A fresh start

Call me troubled, but I miss the opportunity to crack wise, now that Independent Newspapers has decided that I am surplus to their requirements and that my two supplements - the Star Workplace and the Saturday Star School Sport - do not form part of their future plans.

My two cents worth on that: the owners are perfectly right when they say there is no point in going on as an exclusively print media company, in the face of dwindling circulation and diminishing advertising revenues.

So, Independent is to become a multi-media publisher. Great idea, but there's no indication of how that is going to happen and, when it does, how it's going to help things. Everything I've read indicates that even the most famous newspapers around the world are still scratching their heads when it comes to monetising their online offerings.

And, since the media will always be about content, you still need a newsroom to produce that. Your competitive edge in the crowded online news market will be the quality of your content (as it is in every commercial endeavour), so how will getting rid of your best and most experienced journalists help your cause?

Sure, us grey-heads aren't that tech-savvy - although we can learn, I've started a blog, for goodness sake! But to replace the oldies with kids who are good with their thumbs and know how to simultaneously put the same Apple Iphone pictures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram doesn't really make business sense.

They might be able to record an event on their phones and have a clip posted on Youtube while I'm still busy scribbling down notes and trying to focus my old trustworthy Canon, but no-one has been able to explain to me you make money out of posting things on all those apps.

I would have thought you need both: old-fashioned hacks like me who can sniff out the real story that's always there, and render it in readable English, and the tech-savvy kids who can promote the newspaper, generating circulation and advertising sales.

And that's not just me talking. A couple of centuries, collectively, of experience and knowledge walked out of Independent last Wednesday, including some of the best, award-winning, writers in the profession. Everyone I spoke to agreed with what I say.

But there was nothing voluntary about it. In my case my supplements simply did not appear on the new organogram, and when it came to applying for a new job (as everyone was required to do) my only option was to try for a "multi-media content provider" position four rungs down on the Patterson grading scale, advertised at half the salary I was earning.

That's the equivalent of firing me, no question, and most of the others who opted for VSPs were in the same boat.

So, it's a fresh start for me. I haven't given up on the idea of still producing a school sport supplement in print. Part of its value, I think, lies in scrap books. Everyone keeps clippings of their appearances in print, or those of their children, and you can't do that with online publications.

Websites have other advantages of course - they have a longer shelf-life; there aren't the same space limitations; reports can be updated; and it's cheaper to advertise there. So, a group of us are working on an online school newspaper which can cover sport, but also those other, equally important areas of school life like academics, cultural activities, community service etc. Watch this space!

In the week since my independence from Independent some have been kind enough to express disbelief and disapproval at the ending of what I used to do. I'm hoping the few who read this musing will pass it along to others who may feel that way.

If not, well at least I've had my two cents worth, and as, I now realise, one who is addicted to having my say put out for others to read, I feel a lot better.

Back soon.