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manchester revisited The feature Made In Manchester was useful in raising the profile of independent community newspapers at a critical time. There is no doubt that enterprises such as the Salford Star and Mule in Manchester are part of the answer to the journalistic deficit growing up in the UK and Ireland as a result of massive cuts. Yes, there are huge journalistic problems in the ‘mainstream media’ where staffing has been hammered and many good, experienced journalists have melted away after waves of redundancies. Resources are spread almost unbearably thinly by profit-grabbing media corporations who couldn’t care less about their community responsibilities. But the fact is our members at those titles do care and do unbelievably good work in spite of the horrendous cuts they have to constantly battle against. The Manchester Evening News (MEN) is still a quality regional capable of strong and effective campaigning. The fact remains that the powerful and the rich still quake at the printed media and our members are still perfectly capable of using that power properly. It is also worth reminding ourselves that it is still the mainstream media where most of our members earn their living. Chris Morley Northern and Midlands organiser
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Every day TV and national papers follow our stories I was enraged and bemused by Rachel Broady’s simplistic and inaccurate view of journalism in Manchester. She suggests that because the MEN Media HQ is six miles out of the city it ‘is not relied on for local interest stories’. An interviewee claims ‘community activism is completely ignored’ by us and suggests there is ‘little critical reporting of the council’. Miss Broady – a former MEN employee – should have a better grip on reality. The final kick in the teeth is her suggestion that now the paper has left the city ‘people have... the opportunity to find and provide news that matters to them’. MEN and its 20-plus weeklies set the news agenda for Greater Manchester every day through its 60 journalists. We are never complacent. Competition means our papers have to find exclusive stories. We ask questions others don’t, dig deeper and have impeccable contacts. Every day,
regional TV and national papers follow up our scoops. Miss Broady implies that we have turned our backs on traditional heartlands. Completely untrue. Day and night, we are in those communities. For 20 years I scoured Salford. Meetings bring the best stories – a fact instilled in all of our reporters. Neal Keeling MEN Chief Reporter and FoC
Our reporters have shown great professionalism It is with great disappointment that I write following the article Made in Manchester – the Journalist February/ March 2011. As editor of the Salford Advertiser I took great offence at comments implying my hard-working team and colleagues on the Manchester Evening News are involved in a ‘news blackout’. Yes our regional offices closed, yes we moved out of the city centre and yes distribution has reduced in some areas
but to suggest that any of these factors have affected the passion, dedication and skills of the journalists within MEN Media is outrageous. Reporters are in our communities, diligently covering council meetings and embracing the multimedia world. We hold the authorities accountable and certainly don’t ignore anything that affects our readers. Our reporters have shown great professionalism at a time of huge change and go beyond the call of duty to produce excellent publications. Stephen Kingston on the Salford Star plays an important role, but to use the pages of The Journalist to criticise members who work within MEN Media is unacceptable. My colleagues and I were saddened to be at the end of such a negative tirade when, at the end of the day, we are all in this together – or so we thought. Stephanie Nelson Manchester
What about our city office and satellites? So, Manchester faces a news blackout. The pages of MEN Media’s flagship daily and long-standing weeklies go unturned, its websites fail to obtain a single hit and its reporters sit in their Oldham office oblivious to any breaking ‘local interest stories.’ It would be a bleak picture painted by Rachel Broady in the last issue of the Journalist if it were reality. Fortunately, hard-working NUJ members have made the best out of the move to Chadderton – they are out there conducting interviews, attending courts, events and council meetings and reacting quickly to news so they can get exclusive stories, give readers a voice and hold the powerful to account. It is also inaccurate to claim that the group has abandoned the city – has your writer failed to notice our city centre office or the new satellite offices opening up in other town centres? We could have corrected these mistakes had we had been contacted before publication. Instead we have been left reeling from an unjust attack by an NUJ member whose research appears to have been lacking. Bethan Dorsett Deputy MEN MoC
We have the most driven newsdesk in the country How could Rachel Broady have given such a false impression of what MEN Media journalists do? Her article purporting to be about community media was snide, partial and inaccurate. Its hook was the fact that when we were taken over by Trinity Mirror we moved from Manchester to Oldham. Were we happy to move? No. Did we make a fuss? Of course. Has it worsened our coverage of our heartland? No. Thanks to the best technology and the brightest journalists led by the most driven newsdesk in the country, we probably do a better job than ever. theJournalist | 25
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