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The Gazette

The Gazette has not been available in Perivale three weeks running now? Other places?

Graham Weeks ● 4014d44 Comments

Leviathan maybe?Like most things in life you get what you pay for so remember when you complain about the decline in standards of reporting at the Gazette that it is hard to maintain them with estate agents insisting on barely break even page rates and the Council and local businesses significantly reducing their spend.I don't believe that people make an association between the Ealing Gazette and the Daily Mirror and, if we are considering corporate reputation, it's laughable that you propose Facebook as an alternative. Apart from the obvious objection that it doesn't employ any journalists, it doesn't pay any tax, unlike Trinity Mirror. In addition using Facebook comes at the price of the most aggressive gathering of data on your online activities that has ever been seen. Do not under any circumstances under-estimate what this company can learn about you from even relatively occasional use of its site.

Stuart Howard ● 3986d

The decline in the Ealing Gazette may be due to it not being very good. The owner of the Gazette, the Mirror Group, owns many lacklustre local publications around the country and has not managed to keep pace with the developments in technology and social media. Cost cutting rather than investment has been the watchword along with poor standards in journalism and publishing as well as failing to attract, retain or develop any media talent. The company's poor image and viability is not being improved by the Daily Mirror hacking and cash for information scandal which is now unfolding.In my opinion, social media such as Facebook and Twitter are a much better way of reaching more people more quickly and more interactively than slabs of microscopic text that require a magnifying glass at the back of the Gazette.

Mark Laskowski ● 3987d

The latest copy of Around Ealing arrived yesterday and in it was a flier promoting advertising in the magazine and on the Council's web site. This represents a pincer movement on the Gazette as, at the same time, Ealing Council are reducing their spending on public notices in the paper.There was no copy of the Gazette this morning at the place where I have recently been able to find them but it is not difficult to understand why the paper might have been forced to further cut their print run. If you largest customer (i.e. Ealing Council) is becoming a competitor your business prospects are not great.I don't know whether the Ealing Gazette cover our Council leader's unorthodox housing arrangements but the paper has been prepared to publish opinions different from that of the ruling administration. Recent developments are starting to look like payback against the Gazette and the prominent promotion of web site visit numbers on the flier suggest that EalingToday.co.uk is in their sights as well.

Andy Jones ● 3987d

Polly was a damned fine local journo and exposed the '24/7 'Response' debacle - if you recall this is when Ealing hired a 'manager' on £90K+ to lead a call centre that was never built and then had to pay her off.

Nigel Brooks ● 3990d

Last post didn't go where it was intended!  I haven't read the whole thread but it is noted that the notice of the intention to issue new parking permits by LBE to be sold to non-residents/outsiders to park in the CPZs which were sold to us as for residents' use was apparently advertised in the paper that people are having trouble in finding!

Philippa Bond ● 3990d

Polly Manser did a really good series on what was happening to our recycling TOGETHER with queries from users of the service.

Philippa Bond ● 3990d

Neither of my local newsagents, who both have dump bins for The Gazette, received a delivery this week.They really are not helping themselves to get the numbers up.

Nigel Brooks ● 3992d

That makes a lot of sense but I think it is more important to think what life would be like without a local newspaper rather than hark back to when they used to be better.The big challenge that faces this part of West London over the next decade is the amount of development that will take place in the area. There is a risk that this will be unfettered due to the close relationship between the developers and Ealing Council and the archaic manner in which the public is supposed to kept officially informed about such matters. The notice of the planning application for a 32 storey building in Park Royal last month was hidden among a  long list of loft conversions and extensions in Ealing Council's notices in the Gazette. It is wrong however to suggest that the Gazette does no coverage of these matters. They do seem to think the skyscrapers going up in Park Royal are not newsworthy and have so far failed to report on a massive development planned in the Friary Park area of Acton (which to be fair ActonW3.com have yet to mention) but they did a very good job of reporting on the controversy of the Oaks development.A local paper that reports only on very major planning issues is not the ideal but it is better than the alternative of none at all. I fear for the Gazette's future because it may enjoy some degree of protection in the run up to the election but after that the next Government may be looking closely at the cost to the taxpayer of keeping it, and other papers like it, operating.

