Salford Advertiser editorial office to close : Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:21 pm  

Ben Dowell/Guardian wrote:

MEN Media is closing all editorial offices of its weekly newspapers and axing 150 jobs... which will see the production of the group's weekly newspapers centralised in the MEN offices in Scott Place in central Manchester.

None of the 22 weeklies, which include the [Salford Advertiser], will close, but the office closures and cuts to the MEN will see 78 editorial jobs go. Reporters will continue to work their patches, but no longer from a local office.

A bit concerning is this. There is a fair amount of dross in the Advertiser, and it wouldn't mi ss anything in less pagination. I certainly wouldn't pay any money for it. However, the sports section in particular is good and a fair bit of the info I get from it you can't find easily elsewhere — whether it be in print or online. I'd certainly gripe if MEN copy was regurgitated to make up much of the Advertiser's sports news.

Re: Salford Advertiser editorial office to close : Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:07 am  

Chico wrote:

A bit concerning is this. There is a fair amount of dross in the Advertiser, and it wouldn't mi ss anything in less pagination. I certainly wouldn't pay any money for it. However, the sports section in particular is good and a fair bit of the info I get from it you can't find easily elsewhere — whether it be in print or online. I'd certainly gripe if MEN copy was regurgitated to make up much of the Advertiser's sports news.

Expect more union and soccer.

: Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:08 pm  

This is the same for most of the local offices as the Guardian Media look to save money. Not sure whether it will affect coverage of sport or local issues or not. Just because the office goes doesn't mean that the writers all go.

: Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:13 pm  

Same thing has happened with the Leigh Journal; our sports pages are done via the Guardian Group in Northwich (I think), and they covered 11 other local weeklies as of t'other week.

: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:44 pm  

Red Willow wrote:

Not sure whether it will affect coverage of sport or local issues or not. Just because the office goes doesn't mean that the writers all go.

The writers may continue but the editorial is the most important — they decide what is covered, what goes in the paper and how it is presented. Wasn't Dave Lawrenson both sports editor and chief RL writer? If so, I wonder which side of fence (or should that be the sword?) he'll fall on?