had/have no time at all for Nick Cohen, even before I picked up on this sex-pest stuff recently

And your slack, throwaway, 'your beloved newspaper' shit just recycles ancient (and ultra-insulting!) cliches on Urban about me being a 'Guardian-worshipper' ... I've for years permanemtly excluded myself from the 'Guardian going downhill' thread for reasons

At times on here in fact, I've been a more accurate critic of that newspaper than most, simply because I read the bloody thing enough (properly) to grasp its (many!) faults!

 

[William of Walworth]

Just to be clear anyway, I do agree with many posting on this thread, that Nick Cohen is an out of order tosser, and big-style ....

 

[Dystopiary]

He 's back in the Observer today and has starting posting on twitter again, after over a week of just retweeting. Perhaps he feels that was long enough for it to all blow over.

 

[Dystopiary]

Maugham has posted this thread on twitter; since he spoke about Nick Cohen and Guardian News Media (GNM)'s efforts to discourage complaints from two women, more people have contacted him to talk about their experiences at GNM. Some quotes:

I had never previously met any of the women who contacted me. They were motivated to get in touch by their experience that GNM cannot be trusted to investigate complaints and/or has actively sought to discourage them. And they want things to be better.

Before tweeting, I also reached out to a board member of the Scott Trust - which owns GNM - but received no reply.

W3, who had worked in other newsrooms at other major national newspapers, spoke of how, before she had joined the Guardian she had been warned about the culture but GNM was far worse than she had expected or experienced elsewhere.

Another woman, W4, explained how, as a work experience student, she was asked to pose for pornographic photographs by a staff photographer. What she described was a highly developed modus operandi - by a man who showed her pornographic photos he had taken of other young women.

W5 told me of how she had experienced bullying by a named senior executive. The name she gave me was the name of the same “senior executive” (see above) who W2 considered had also discouraged her from bringing a complaint.

 

[steveseagull]

Oh. Some news.

 

[T & P]

I knew he was a right cunt when he announced himself as a rabid cheerleader for Tony Blair's Iraq war. Now it turns out he's an even bigger cunt.

 

[TopCat]

A low rent Rod Liddle. No doubt the Daily Mail beckons

 

[Whagwan]

Of course in the Torygraph, it's because the trans cancelled him...

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Why is the Manchester Evening News read more than loads of national titles though??

Because it's full of clickbait, lots of 'news' about Corrie cast members and other slebs, including reality TV 'stars,' footballers and their WAGs, plus random articles from elsewhere in the country of the 'angry people in local newspaper' about neighbour disputes, people doing idiotic things, consumer stuff, etc.

Plus, speaking of footballers, two of the countries biggest and most well-known and well-supported clubs in the country are in Manchester, so their sports coverage will generate lots of traffic.

A lot of what they publish isn't local Manchester news, so it gains a wider audience, although they do cover local stuff across Greater Manchester, which has a large population, including culture and entertainment, so What's On stuff, plus more general arts and culture, concerts, restaurants, etc.

The MEN website is a totally different beast to what MEN newspaper used to be.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Because it's full of clickbait, lots of 'news' about Corrie cast members and other slebs, including reality TV 'stars,' footballers and their WAGs, plus random articles from elsewhere in the country of the 'angry people in local newspaper' about neighbour disputes, people doing idiotic things, consumer stuff, etc.

Plus, speaking of footballers, two of the countries biggest and most well-known and well-supported clubs in the country are in Manchester, so their sports coverage will generate lots of traffic.

A lot of what they publish isn't local Manchester news, so it gains a wider audience, although they do cover local stuff across Greater Manchester, which has a large population, including culture and entertainment, so What's On stuff, plus more general arts and culture, concerts, restaurants, etc.

The MEN website is a totally different beast to what MEN newspaper used to be.

That's because the Guardian Media Group sold it in 2010 to Trinity Mirror, now Reach PLC - publisher of the Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star and shedloads of other regional and local papers, and lots of editorial, esp. clickbait stuff, is shared across the group's websites, it's a cheap way of building content on their various sites.