Andy Jones ● 3992d

There was though, a time when The Gazette and any local paper would report on Council Notices published in the advertising section. Advertising could not control Journalists freedom to report and Editors decisions to publish.It was far harder for Councils to slip things through the back door as journalists would attend council meetings and read all the notices prior to publication and anything of wider or unusual stature would find it's way onto the newslist.Sad to see such a demise, it seems website like this have picked up the baton but to a lesser degree and magnitude that local newspapers once had.But I do still seek out The Gazette but really wish it could be what and it's sister titles it used to be again, A really Great local Newspaper.It needs all our support as local people but it needs to report what really goes on in this district in return.

Mark Kehoe ● 3993d

It is well worth picking up a copy this week with some strong local stories featured. These include a good piece of original writing on Masons in the area, an item with critical comment on the budget proposals and, specially for you Andy, a story from Acton.Many of these stories have not appeared on this web site or ActonW3.com. While I would certainly not discourage people from getting local news from these two very high quality local web sites it is wrong to suggest that they cover everything that is in the local paper.

Stuart Howard ● 3994d

Well hopefully as circulation figures pick up editorial content will increase and improve.  Certainly not hard to get hold off where I live near the parade of shops at the bottom of The Avenue where both newsagents stock it as does the estate agent.  Nearby Waitrose and Sainsbury's also have stocks.

Philip Coe ● 3994d

To be fair though Andy, the Council are legally obliged to publish notices in local press irrespective of its level of circulation.The Gazette has nothing to lose by publishing critical articles. There is so much 'mileage' in what is currently going on a few juicy stories could push the circulation figures up again.

Nigel Brooks ● 3994d

Now that I have found where to pick up a copy I will become a more regular reader. It is after all free and therefore, whatever you think of the content, it justifies the purchase price. It is pleasing to note that in the last edition, despite the paper's almost total dependence on Council advertising, it is still willing to publish stories that reflect views contrary to that of the ruling administration. For that alone it deserves the support of people in the area. We shouldn't be harking back to what it used to be but considering what we would lose were it to close.

Andy Jones ● 3994d

Glad to see there are some people who are willing to have a more balanced view of the Gazette's output. It is still a decent paper particularly when you compare it to what gets put out in other parts of London at the moment. Admittedly since Michael Russell stopped working on it the quality of reporting has slipped a bit but it remains a good effort.Don't be misled by the number of estate agents ads as the page rates they are willing to pay are very low so this business is marginally profitable for Trinity. The agents accept that if they are paying low rates the print run will fall. They don't really care because the national chains have a tick box advertising strategy where they may have to be in the local paper whereas some of the local ones reckon that the low price paid is worth it. They don't expect to sell properties by putting them in the Gazette because they know nobody sees them. The reason they do it is that they think there is a danger of losing a commission if the vendor isn't aware of the limited distribution of the paper.The high margin business is the Council advertising where the rates are many times higher. The Council don't really care about distribution levels because they only put the ads in because they have a legal obligation to do so and there is nothing in the law that specifies how many copies of the paper need to be printed.

Stuart Howard ● 3996d

I wonder if the advertisers are aware of how few outlets now distribute it or are advertising simply because of their competitors.As to sports reporting most of the local stuff is now simply subbed after being contributed by the clubs themselves.I shall miss it if it goes as it is the perfect size to line my food waste bin.

Nigel Brooks ● 3997d

Finally managed to get my hands on a copy of the latest Ealing Gazette yesterday when I unexpectedly spotted one when buying petrol. Rumours of its demise are premature as I thought it was a very decent effort. Apart from there being no news coverage whatsoever of the Acton area there were a good number of articles some of which may even have involved some actual journalism. The sports coverage was workman like and it still seems to be very popular with estate agents as property ads made up well over half the total pages.A local paper is very important to an area and it does seem that the Gazette is still going strong. Whatever distribution issues it is having doesn't seem to be any concern to its advertisers.

