So that’s why we’re all going broke

This isn’t really relevant to anything I’d usually post about – except for being a brilliant piece of journalism.
Ever wondered how the credit crunch started? Then take an hour and listen to this podcast from This American Life. It’s everything you ever wanted to know and although it IS an hour long it’s fascinating listening.

Subs are not cut-to-fit monkeys

In this column, Nick Clayton says:
For a start, websites don’t need subs, at least as they exist at the moment. The reason is simple. The key role of subs on newspapers is in getting words to fit a finite space whether that’s copy, headlines or captions.
Unlike a printed page, there is effectively no restriction on [...]

Reasons to be cheerful

It’s all doom and gloom at the moment, isn’t it? Recession, unemployment, crashing share prices leading to company takeovers (there but for the grace of new shares goes Johnston press).
So here are some blog posts that make me optimistic. There are some people out there who think we’ll make it through. More thinking like that, [...]

Changes ahead

We’re all waiting for the go-ahead to switch from our existing site to the new Newsquest template.
It looks like this – and there has already been much discussion about the design. Readers, as whole, haven’t responded well – but then they haven’t really responded well to the Northcliffe redesign either.
The new version is undoubtedly better. [...]

Headline of the Day

And people say anyone can sub…
Headline of my week, on a story about a beleagured hydrotherapy pool and a potential rescue package:
Spa wars: a new hope
Not exactly web-friendly, I realise. But still. Take that, Desmond.

Nokia N95 – should I get one?

I’m thinking of upgrading my phone – and while I can’t see the big bosses providing for me, I’d like something I can use for work; video, pictures and so on (nothing like leading by example, I say – if the reporters see someone doing it, perhaps we’ll start the culture shift I’m hoping for [...]

TimeTube – Bournemouth Air Festival

Thanks to Alison Dow over at Headlines and Deadlines I’ve been experimenting with Dipity TimeTube today. Now to persuade the powers that be that it deserves a place on our site, despite not being ‘our’ content. For some reason I can’t get it to embed here (working on it!) but in the meantime, follow the [...]

EDF awards South East – where are all the newspapers?

Last week the shortlist was announced for this years EDF Energy Media Awards for the South East. Look at the website of the Year category. We have BBC Kent, the Kent County Council enterprise Kent TV, run by a freelance media company, and Archant’s Ham and High.
What we don’t have is any showing by [...]

The point of this whole shebang

At the moment, I sub for a living.  As a student, subbing was my dream job. (Now I dream of having the authority to make some long overdue changes to certain newspapers’ websites, but that’s another post.)
The trouble is, now that I am a sub, I find the job is not what it once was.
Partly [...]