Never a good time for bad news
There is never a good time to announce job losses. No matter what the time of year it'll be someone's birthday, someone's child's birthday, approaching Christmas, approaching the Summer holidays or monthly mortgage payment time.
This week, 14 of our friends and colleagues at the 'Journal' were informed that their jobs are likely to go.
The official announcement stated that the Journal's owners, Johnston Press, are proposing to centralise their operations in the North. Some, but not all, of the jobs are being relocated to Carn in Armagh.
It's bad news for Derry and bad news for those affected directly and indirectly.
It is also a sign of the times and not the beginning of the end for the 'Journal', as some doom-mongers are predicting.
Media commentator Roy Greenslade, speaking on BBC Radio Foyle, said JP's move to centralise operations was symptomatic of what was happening in newspapers generally in Britain and Ireland at a time of very difficult trading conditions.
There was a stunned silence in the office on Monday morning when word spread and, before long, half the town had an opinion.
Rumours spread like wildfire and rows of "experts" lined up to share their thoughts about the fate of the paper.
Hysterical theories including 'The death of the Derry Journal' and 'Buncrana Road site sold to Iceland' were bandied about.
There was a lot of chat about the goings-on and concerned phonecalls aplenty.
A lot of that concern was genuine. In other cases, it was 'mock-concern', used as a cover for people to have a go at the 'Journal' and its staff.
On a local radio station, a talkshow began discussing the job losses. Unfortunately, that discussion deteriorated quickly into a phone-in session during which people rang in to slag off the paper. Some listeners had made up their mind that the job losses were a direct result of falling standards at the 'Journal'. They claimed that sales have dropped massively and that the production jobs have gone thanks to the poor performance of the editorial staff. That is simply not the case.
Astonishingly, people started ranting about the lack of news in the paper and how it had gone downhill in recent years. There is nothing whingers like more than to grope around for rose-tinted specs at the first opportunity. But maybe they have a point. Ever since that pesky Good Friday agreement paved the way for peace on our streets there have been fewer horror stories to report.
When I was at primary school, breakfast was accompanied by BBC news on the television every morning. My cornflakes and milk had a backing-track of bombs, murder and massacre. These days, pupils at Trench Road are bombarded with stories relating to house prices when munching their cereal. If it's local news I'm watching, I'll take the tamer headline relating to mortgage crises every time.
People have suggested that the jobs have gone because of some sort of crisis at the 'Journal' and that the losses are a sign of things to come - a death knell for the newspaper.
They aren't. It's lousy and disappointing that people have lost their jobs. That scenario, however, has been used as a backdrop for people with an agenda looking to have a go at the paper.
The 'Journal' is, without doubt, the biggest and best paper in the North West. It's got brilliant sport coverage and columnists (naturally). Local news stories are broken first in this paper and on its website. These stories are then routinely picked up by other media outlets after they have appeared in the 'Journal'. The 'Journal' is Number 1 for interviews and entertainment, comment and debate.
A fifth of people in Derry buy the 'Journal' every Friday, and God knows how many more see a copy.
As Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson said during the week, the paper is an "institution" throughout the North West.
People turn to, and trust, the 'Journal' with their stories for that very reason.
It keeps the people of Derry and beyond in the know and up-to-date with all local goings-on: at court, at council, in communities, at the Brandywell. Its impact is felt much further afield too - from people in Australia and New Zealand checking the website to my cousin Shona and her husband Aidan (congrats on the baby!) who pick up their copy in New York every Monday morning.
The 'Journal' isn't perfect - occasionally we make mistakes and leave out apostrophes where we shouldnt - but it has a dedicated team who do a great job.
As one fan wrote on a recent reader's survey: "Essential start to the day. Journal, tea and buttered bap. It is so good that is you threw it in the sky it would turn to sunshine."
Then again, you already know this. You're holding the proof in your hands.
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Weather for Derry
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 14 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