Andy Jones ● 3997d

I like short, sharp news which I can then analyse/ dig into to as the need takes me.Getwestlondon simply does not deliver this at a local level.The Ealing 'news' on the getwestlondon Ealing sub page was on this site days ago.Having (somewhat reluctantly) checked it a moment ago and clicked on the getwestlondon banner I am taken to an advertisement for an estate agent rather than news.So, there we have it, a site with outdated news and broken links - cracking investment by TM."You are entitled to your opinion on the quality of the content. I happen to think you underestimate it. "On the basis of my visit this morning - I was actually generous in my opinion.

Nigel Brooks ● 4002d

You are entitled to your opinion on the quality of the content. I happen to think you underestimate it. They way you view news is now becoming the exception rather than the rule and you have a major misconception about the nature of GetwestLondon's operation. Trinity have spent a lot of money tailoring the site to the way people consume news at the moment. Very few people will navigate to a news web site on the off chance of finding something interesting - more and more they are being pulled in through social media. Publishers have less control over the prominence of their stories as this is largely determined by how many people share their content. A highly localised story, however interesting to the people immediately affected, isn't going to get many shares and therefore won't have a particularly high profile in social media.This site's primary method for distributing stories is through e-mail which was very effective in the past but is becoming less so as younger generations move away from this medium. They are very disinclined to subscribe to e-newsletter preferring to consume their news organically based on what people they know are interested in.Trinity have spent millions ensuring that the content they generate is presented in a form that is easy to share. This site does not do this so well and is at a competitive disadvantage.We probably will end up with a kind of news predominating that the older generation finds less to their taste. It will be shorter in length with less analysis and more tailored to younger people. The Ealing Gazette is totally dependent on the revenue it gets from the Council and if that disappears due to regulatory changes it would probably close. Longer term Getwestlondon might be your best and only source of local news.

Stuart Howard ● 4002d

You miss the point.As I said, I check only when the quality of the website is mentioned if only to confirm the comments.I do not believe that I could tell you the name of a single advertiser on the site which, surely, is the point of having something that is 'advertising funded'.When shall I look at 'getwestlondon' again?Probably when someone mentions how poor it is and I want to confirm their perception.Given the extent of searching I had to do to find the one local story yesterday before I posted the redesign has surely not worked. QED

Nigel Brooks ● 4002d

The point surely is that you do check. As far as the advertisers are concerned this works for them as bigger companies would much prefer a web site that lots of people visit rarely to one that relatively few people visit a lot.Every now and again they will publish a story that is of interest to you and the site has had a recent redesign to make it far more likely that the article reaches you.

Stuart Howard ● 4002d

The problem is that the website is trying to be a 'universal' site and is far too de-focused to be of any interest.There was one Ealing related story around 60% down the front page.Even local 'snippets' would give me a reason to visit, I have none in its current format save for when I check how threadbare it is.

Nigel Brooks ● 4002d

It is a relatively new venture but the traffic is growing very rapidly. That should lead to more revenue and more money to invest in content production. Even so, given the broad coverage area there is never going to be the kind of detailed reporting on a particular area that the Gazette used to provide and this site does now to some extent. The hard truth is that the bigger advertisers are not really interested in papers or web sites that cover a relatively small area so that kind of highly localised reporting is going to become something we look back at nostalgically.

Stuart Howard ● 4002d

"In some instances it is important that news is published as it happens and online but there still is a place for well-researched, considered news provided by good journalists working for newspapers even in local news. "When these journalist's come back to local newspapers in west London, do let me know.TMG may have spent a fortune on 'getswestlondon' but the local content, by the very definition that it covers such a large area, is extremely poor and very slow to respond to local news. Often the 'march' is stolen by, and content surpassed by one woman teams on local websites.

