Trinity Mirror, which owns the Manchester Evening News and Manchester Weekly News titles that cover Salford, is introducing a `Connected Newsroom' from the end of September, leading to fears of even more dumbing down and less investigative articles, as journalists chase clicks rather than valid news stories.
"We are extremely concerned by the potential implications of setting individual click targets for journalists" says Martin Shipton, chair of the NUJ's Trinity Mirror group chapel "At its worst, this could encourage reporters to sensationalise stories, to trivialise the news and make news out of trivia, and to give up on more challenging, public interest journalism that takes time to research and deliver...
"The trust built up with communities over many years will evaporate quickly if we abandon their concerns in favour of generic, celebrity-focused 'click bait'" he adds.
According to the latest Labour Force Survey, the number of journalists has dropped over the last two years by 8,000, while the number of Public Relations people, whose job it is to place positive news stories in the media from their clients, has risen by 18,000. For a journalist chasing quick clicks to meet targets, PRs, whether from the private or public sector, provide ready-made `sexy' stories designed to `bait clicks'.
The NUJ fears that it will lead to more trivial stories (like Michelle Keegan's fashion collection or Real Housewives of Cheshire) being given increasing prominence...
"The ambition is to grow our local and engaged audience by sharpening our focus on providing content that is relevant to our audiences through the channels that suit them" says Neil Benson, Editorial Director for Regionals at Trinity Mirror "This will be achieved by extending the digital-first approach, concentrating on local core content, driven by audience analytics and trends analysis."
However, Laura Davison, NUJ national organiser, argues: "This jargon laden announcement has set alarm bells jangling once again over the plans for more individual 'audience goals' for journalists which will make sure chillingly, that they are 'working on the right stories at the right pace'. Future news content will be seemingly be decided on the basis of a popularity contest, but the 'brand values' cited are undefined. There needs to be proper tough analysis of these proposals before any steps are taken to roll this out."
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