our very own nick clayton is a real proper journalist who ...
... wrote ...
... for the scotsman (and dj mag in ibiza)
and manages to live here as well.
"...
Nick Clayton Writes About - Being Fired
23/09/2008
I've never been fired before.
And I wasn't expecting the phone call last Friday afternoon
from Scotsman magazine editor, Alison Gray.
I'd written a slightly controversial blog entry for allmediascotland.com suggesting that, as websites replace printed newspapers, there would be little need for physical offices and that the role of the sub-editor would disappear. I hoped it would be a little provocative, but the most I expected was to have a few virtual brickbats lobbed in my direction.
In passing, however, I'd talked about the way newspapers are being destroyed by economics. Essentially, their biggest revenue streams, recruitment and property advertising, are moving from print to the web. It's a process that's being going on for years, so it's hardly news.
To illustrate that point I mentioned that, as I was going through the process of selling my flat in Edinburgh, the estate agents I spoke to didn't feel that advertising in The Scotsman would be cost-effective. The example was simply a throw-away to show how much things have changed.
Not so long ago, advertising a property in the local press would have been the norm. My middle-class Edinburgh flat would have been advertised in Edinburgh's middle-class paper, The Scotsman. Today, the key to selling a property such as my ten year-old, three-bedroomed city centre flat is the web, not print.
Over 80 per cent of homes in the Scottish capital are sold through the Edinburgh Solicitors' Property Centre (ESPC). Prospective buyers simply enter their requirements into a form on the website and a list of suitable properties appears. If I was selling something unique and hard to categorise I might pay for additional advertising if it attracted potential purchasers. But three small insertions in The Scotsman’s property supplement costs what I was paid for six months of writing columns.
Funnily enough, my current Scotsman stooshie takes me back to the time a decade ago when I was editing the paper's weekly technology supplement, Interactive. I carried a piece then suggesting that recruitment was likely to move online. One of the reasons for running the article was, I believed, that this was something that was both a threat and an opportunity for The Scotsman.
At the time, there was no major player in the market and a it seemed to me to be a place where a well-respected brand could grab a substantial share. Alternatively, newspapers could watch the revenue disappear. Perhaps I should have learned a lesson from The Scotsman's reaction to my prescience.
I was called into the then editor, Martin Clarke's office and rebuked. It was, however, probably the mildest telling-off I've ever had in my life. In the context of Clarke's normally thermo-nuclear temper, it was almost praise. It went something along the lines of: "I've been told by the advertising department that this sort of piece makes their job harder. I don't want them to make life difficult for me so don't do it again. Was there anything else?"
Times have obviously changed. Now I find myself fired for a passing remark in a specialist blog. I really don't understand why The Scotsman editor didn't phone me up and ask me to change the offending paragraph. It would have been easy to do without affecting the thrust of the piece.
The reason I could have done that so easily is because the point is so self-evident. The fact that newspapers are losing advertising revenue to the web is not news. Indeed, The Scotsman itself reported on the troubles of its parent company, Johnson Press, on August 27 - blaming the fall in recruitment and property advertising for a large drop in profits.
I am almost flattered that my mention of the same problem has provoked such drastic action. My overwhelming emotion, however, is sadness. I've written regularly for The Scotsman through, I think, eight editors, although I've rather lost count. I've not met the present incumbent.
For now, I’ve informed the NUJ about my situation. I also wonder if I should complain about The Scotsman’s reporting of Edinburgh’s property crisis which appeared just as I was starting the process of selling my flat. Such scaremongering clearly reduces my chance of getting a decent price for it. Perhaps the person responsible should also be fired. Shooting the messenger seems to be Scotsman policy.
--
Nick Clayton believes that, in the digital age, writers should be able to work anywhere they can get a dial tone. To prove the point, he lives in Ibiza with his wife, dog, swimming pool, several computers and a broadband connection. Only the last two are strictly necessary for his productivity.
His book, 'The Guardian Guide to Working Abroad', was published recently. Until Friday, he wrote a weekly, gadget column for The Scotsman where he was technology editor during the first internet boom. His other work is generally less conspicuous, but better paid, producing white papers, press releases and other copy for a variety of mainly techie outlets.
And occasionally, he gets to give his middle-aged perspective on Ibiza's nightlife,
glamour and entertainment, notably for Pacha Magazine.
..."
(
www.allmediascotland.com/articles/3064/23092008/nick_clayton_writes_about_-_being_fired)