Nigel Brooks ● 4003d

You may regard getwestlondon as pathetic but the traffic numbers it generates are huge and this is attractive to the larger companies who are the big spenders on internet advertising. Trinity Mirror have spend a lot of money upgrading the sites so they score well with search engines and integrate properly with social media.Originally the intention was to develop the Ealing Gazette web site alongside the paper as it still had a very strong brand but small and medium sized companies are extremely conservative when it comes to digital advertising so it made sense to consolidate all the sites in West London and sell to companies looking to reach a wider market.The paper's customers were very different. Advertising sales to SMEs fell away as circulation fell which meant that has become totally dependent on public sector advertising either directly or indirectly from Ealing Council. The next biggest source of revenue is the agents but the page rates are so low in this sector that it is barely profitable.In some instances it is important that news is published as it happens and online but there still is a place for well-researched, considered news provided by good journalists working for newspapers even in local news.

Stuart Howard ● 4003d

You've got to sell a 'lorra lorra' local papers to make up the £12 million they have set aside.The Gazette has been in decline for years and is a victim of our desire to have 'immediate' news. That said, even their 'getwestlondon' online offering is pathetic.

Nigel Brooks ● 4008d

The following item would seem to provide some explanation as to what is happening - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31450410I asked my newsagent this morning why he didn't stock the Gazette any more and he said that they had simply stopped delivering them with no explanation late last year. He gave the impression that there was no charge for shelf space and that he was happy to have them because a few people would come to pick them up and he reasoned that some of them would feel obliged to buy something.

Andy Jones ● 4008d

That's correct - it switched to a deposit only distribution method last year. It isn't delivered anymore. Trinity Mirror did this with all their London titles apart from the ones they closed.Estate agents aren't going to pull their advertising because they aren't concerned about the fall in distribution although it does allow them to bargain down rates. They don't expect to sell houses by putting them in the paper but it helps them attract vendors if they can say the marketing of their property will include a picture in the local paper. They pay such a low rate per page that Trinity have been forced to cut their print run. Judging by the comments here there are now only a couple of thousand copies printed each week.The paper won't close though because it gets enough revenue from Ealing Council to keep it going. Not only do they put public notices in it, they were paying for display advertising in the last copy I saw as well which astonished me. I have friends who worked for the company and what is happening is sad but as they themselves point out that when Sly Bailey was running it, it was in danger of going out of business and since all these cuts have been made the share price has rocketed. The people who are still there are relatively young and inexperienced so it is unfair to criticise them too harshly - they are not to blame for the situation.

Stuart Howard ● 4008d

SimonI'm not sure if is being delivered anywhere at all now.There was a thread IIRC that they had stopped deliveries and made it a 'dump bin only' paper.

Nigel Brooks ● 4008d

Rumour has it many of the agents are looking to pull out as they feel they are funding it single-handedly and it is not being delivered where promised.

Simon Wycombe ● 4008d

The problem The Gazette will have is that if even more places 'drop' it then they will have difficulty justifying their advertising rates for a lower audited circulation.If the advertising revenues go down then the paper will simply close.

Nigel Brooks ● 4008d

'Reporters' are dropping like flies. Since we set up Hanwell RFC 18 months ago, I am now on my THIRD sports editor!

John Bodman ● 4008d

What used to be a great "local" paper is now just full of adverts and estate agents pages.Of course this is how it is free but why do we need to know about planning applications in Westminster?This paper is available in several places in S.Ealing and there has been someone handing them out at S.Ealing Station for the last couple of weeks.

Kevin Hemming ● 4009d

I remember when Yann Tear did the 'Church News" Page he turned it from painfully boring to the "must read first" page. It was lively and very funny. That was a while back now late eighties early nineties?

Anthony Waller ● 4010d

The Gazette used to be a 'must' read every Friday - liked it for the property pages, Yann Tear's reports and the neighbourhood events and photos. Haven't bought The Gazette for years now.

Gerry Tan ● 4011d

The club websites are OK but when Tim Street was Sports Editor you got the 'exclusives' and the inside line on many things that would never make it to the website.The Lionel Road story and the financial improprieties of Noades were broken by the Hounslow Chronicle.Polly Manser was 'on top' of the council in Ealing.Now The Gazette  just seem happy to take whatever 'spin' is spoon-fed to them.

