Once a fine, multiple edition clarion, this is now a pointless rag with inane stories written by incompetent staff. No proofreading whatsoever. Look at this for an emerging story
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Has your local paper gone to shit in the last few years?
Google killed local newspapers.
Google killed local newspapers.
Buggles' lesser-known second song.
Cheddar is right - the business of local newspapers is getting to the top of search rankings and the ad click revenue it brings
The MEN is the classic example of that but there are still decent journo's there, you just have to dig through the clickbait
That's a cracking local news story, you ungrateful twerp.
Buggles’ lesser-known second song.
*doffs cap*
Local newspaper websites have to be the worst websites ever produced due to the amount of pop ups, adverts and other stuff that make them unreadable
That’s a cracking local news story, you ungrateful twerp.
Absolutely. Not sure what kind of hard-hitting journalism OP was actually after? I, for one, want to see the headline they came up with. I'd be trying to force 'shear horror' in somewhere.
EDIT: "Won't the real Trim Shady please stand up?'" And they nicked it from some random on Facebook. Poor show.
Anyway, you get the local journalism you pay for. I'm guessing you're not buying a regular copy then?
Absolutely. Not sure what kind of hard-hitting journalism OP was actually after?
The real tragedy will be when there's nobody left to report on phantom local bush trimmers.
🙁
Just sign up to the Jen Williams email, the best of MEN
Google killed local newspapers.
True, but having worked for the MEN quite a while back, some of the business decisions taken by the management could only possibly have been explained by meetings fuelled entirely by ketamine
The pick of the bunch: Let’s close down some popular profitable publications, ignore this new-dangled interweb thing (it’ll never catch on) and instead we’ll start our own TV channel - Channel M
Remember that? No? Neither does anyone else
God knows how many millions that saw off. At its peak it was watched by 6 people, when a care worker inadvertently switched on the wrong channel and none of the pensioners in Twilight Meadows Retirement Village could reach the remote control
You sir, are doing thema disservice with your cropping!
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You sir, are doing thema disservice with your cropping!
Something wrong with his 'clippings service' 🙂
Our local rag has gone from the 'usual' local news to a complete parody of a news site. I frequently have to check it isn't the Daily Mash.
Recent headlines include woman's fury as Waitrose axe plastic bags (actually, she was disappointed and they haven't), Motocyclist injured at Glastonbury Festival entrance (though was simply an RTC on the road nearby and had nothing to do with the festival), Bath to lose direct train link to London (when it fact it was a local station in Bath, not the main station - the headline has since been edited to make it less clickbaity).
It's all down to Retch plc taking over the local paper and amalgamating its journos with all of its other papers. I daresay very few of them are actually local to the area. It's now mostly press releases for new restaurants and bars, and the same stories appear every month or so recycled on the front page.
Still, not yet as bad as Walesonline which just makes stuff up - more than once I've seen a professional rugby player call out one of their stories as complete fiction.
Once a fine, multiple edition clarion, this is now a pointless rag with inane stories written by incompetent staff. No proofreading whatsoever. Look at this for an emerging story
The way all papers have gone these days.
The standard and quality of journalism these days has dropped off a cliff edge. You don't have to do much Googling to find multiple sources reporting many daily events of significant public interest that don't seem to make it to the usual papers or TV news programmes that just seem to limit their coverage to COVID doom and gloom, Brexit doom and gloom, climate doom and gloom, impending economic doom and gloom etc. Pretty much only get one side of the story depending which end of the political spectrum they sit on and light on facts, and if they are any facts quoted they're very selective, and big on exaggeration...everything is a 'crisis' or 'emergency'...have they ever heard of the 'Boy who cried Wolf'?
But people are more interested in venting their anger rather than knowing what's going on...our village Facebook group comments section is just toxic - so much anger and abuse, it makes this place look like a kids nursery.
There's actually a really good article by the Sheffield Tribune on the history and the current failings of local papers but it's behind a paywall
https://www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-sheffields-newspapers
If you go and buy the newspaper, it's not that bad.
The website serves a different audience / purpose.
The website serves a different audience / purpose.
As a platform for advertisers? I agree with Houns, I'd read it but the website experience is so bad, I don't last more than a few minutes before giving up
Flat Earth News is required reading on this topic. He covers local newspapers.
13 years old now but the trend has just continued.
That story, along with many others the MEN write...are taken directly from what people have posted in the Chorlton Facebook group.
Seems like the easiest job in the world. Browse facebook and copy a post.
Pretty sure they did "I found a slug in my iron" from there as well.
Not long after I moved away from Salford, there was a double shooting in a pub there - I think it was the Brass Handles - and the MEN headline read something like SHOOTING IN FAMILY PUB.
I can’t remember the exact words, but… family pub?!? What kind of family were they talking about?!? A euphemism for the mafia? Only the really gritty football-hooligan type mafia? I had spent three years getting to know that part of the world very well, and describing anything in that place as ‘family’ oriented is a joke.
It all contributed to my sense that the MEN, by being ‘grass-rootsy’ was actually keeping the impoverished in their place.
The MEN's website is awful, it's like they're actively trying to drive people away from it! If you're looking for good journalism in Manchester it's worth checking out The Mill, it's subscription based but you can get one article free a week.
