Independent:Skegness Fire:Standard Newspaper Coverage

I’m puzzled!

In an article, ‘Johnston joins the digital revolution‘, published today, the Independent online newspaper reports on the difficulties encounted by the Skegness Standard (part of Johnston Press) when covering the recent Skegness Fire :

“For reporters on the Skegness Standard (circulation 11,000), covering a major fire at the town’s Lucky Strike Arcade, every second counted. The next day’s paper had already gone to print, but in the brave new world of local media, the digital editor was crying out for copy and photographs to put on the title’s website.”

..but there wasn’t a “next day’s newspaper”!

The fire in question, Skegness Fire Parade Complex, began on the Thursday night and the (televised) demolition of the remains on the Friday evening - but the Skegness Standard is a weekly newspaper and was not due out ’till the following Wednesday, almost a week after the fire!

So I’m puzzled! What has the Independent been fed?

And what about the “digital editor…crying out for copy and photographs”?

I’m a citizen journalist for my Skegness News on Video website, unpaid and working entirely on my own. I managed to get to the incident venue, get pictures and video, dash back to my computer, upload the story AND the very first picture of the fire just 30 measly minutes after the “digital editor” of the Skegness Standard website made his first post! And my video followed not long after! I don’t sit there drumming my fingers until some kind member of the public decides to ’send in their pictures’, I’m out at the scene doing it all myself!

Then the Skegness Standard boasts “We were the first on the Skegness Fire!” when their paper came out (almost one week later, remember).

After a while…

“…other content was already flooding in. The massed ranks of “citizen journalists” in the East Coast town were emailing in videos of the blaze from their mobile phones. By the time the inferno was under control, the Standard’s website had footage of the firemen in action. “

Well?… so did I… my OWN video footage, not a few seconds’ worth of snatched clips but two hours’ worth of footage! And not only “by the time the inferno was under control”, which was well into the Friday, but mine was uploaded AS THE INFERNO WAS STILL RAGING!

I notice the article says its video footage is of “firemen in action”. I’ve searched their website and cannot find any footage of the actual fire. The only footage I could find of “firemen in action” was after the blaze. Perhaps I didn’t search deep enough. I will stand corrected on this. Please send me the link if you manage to find fire footage which was uploaded to the Standard’s website during the early hours of the Friday.

“But there has been a perception that sleepy little local and regional newspapers, filled with the proverbial “cat stuck up tree” stories, have neither the ambition nor the expertise to adapt to new technologies and new working practices.Not true, says [Tim] Bowdler [Johnston Press chief executive]. All of Johnston Press’s larger titles, and most of its smaller papers, now have newsrooms that are as much dedicated to updating the websites as they are to putting out the next day’s paper.

‘It is not just text going on the site,” he explains. “We are adding video and audio as well. We have reporters leaving the office with a hand-held camcorder under their arm as well as a notepad.’ “

About time, too! I’ve actually been doing this since I first launched my Skegness News on Video in 2005. Let’s have a look what I said way back then when NO local newspapers were into video news:-

Extract from Skegness News on Video Webmaster’s Profile December 2005

“Videos, Photographs and Reports- a note from the Webmaster

I’m Angela Gooch and I was born in Sheffield Yorkshire in 1955.

I am neither a professional videographer, photographer, journalist or writer. In fact I tend towards science and maths rather than the creative arts.
So why am I here? Why is this a Skegness News on Video website?
Well, I have a deep passion for keeping records, for us and for our children (see below).

An idea was born! I dusted off the cam which had been sat in the cupboard for months, though had previously had much use in videoing the pet dog, and set off to video my first news event.. (much to my pet dog’s relief!)

All the videos are taken by, and processed myself, as an unpaid hobby in my spare time. Though a semi pro camcorder would be wonderful, I am stuck at the moment with a little handy cam - and I know it shows!
The videos take longer to prepare and are therefore often preceded by the article and photos.

All photographs on the Skegness News on Video website, with very few exceptions, are taken either by myself or my husband, professional photographer, Paul Gooch.
The pictures are for illustrative, not necessarily aesthetic purposes, to help me tell the story and for the benefit of my visitors who are unable to view the videos!

I have no writers, journalists, web masters nor photographers working with me; no donations of content, pictures or funds; no contacts or tip-offs It’s just me I’m afraid!

