Our "local" herald

[davie nine]

I am sorry Frank I can't let your statement,"Let's hope the crappy little paper folds soon it won't be missed", pass without comment.

The Herald is still sold to 1 in 6 of the households in Plymouth. For many, particularly the older generation, it remains the focus for local news. It remains an institution and a stalwart of Plymouth life. Like all regional newspapers it is struggling against online content. Operating within the website template of the owning group its website is virtually unreadable which ironically in itself is a reason alone for the newspaper to continue.

Those with longer memories will remember its campaigning zeal not least when Argyle's existence was under threat and Edd Moore, in particular, produced a series of articles that not only highlighted the issues but held the main proponents to account. The Herald played a major part in achieving and safeguarding the future of the club. I, for one, will be forever grateful for giving the fan base the oxygen of publicity.

As for the Argyle coverage Chris Errington has always distinguished himself as a fair, experienced and proportionate journalist. The Argyle coverage in content, size and layout is much improved and in recent times, with a tight ship now operating at Home Park, he has often has broken some of the bigger stories, not least the appointment of Adams. In addition, Chris's more prolific use of Twitter has assisted in getting the main headlines out quickly, including his match reports.

As a result I have no wish for the paper to fold, or follow the likes of the two papers in Exeter and Torquay that have become weeklies. Yes, a mistake was made last night in today's edition , for which a reasonable explanation was given by an Editor aware of the sensitivity of the mistake. As always, if you don't like it, don't buy it and as with other newspapers it will live or die by its content. If it ever goes, well I think it will be missed and it can never be replaced by online content.

A very fair appraisal of the value of The Herald to Plymouth Argyle and the Plymouth community in general.

Chris Errington is an excellent sports journalist.

The content is not perfect but it is a loyal supporter of all things related to Plymouth and its surrounding area. Some of the comments on here are very unfair and the daily paper's value to the local community would be sorely missed if it were to close.

 

[IJN]

I would endorse Graham's points, and also agree that Chris Errington is an excellent journalist, just look at the absolute drivel we had when Chris was on holiday earlier in the summer.

HOWEVER, what a shame the 'Regional Sports Editor' decided to tell Frank porkies.

I have it on very good authority that there was no problem at all with the 'sending the photographs back'.

Perhaps Frank could ask him to rethink his reply as his first one contained a 'highly inaccurate' statement.

 

[NLG]

Graham, just compare the standard of the paper with its equivalent of say ten years ago. Would you say it could hold a candle now? No chance. My point is I no longer give a stuff if it folds or not as I shall never buy it again

So easy to be the grumpy critic. How can it be the same standard with less money. At least your extreme approach to things sheds light on why things are as they are.

 

[buck197]

Hmm, each to their own but Chris Errington is hopeless though I'll agree better than the buffoons who covered for him recently. The paper is on the way out but could certainly improve and its website is awful.

 

[The Doctor]

I buy the Herald ever day but over recent weeks I have been asking myself why (because it really has become rubbish recently) to the point that I have just about decided to stop buying it and save myself £3 each week.

 

[demportdave]

There is nothing positive for Plymouth and the surrounding area in wanting too see the local paper go the way of so many other regional newspapers and if you cannot see that, then you are probably not very bright.

The website is frustrating with the pop-up adverts but I suspect it's a case of no pop-ups, no free website. Or perhaps you would rather have a subscription-funded website but with fewer adverts.

As for the pathetic and juvenile reaction to anything Exeter, grow up! They never have been and never will be the equal of Argyle in status as a football club.

Regardless of our respective fortunes and League position, they have always been the little club up the road and always will be and such an hysterical reaction is totally unnecessary and completely unwarranted.

 

[Kevin Gollop]

Evening Herald, Herald Express, Express & Echo, WMN, Daily Mail... All part of the same newspaper group.

The Daily Mail flogged all the regional newspapers off a couple years ago.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

I think all Argyle fans and especially Plymothians want a successful Herald, it’s been part of the city landscape for decades but the people currently in charge of running it, either locally or nationally, are making a pigs ear of it.
It’s got worse since Northcliffe merged with Local World two years ago.

