Tag: Sheffield

Building trust is tough: dumping spin will help

Writing on a white wall

I’ve been thinking recently about a meeting I covered as a young reporter, which has stayed with me for years since.

It was an unremarkable event in Sheffield, in around 2004, ahead of that year’s European elections. The British National Party (remember them?) was pressing to win a seat in Yorkshire and city leaders were spooked by the threat that presented.

Civic and political leaders came together at Sheffield City Hall to show a united front against the BNP and give personal statements denouncing them.

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Links I like 11.10.9

In praise of the Peak District – Living with rats
Sheffield-based journalist Julian Dobson writes about one of England’s treasures, on the fringes of the Steel City. I got married in the Peak District when we lived in the north and will always have fond memories of the area. I enjoyed reading this piece over the weekend. Must go back soon.

‘They eat horses, don’t they?’ – Tabloid Watch
I love this blog, which looks at outrageous tabloid reporting that has become so commonplace that it barely registers a comment elsewhere. In this post, The Sun’s reporting of a mythical marketing campaign supposedly aimed at stopping travellers from eating horses is, ahem, digested. The truth is slightly duller than the report suggests. I think the story would fail the Corn Flakes test in my house. A spiteful sideswipe, which deserves to be ridiculed.


Tough times for former Sheffield colleagues

Bad news for Sheffield Star

A recent post by Jon Slattery has confirmed what I have been hearing about the continuing problems at my old employers, the Sheffield Star. He reports that staff are balloting to strike next week over plans to cut yet more editorial numbers from an already overstretched newsroom.

I left the paper in 2004, and ballots were taking place then (at that time, it was over pay: strike action was avoided). Nearly seven years and two editors later, it appears that conditions have got worse. Recent stories about painful cock-ups caused by a new production system (see picture, right) have added to the frustration.

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