Regional newspapers ... you're having a laugh

I have long banged on to editors, news-editors, features editors and anyone else who would listen, about using more funny stuff in regional newspapers. Largely, it must be said, it has been with limited success. In the main, the Posts, Echos and Chronicles remain worthy and po-faced. On news-editing courses, I used to ask delegates to identify things in their paper that were genuinely entertaining. The record is three – including the horoscopes and the ubiquitous Horace and Doris. One respected editor once told me humour simply wasn’t part of his remit. “We are here to reflect the community, not tell jokes,” he said. His paper was crammed with crime, courts and coffee mornings – a reflection of his readers’ lives.

There have been some worthy exceptions. Peter Barron at The Northern Echo, Mike Lowe, Alan Geere and, from Norwich, Nigel Pickover are among those editors who have always worked hard at giving their readers a smile. Now, the web has confirmed what we always knew. People like a laugh. The stories that get the big hits are the funny, the weird and the outrageous. So as the holy grail is now unique visitors, local newspapers are hunting down the whacky, particularly if it's on video. So, at last, maybe humour will be the saviour of the regional Press.

I am grateful to InPublishing magazine for allowing me to bang on a bit louder this month and publish my thoughts on humour in newspapers ... who does it well and who doesn't. If you are minded, and you have great eyesight, you can read it on the images above. If not, you can read it on InPublishing's website here.

Heart campaign revisted by Echo

Many people I have worked for will know my colleague and friend Mike Brough. He is a first rate designer and graphic artist who I have known for more than 25 years. Together we have redesigned more than 80 newspapers and magazines and Mike regularly delivers sessions on our training courses. In the summer Mike had a heart attack while playing football at Darlington's Dolphin Centre. His life was saved because, having left the centre after the game, he had the presence of mind to return. The centre had a defibrillator and trained staff and within two hours Mike was sitting up in a hospital bed, stents fitted. Mike, 51, is now back at work and fully recovered. On the back of his experience The Northern Echo, where Mike and I first met, launches a campaign tomorrow for more life-saving defibrillators in gyms and in public places. A poll by the paper revealed that 80 per cent of private gyms do not have one. As part of the campaign the Echo has bought its own defibrillator and is training staff to use it. It is not the first time the paper has campaigned for better heart care. Twelve years ago, it launched its A Chance To Live campaign aimed at cutting the waiting times for heart bypass surgery. It followed the death at 38 of another friend and colleague, Ian Weir. Ian, the father of two young boys, was a brilliant photographer, (he took the pictures at my wedding) who died of a second heart attack after waiting nearly eight months for a triple bypass. The campaign helped persuade the Government to bring British waiting times in line with the rest of Europe. Well done to Echo editor Peter Barron for, once again, throwing his paper's weight behind the critical issue of improving heart care. And well done to Mike, who has just been given the all-clear to grace the five-a-side court again.

Echo front page captures Quakers' plight

Here's a very strong front page from tomorrow's Northern Echo covering Darlington FC being forced to leave their stadium. It's been a sad day for the town. The paper's editor Peter Barron says the picture was taken months ago, although he hoped he would never have to use it. It's a great image that sums up the story and shows that Peter has lost none of the forward planning skills he had when he was my news-editor 20 years ago. Top notch.

Amos made 'bigger impact' than Sir Harry Evans

I have just about recovered from Mike Amos's retirement party at the weekend. Peter Barron, editor of The Northern Echo, said Amos had made a bigger impact on the Echo than any other journalist - including former editors WT Stead and Harold Evans. High praise indeed. My musings on the weekend are here. 

The Dryden shootings: 20 years on

Anyone who has ever been on one of my courses will be familiar with the story of the murder of planning officer Harry Collinson in Butsfield, County Durham. It was the most remarkable day during my time as an editor. The story revolved around a bungalow that had been built, without planning permission, by an eccentric maverick called Albert Dryden. Derwentside District Council decided that the bungalow had to be demolished and Mr Collinson turned up to oversee it. While the bulldozer was preparing to break through the fence, Dryden went off to a caravan and returned wearing a gunbelt and holster with a First World War revolver. He walked up to the fence, took the gun out of the holster and shot Mr Collinson dead. He also shot and injured BBC reporter Tony Belmont and PC Stephen Campbell. Northern Echo photographer Mike Peckett took an astonishing set of photographs, recording the whole event on film. We ran them across Page 1 in a sequence (above left). It happened exactly 20 years ago today but the pictures are still as shocking now as they were then. The news-editor of The Northern Echo that day was Peter Barron, and he clearly hasn't forgotten it either. He is now the paper's editor  and today ran an interview with Mr Collinson's brother (above right) and a first person piece by Mark Summers (below), the reporter who covered the story for the Echo. It's a considered and sensitive article that tells the shocking events of the day in detail. It all vividly brings back the way the day unfolded and the decisions we made. And if it sends a chill down my spine, I can't begin to imagine what effect it has on those who were there ... or on Harry Collinson's family.

 

Oh for the wings, for the wings ...

Could the caption writers and picture editors at Metro be on holiday - or perhaps they are just bored, or maybe they can't work properly because of all the ants? If these things are plaguing London it shouldn't be too difficult to get a picture, should it? Here's Peter Barron's view. Very funny.   

Silly season comes early ...

... at The Northern Echo with the story of a pheasant attacking cars and prams in a North Yorkshire village. Editor Peter Barron says the story has now gone global, being published in Australia and the Aston Martin news site! The video made me smile - how to make a story out of not very much. http://bit.ly/pheasantattack