The print version has room for improvement, however the website is a shambles, full of clickbait adverts, national stories shoehorned with a tenuous Plymouth link and just impossible to use on a phone or tablet.
The group that owns the Herald have obviously taken the decision to go with as many adverts as possible on the website to pay the bills but will ultimately lose the readership.
Would website readers pay 50p a day to read the Herald online completely free of adverts?
Is the national group that owns the Herald in trouble? The move from the iconic ship office at Derriford to a small office close to the city centre was obviously done to save money.

It seems to me that the policy is to employ junior (cheap) reporters fresh out of college or uni rather than experienced journalists.
These reporters often use tweets and photos from the general public to form the basis of a story – is this good reporting using the social media tools available or just lazy journalism?

The Argyle reporting is very good (apart from that awful month in the summer) and it’s easy to understand that this coverage sometimes carries the whole newspaper. For me Graham Hambly is/was the Man when it comes to reporting on Argyle but Chris Errington does a very good job (even if he doesn’t know when the transfer window closes!).
The Herald did a lot of excellent reporting to the wider audience during our administration crises, although I know for a fact a lot of stories supplied to them came from Pasoti and elsewhere.
The news was out there meaning pressure was placed on the old regime and then Guilfoyle.

Chris Errington is very good at getting Argyle stories online before the club website despite being at the same interviews of DA and players as the club media staff.

If the Herald and the Local World can sort out the websites it could turn things around, if the website and printed version continues the status quo then I think it’s doomed to be a weekly newspaper with frustrated online readers.

 

[oddball]

The Herald's circulation is down to just over 20,000 per day. Around an 11% fall year on year. Around nine years ago it became effectively a morning rather than an evening paper.that move was dictated by moving the printing of it over 100 miles away in Weymoth. As a result it has a midnight / 1 am print deadline rather than a late morning deadline. As a result its dynamic has changed. Out of 120 or so regional daily papers barely a dozen are evening only.

The Herald is at its best when it is a campaigning paper. Whether it be the Dockyard, the NHS, education, the air and rail links or even Argyle's future when it leads the debate it reaps the reward. When it relies on sensationalist headlines based on court cases it offers a distorted view of the City and its people and people naturally turn away from it. There has too much of the latter lately and many just don't want to read about it.

It's future is in its own hands.

Exactly,and not in very good hands.The newspaper from a journalistic point of view has become a rag,and a pretty poor one at that. Whilst the new deadlines don't help,especially for sporting fixtures. I feel the paper is in terminal decline. T'is.(as in Mat Le Tiss) the way of the modern world.RIP

 

[Wilf Carters Boots]

I am indebted to Knarf for highlighting yet another example of 'mission creep' from the local media falling over themselves to promote that place in East Devon they laughably call a city. First we had BBC Radio Devon making sure City matches are covered week in week out by multi frequencies whilst narrowing Argyle coverage to a pathetic minimum and hiding Sparksy in a darkened room and now The Evenin' 'Erald I grew up with in the 50s and 60s has been hijacked by grubby pics of alien sportsmen. Conspiracy theory?....Mark my words something's afoot.....That's it, of course, watch out for the next stage when local TV slips in an episode on for example the Inside Out series entitled SIX TOES - HOW THE WESTCOUNTRY BENEFITS
Bound to be on digital TV obviously and come to think of it I reckon that's why all those fancy Princesshay restaurants are currently promoting 'Toed in the Hole - just like your mother used to make!'
We must not take this lying down! :shock:

 

[Andy S]

Bring back the "Football Pink".

 

[PL2 3DQ]

Full page of colour pictures of Excretia v Pompey in the paper today ..........

The first step towards a Devon daily newspaper? Local World own both the Plymouth and Exeter newspapers, it might make sense to them to merge Exeter's bi-weekly paper and the Herald into one daily paper covering Devon but with different websites.

 

[gaspargomez]

I find Argyle fan's obsession with Exeter quite embarassing. I treat them just the same as any other opposition club.

A club like Argyle- who should really be in the Championship based on population catchment- should not consider a tinpot lower-league outfit to be a worthy rival. It just drags us down to Exeter's level.

 

[HC Green]

The website seems to have gone 'regional' already with many articles prefixed by 'near Plymouth' for places up to 50 miles away.

 

[L G]

Bring back the "Football Pink".

used to love that.
Waiting for the train home to cornwall after a match and the delivery of the pink was much anticipated.
There also used to be regional versions around the country, and I remember coming back from away matches with the travel club and picking up a copy at various service stations.