Guardian Print Media Page - what we might be missing

See previous post, I cannot find Media page in print version of Guardian today. Same last week. No reply yet to tweet query. Same last week.

Have now found blog from Roy Greenslade, might have been intended for print when budgets allowed. My guess, happy to repeat any accurate info from Guardian on when if ever Media page returns.

Very interesting blog post, should be widely known.

Demise of tabloids linked to rightwing politics. Brexit papers listed as Mail. Express, Sun. Should include Telegraph to get a higher number.

Some 64% of Express readers and 63% of Mail readers are aged over 55, while 55% of the Sun’s audience is aged over 45........The rightwing press is heading for its coffin.

But what about newspapers in general? Fairness for the The Mirror-

...staff cuts have had a deleterious effect on its output. It cannot match the Mail for the quantity and range of its content nor the quality of its reporting.
As the Labour party’s faithful supporter, it has also found it hard to find a coherent voice. It has been unable to reconcile its own position, a post-Blairite centrism, with the leftist surge of Jeremy Corbyn. The result? A flip-flop editorial stance. Therefore, the Mirror, while probably reflecting the views of the overwhelming majority of its ageing readership, fails to appeal to the younger generation.

Could not much the same be said about the Guardian? Probably more space hostile to Corbyn than in the Mirror over recent years.

My guess is that things are closer to a crunch than is being reported.

Guardian print readers who are also part of social media should get ready to be agile.

Has Guardian stopped Media section? will circulation drop?

As far as I can tell, unless my confusion is progressing, this is the second week that the Guardian has not had a page for Media. Previously it seemed to be a post from a blog in rotation. Now nothing.

Will this continue? Is it a summer blip? No information I have been aware of.

Thing is these are interesting times for newspapers. Election showed declining influence for Brexit supporters, online support for Corbyn. Much to discuss.

I did tweet last week but got no reply. Maybe a blog post will get more notice. I am not raving on about citizen journalism. Just wondering whether to spend £2 next Monday.

See previous posts for more on citizen journalism and the question, what is the Guardian web strategy?

Guardian Circulation, is there a web strategy?

I noticed Peter Preston mentioned circulation numbers on Sunday. Observer up 8.6 June on May, Guardian 3.8 . "while Tory-backing competitors stayed stagnant or slipped back. Not much of a market, it appears, for the drum beaters of pending Tory triumph".

Well, this sounds ok and explains why Labour did better with social media. Newspapers losing an edge.

But when I start looking for detail through the Press Gazette, things are worse still including the Guardian.

The Sun dropped 10.5 per cent to 1.6m sales a day, the Daily Mirror fell 17 per cent to 641,000 copies and the Sunday Mirror fell 20 per cent to 556,000.
The year-on-year declines may have been worsened by the increased interest in news in June 2016 around Britain’s referendum on leaving the European Union.

Possibly the referendum editorial made a connection but the election was more nuanced.

Guardian down 7%, Observer 6%. Not as striking as the Mirror but not a good trend.

My guess is that the Mirror did not catch much Corbyn support as they were opposed most of this time. Guardian similar. So maybe most of the readership went online. Speculation obviously but facts will follow, especially if trends continue as this would suggest

( see another blog for even more opinionated post on recent journalism )

There must be some level of circulation at which the news operation is not viable. It may not be far off. They seem to concentrate on opinion or a package for news that readers know already from somewhere else.

Twitter / YouTube seems to work well as I find it. TV and radio clips now turn up for most events so you can make your own mind up on what was said.

Guardian still not putting much in print about what they intend to do online. There is much moaning about the web in general, especially Facebook and Google. But is the hard copy just going to complain till the circulation completely vanishes?

By the way there used to be circulation numbers published on the printed Guardian media pages but it seems to have gone completely today.

detail on corbyn heckle, see previous post re trust in media @guardian @afuahirsch ‏

A bit of search on the first Corbyn heckle

full story from BBC site

EU referendum: 'It's your fault, Jeremy' - Corbyn heckled
Jeremy Corbyn has been heckled by Labour activist Tom Mauchline over the EU referendum result while attending the Pride in London march.
He was accused of failing to convince his party's supporters to back the Remain campaign, but replied "I did all I could".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36629976/eu-referendum-it-s-your-fault-jeremy-corbyn-heckled

Then a story from Public Affairs on Canary claims about coup plot and Portland

https://www.publicaffairsnews.com/articles/news/portland-denies-corbyn-plot-claims

"It also noted that the BBC had featured Portland consultant Tom Mauchline in a news item about Corbyn being heckled."