A New Concept for Skegness

Family History

I became interested in family history when, about twenty years ago, Great Aunt Ada showed me a photograph of her grandmother.

[an old photo was inserted here]
Quick calculations indicated that this woman was born around 1845!
I was intrigued! Further interrogation of Great Aunt Ada led to me (awkwardly) sketching the beginnings of a family tree.I blew the dust from old birth, marriage and death certificates, and was amazed to find that they revealed so much information. The advent of computers into my life facilitated a more organized tree, and opened up new avenues of research.

This interest in genealogy led to the creation of my Family History website.

World War 2

[WW2 Wellington Bomber Crew photo was inserted here]

My father had always spoke of his brother, Harry Gillott, who had been killed whilst on a sortie in a Wellington Bomber during the Second World War. (second from the right in the photo). A few weeks after his death, Dad saw Harry on the local cinema in Sheffield. This knowledge was left inert for 65 years. It was there, at the back of our lives, and I am embarrassed to say, as a young girl, then a busy mum, the fact didn’t have a great impression on me. I didn’t know Harry, he died fifteen years before I was born!

Then, during my research, to cut a long story short, I found the archive newsreel of Harry which my father had seen on the cinema 65 years previously. The photo above is from this footage. This was Harry! His smiling, happy face oblivious to the fact that he was going to die twelve weeks later!
I cried!
This is why I am committed to recording the Remembrance Day Services, photographing Cenotaphs, HMS Royal Arthur, the Military Veterans, and anything else that I can to acknowledge those who died for our freedom!

Skegness

The early 1800s, tiny little villages like Skegness and Winthope, often saw the men folk shipping in their wives from ‘abroad’, increasing the village’s gene pool. A hundred and thirty years on, following in the footsteps of those wives, I am in Skegness by a similar virtue!
I have lived here almost twenty years, and my sons’ ancestors are traceable in Skegness back to the late 1700s. Some of them buried in St Clement’s Churchyard.
I feel a deep affinity for the town, more so now than my hometown. Hence my Skegness History website.
Having struggled endlessly to find records of individuals, places and events during my research, I am determined to record all that I can about our town and its people.
And in doing so, we can share our little holiday resort with the rest of the world!
Hence my Skegness News on Video website!

News on Video is a new concept for Skegness.”

As I stressed in the quote above, News on Video was a NEW concept for Skegness when I first launched my website in 2005. Since then, local and Lincolnshire newspapers, seeing how successful and revolutionary it was, have jumped on the band waggon!

Let’s return to the Independent article…

“But the transition to new media has not been all plain sailing. Earlier this year, the National Union of Journalists instructed its members not to undertake any of Johnston Press’s multimedia training until it had reached an agreement with the company over health and safety and workload concerns.

The union argued that it was one thing going into a trouble spot with a notepad and pen, but another to enter a potentially dangerous situation with a video camera. However, after talks, Johnston Press satisfied the union’s concerns.”

Good point, but when you’re a citizen journalist you just grab your cam and get in on the action as it occurs - no red-tape! Besides, the police, fire services etc won’t let anyone NEAR a potentially dangerous situation! During the Skegness Fire, all was cordoned off and press allowed only into ’safe areas’.

“The barriers to entry in a digital world are lower than they are in print,” says Bowdler. “But we have a unique advantage because our resources on the ground are unmatched.”

…says Tim Bowdler. “Unmatched”? If Johnston Press’ resorces are “unmatched”, how come I manage to get Skegness stories and pictures uploaded before they do, or if not before, very hot on their heels? Don’t forget I’m working alone!

But what’s the use of boasting to be the first to upload a hot story when the punters can’t find it?

Google ‘SKEGNESS FIRE’. I’ve got three entries on the first page of search results and three entries on the second page and several entries on the next few pages, and what’s more, my first listing appeared just half an hour after it was uploaded! Where are the Skegness Standard’s results? Don’t ask me - I tired of looking after page six!

Whilst on the subject of ‘videos’ and ‘google’, have you noticed how the local news websites have started to put the word ‘video’ in their page title or url. It’s a very good puller of punters, even if the video you’re offering is a ten-second snatch sent in by a star-struck viewer - but that’s another story!

more about Citizen Photojournalism