 

[Serge Forward]

For a "local" paper the MEN wasn't totally shite several decades ago. It was also associated with the Guardian (at least, it was in the same building at the end of Deansgate). Recent editions I've seen have been dire, and the website is even worse and impossible to navigate through the pop up shite. The content is as AnnO'Neemus describes.

 

[cupid_stunt]

For a "local" paper the MEN wasn't totally shite several decades ago. It was also associated with the Guardian (at least, it was in the same building at the end of Deansgate). Recent editions I've seen have been dire, and the website is even worse and impossible to navigate through the pop up shite. The content is as AnnO'Neemus describes.

The MEN was sold to the Manchester Guardian, which became the national Guardian, in the late 1800s, so a bit more than just associated with the Guardian.

 

[cupid_stunt]

BTW, the MEN used to sell hundreds of thousands of copies daily, that's down to about 12,000 now plus 9,000 free copies, and Reach has announced they are going cease the free distribution of copies this month, and close the remaining editions of the free Manchester Weekly News.

A weekly newspaper dubbed “Britain’s biggest” at the time of its launch is closing for good after seven years in print.

Reach plc has announced the closure of the Manchester Weekly News in a move that will also see it cease free distribution of the Manchester Evening News from the middle of August.

The company has made the decision, which it calls a “pivotal moment”, on the grounds that it can now reach potential customers for its advertisers at a greater scale digitally than through free print products.

Newspapers in print form just continue to decline year by year, loads more will be closing, I noticed the other day that the West Sussex Gazette only sells about 400 copies nowadays, how the fuck can that work?

 

[killer b]

Because it's full of clickbait, lots of 'news' about Corrie cast members and other slebs, including reality TV 'stars,' footballers and their WAGs, plus random articles from elsewhere in the country of the 'angry people in local newspaper' about neighbour disputes, people doing idiotic things, consumer stuff, etc.

All local newspaper websites do this though

 

[cupid_stunt]

All local newspaper websites do this though

They don't, mine certainly doesn't, some do to a degree, but Reach is the worst for it, as they have created loads of clickbait stories for their three national tabloid titles, so there's little cost involved in sharing them across the group's regional & local sites. For other groups, or independents, it would cost a lot to commission such content, or buy it in from news agencies, it's not worth doing.

 

[killer b]

They don't, mine certainly doesn't, some do to a degree, but Reach is the worst for it, as they have created loads of clickbait stories for their three national tabloid titles, so there's little cost involved in sharing them across the group's regional & local sites. For other groups, or independents, it would cost a lot to commission such content, or buy it in from news agencies, it's not worth doing.

If it's because they're part of the Reach group, why isn't the Liverpool Echo, the Bristol Post and the Staines Informer not doing the same numbers as national titles too?

 

[cupid_stunt]

If it's because they're part of the Reach group, why isn't the Liverpool Echo, the Bristol Post and the Staines Informer not doing the same numbers as national titles too?

It's down to editors at the various locations if they wish to use content by other group titles, and how much of it, so it will vary a lot, plus, of course, the MEN has the advantage of two big football clubs, which will add sizeable numbers to their reach, as AnnO'Neemus pointed out.

 

[Dystopiary]

Of course in the Torygraph, it's because the trans cancelled him...

View attachment 335772

This is bloody awful.

 

[JimW]

Local journo in Stroud I vaguely know as he was the football correspondent got sacked by whoever that lot are who do all the locals so started an independent paper for the town first entirely online and was surprised to see they've just started a print edition too. Seem to be doing OK, fair bit of advertorial but also decent news and a clean website.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Bristol 24/7 is a successful local news site that was started up by a Post hack using his redundancy pay-off. Later on it was bought and operated by one of the more prominent veteran Bristol bloggers, and they seem to be surviving, albeit leaning more into the cultural stuff, with paid staff.

 

[Orang Utan]

Leeds Live is not so plagued with ads compared to the YEP, which also has a limit on how many articles you read, and Leeds Lives’ lead writer is called Wayne Ankers (his actual name honest!), so if YEP blocks me from viewing a story I just look it up there instead