As memory serves the BBC did not introduce the heckle as coming from Tom Mauchline as Portland consultant.

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Anyway, having started another post and continuing the possibility that mainstream journalists might connect with blogs etc. I am still interested in how it gets to be decided as to who is on which TV show. During the EU referendum there was the official Remain, close to Cameron and No 10, the Labour Remain with Alan Johnson and somewhere Lord Mandelson and Will Straw. It is still unclear to me how much influence Corbyn had in any of this. Was it his own idea to go on the Last Leg? still more reason he should be allowed to use the clip on YouTube. When the polls wobbled Cameron made space for Labour. Turned out to be Gordon Brown then Lord Darling sharing a platform with Osborne. Did not go down well. Will Straw press release after result found space to blame Corbyn. What actually happened? All fine now with the PLP but journalists should explain just a bit what went on.

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buzzfeed

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/let-our-friend-stay-corbyn-insists?utm_term=.aueYr1nmO#.fa68LVERA

The Man Who Heckled Jeremy Corbyn Is Actually A Lib Dem Candidate

The criticism of the Labour leader at a pro-Corbyn rally made the evening news bulletins – but it was shouted by Lib Dem Zack Polanski, who was making a stand for the EU.

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not widely reported at the time, and we still get statements that Corbyn was "lacklustre" etc during referendum.

Hello @afuahirsch update re some topics around @guardian

Today the print Guardian has a media page by Afua Hirsch. Appears as a blog online but is most of what was once the printed media section.

Some positive signs here in awareness of how the mainstream media is regarded. Based on reporting around the Grenfell tower. Previously Emily Bell mentioned the Grenfell Action Group blog but then stated

The local blogs run by tenants, activists and other citizens, find themselves isolated and crowded out in clogged social streams, short on attention, funding and traction. Often they rely on the tenacity and unpaid labour of their founders for survival.

So I return to my question of how there can be some connected way of working in which professional journalists recognise the value of blogs etc. I would like to call this citizen journalism.

Previous posts cover my writing for OhmyNews and their take on citizen journalism. The English language version is no longer published but I subscribe on YouTube and know something continues. Briefly the argument is that journalism needs to adapt to recognise the read / write web and change connection with readers/ the public / do they mean us? Investment in editing and training, not a vast news room.

Guardian at the time thought citizen journalism as was a joke. Maybe they thought the media pages only read by pro journalists not the public but can't say I found it funny.

Anyway, and I am trying to be positive, main decision was to junk Guardian Unlimited Talk without warning and without any offer for contributions to be backed up. As memory serves Comment is Free was promoted around the same time. So comments could be added but nature of discussion changed.

Facebook often reported as getting most of the online advertising. Any theory as to why this is? Do print journalists think about the format?

My guess is that it is now too late for much to change. Print version has so much about online troubles, not much about any potential in Guardian website.

But I ask the question anyway. Could the next Guardian take on social media include some accurate history about Talk Unlimited? If there is a backup some offer to original source would be welcome.

Something might work better on a local basis. Video for example as local newspapers have limited resources but can make links.

Corbyn in Europe

Another thing to mention. Afua Hirsch writes about a "feeling" that Corbyn has been deliberately maligned. We can get to facts as well as feelings. Mostly about what actually happened during the referendum and how reported. It has been assumed that "Blame Corbyn" was an option waiting for an occasion. Briefly from previous posts

- heckles reported by BBC news blaming Corbyn for result appeared to be from Labour supporters, actually from people linked to Portland Communications and the Lib Dems

- Channel 4 refused permission for Jeremy Corbyn to show clip from Last Leg on his own YouTube channel. So reports on 7 out of 10 score were out of context.

Also

"Hilary Benn sacked in the middle of the night" was initiated by two newspaper stories in Observer and Sunday Times, both saying Benn was stating a lack of confidence in Corbyn. Both stories changed in later editions but we get an early one here in Exeter. Later Benn denied knowing how the story started. Surely some print journalist knows what happened?

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could expand this but mostly repeating previous posts

comment welcome and/or where to go into detail