Nigel Brooks ● 4012d

They have moved to Chertsey - I had no idea. That explains the coverage of Kingstonian and Hampton Borough which I quite enjoy reading. Can't say I miss Yann Tear's reporting as he always seemed keener to tell you what he thought rather than what had happened. In general though I prefer the way the local papers cover sport in a low key non-sensationalist way, not constantly recycling transfer speculation.The problem for local papers in London in their sports coverage appears to be that the fan base of clubs like Fulham, Brentford and QPR predominantly no longer live in Fulham, Brentford or Shepherd's Bush. There is probably a huge potential readership for good coverage of these clubs online but nobody is willing to pay for it.

Andy Jones ● 4012d

The sports coverage was great when it was firstly Yann Tear and then Tim Street as sports editors who worked from local offices, used local photographers and acknowledged their work.The move to Chertsey killed this stone dead. No one sends them photos any more because they cannot be bothered to accredit them which means they spend money on images from photo agencies - madness.The quality of reporting is so poor now it is almost laughable.

Nigel Brooks ● 4012d

The newsagent nearest me (East Acton) stopped stocking it towards the end of last year and I haven't been able to find one since. Morrisons used to have them stacked outside but I haven't seen them there recently.It had long since ceased to valuable from a local news point of view as any significant story would have already been published on this site's front page or in the newsletter and it rarely covered Acton anyway. I did like the sports coverage though and it was free so would pick up a copy when available.

Andy Jones ● 4012d

"Whilst forums like this are great in many ways, the internet does not have trained reporters who go out and knock on doors, seek out proper stories and  properly cover council meetings and the antics of those who do society no favours. Good reporters ask questions, sometimes very difficult questions, seek answers. Good reporters and writers cross check and double check and in particular, good local papers would publish solid reliable and true reports and stories."Something that The Gazette has not had for years sadly.It has become little more that a pale copy of the advertising free sheets scantly peppered with the odd poorly reported news story.Trinity Mirror will not reverse the decline of The Gazette series, they have no interest in local news, if they had there would still be local offices, simply advertising revenue.If this revenue drops, it will disappear.

Nigel Brooks ● 4013d

I've got some old copies from the 1980s and 90s and what a superb paper the Ealing Gazette was.I think it is one of the worst aspects of the internet age that local newspapers and indeed national newspapers have gone into what looks like terminal decline.7 Local titles out of the Ealing Gazettes group folded just before Christmas. Including the Harrow and Wembley Observers which were the groups strongest titles at one time.Whilst forums like this are great in many ways, the internet does not have trained reporters who go out and knock on doors, seek out proper stories and  properly cover council meetings and the antics of those who do society no favours. Good reporters ask questions, sometimes very difficult questions, seek answers. Good reporters and writers cross check and double check and in particular, good local papers would publish solid reliable and true reports and stories.It was also clearly where high quality training for young journalists and photographers took place and regular or avid readers like myself could notice how much better material became from some of the regular names in the paper.Middlesex County Press as it was for a very long time, was independent and resistant to external influence, even some of the freesheets in the 80s seemed to manage that.Sadly we are reduced to local papers that are dependent on advertising and this new form that dictates the tone of the paper. The use of fake front pages and very poor and biased reporting inside by the pro Heathrow campaign is as low as Pravda in  CCCCP days.  Wholly undermining press freedom of which so much is shouted about over niche corners like "Charlie Hebdo"Real press freedom begins with local papers, whether it's exposing council wrongdoing, warped streetlamps, dubvious developers, dodgy doctors or dog poo on pavements. Getting into the the fabric of local life and getting answers from the culprits. Not press release 'statements'.I believe the lack of good strong local papers is why we are getting walked all over by so many things these days which simply would not go under the radar  unchecked with quite the ease.I really hope the Gazette survives and that it's owners find it's teeth again.

Anthony Waller ● 4013d

Friday about 3 pm

Fred Hunt ● 4013d

Fred, when did you get it?

Graham Weeks ● 4013d

I picked up a copy in Tesco Hoover Building

Fred Hunt ● 4013d

My local guy in Boston Manor seems to have around half the normal number of copies.Problem is they just sit there in the dump bins with no promotion.I wonder how long it will last at all.

Nigel Brooks ● 4013d