The Herald getting worse!

[davie nine]

I have already said that we would only realise what we are missing if The Herald folded.

However, an 'off football' observation on page 46 today. A cricket article attributed to Dave Tall, a former Cornwood captain, includes a 'photo' of Tall, that is actually of Kevin Willcock, another former Cornwood player.

 

[Biggs]

A football headline in the Herald today... 'Blackpool spend to land Premier League striker'

They have spent £35,000 on forward Scott Quigley, who joins the club from Welsh Premier League champions The New Saints.

That is as clear an example of click-bait as you will see, and it worked on me :facepalm: :lol:

 

[Balham Green]

For those of you that didn't know it used to be printed in Plymouth city centre then moved to Derriford. It was owned by Harmsworth quays which was part of the daily mail group. I used to print the paper in the 90's when it was there and it was then what I would call a proper newspaper, full of actual news although quite a lot of ads as well. Also it was written by local journalists who knew the area inside out. Unfortunately now it is printed outside of the area and the content comes from mainly freelance journalists, young ones I would hazard a guess. The paper has moved from the right to the left of politics and the news items have become a constant dig at Janners, what sailors say and who's opened the latest cafe. Talk about bite the hand that feeds you... And to top that they feel the need to constantly talk down argyle and create headlines that don't reflect the story just to get you hooked so you can open a page that bombards you with adds you can't close. The paper for me has died and left in its place a second rate left wing student rag. It's a real shame but that's progress I suppose. Rant over!! :sigh:

Would be interested in any 'left wing' examples(apart from Wylde!). Don't read it thoroughly but haven't noticed.

 

[HC Green]

As The Herald need to get more clicks on their website they will now drip feed stories over a number of days rather than publish it in one story.
An example is when the Manager or a player is interviewed, usually on a Thursday, rather than publish the interview in full they will run a number of articles over a few days just using small snippets of the interview.

 

[Presto]

It has been the practice and indeed remains so today to kick bankers and estate agents. In all truth journalists are equally as bad if not worse. False stories, inaccurate reporting, eye catching headlines re issues of no substance no to memtion in the heralds case the development of a website that should be closed down.

I for one would be happy to see the end of the paper.

 

[Emu]

The question is, does this just reflect the Herald? I suspect all local papers are a much of a muchness these days.

I suppose it's tougher to take with the Herald as it used to be a decent paper and has fallen further than others.

 

[Biggs]

It has been the practice and indeed remains so today to kick bankers and estate agents.

Are you saying that's a bad thing?? :lol: Anyway, that's certainly not the preserve of 'left wing rags', especially since 2008.

I for one would be happy to see the end of the paper.

It's not perfect, but happy to see the end of Plymouth's 122 year old local newspaper, and the job losses that would entail? Idiotic.

 

[Presto]

The general concensus of opinion is that it is totally inept. If it got its house in order by accurate factual reporting and produced a viable website than fine let it be. But it does not show any of these qualities and therefore does not deserve to to survive. Ultimately the resolution of the problem lies with the journalists who produce the low quality material it dishes out. Their future lies with their ability to produce a paper of reasonable quality if they cannot then why should the public be expected to support mediocrity.

 

[OnicknowlePete]

In the end what will decide the future of the Herald is how many people buy it. Now I would be interested to know how many of us here are under the age of twenty five and actually read the paper, as the sales stats for most if not all newspapers are on a downward trend,
Pete

 

[Stuart House]

Print papers will die out eventually as readership will decline beyond sustainable levels - i'm 35 and I can't remember the last time I bought a paper. Millennials I would guess even less so if at all. There is no point, information is so readily and instantaneously available online.

I would guess as the older generations literally 'die off' so will printed papers. I would also guess that the majority of revenue these days is via online advertising - hence the continuous and unrelenting torrent of click bait stories and pop up ads.

Will people get fed up of this, yes definitely. Enough to stop clicking on it any way, probably not.

It's like when the waitress tells you the plate is hot - you know it will hurt but you just HAVE to touch it!

 

[Emu]

Print papers will die out eventually as readership will decline beyond sustainable levels - i'm 35 and I can't remember the last time I bought a paper. Millennials I would guess even less so if at all. There is no point, information is so readily and instantaneously available online.

I would guess as the older generations literally 'die off' so will printed papers. I would also guess that the majority of revenue these days is via online advertising - hence the continuous and unrelenting torrent of click bait stories and pop up ads.

Will people get fed up of this, yes definitely. Enough to stop clicking on it any way, probably not.

It's like when the waitress tells you the plate is hot - you know it will hurt but you just HAVE to touch it!

Charming! :lol: :lol:

 

[Stuart House]

Print papers will die out eventually as readership will decline beyond sustainable levels - i'm 35 and I can't remember the last time I bought a paper. Millennials I would guess even less so if at all. There is no point, information is so readily and instantaneously available online.

I would guess as the older generations literally 'die off' so will printed papers. I would also guess that the majority of revenue these days is via online advertising - hence the continuous and unrelenting torrent of click bait stories and pop up ads.

Will people get fed up of this, yes definitely. Enough to stop clicking on it any way, probably not.

It's like when the waitress tells you the plate is hot - you know it will hurt but you just HAVE to touch it!

Charming! :lol: :lol:

Not just papers, but a lot of things I suspect. 'Rationality' seems to be another thing that will go this way ....

 

[Biggs]

The general concensus of opinion is that it is totally inept. If it got its house in order by accurate factual reporting and produced a viable website than fine let it be. But it does not show any of these qualities and therefore does not deserve to to survive. Ultimately the resolution of the problem lies with the journalists who produce the low quality material it dishes out. Their future lies with their ability to produce a paper of reasonable quality if they cannot then why should the public be expected to support mediocrity.

Many of us moan about the Herald's spelling errors, click bait and full page adverts but it isn't 'totally inept'. I have a strong interest in general Plymouth news, including building development, restaurant reviews, sport and upcoming events. The Herald is by far the best resource for all those things.

Many of the negatives are caused by the crushing economic realities print media face, it certainly explains the click bait and full page adverts.

The website is handled by Local World, who also provide a vast number of local newspaper websites. And it's not that bad, it would be a hell of a lot better without those full page adverts.

There is a rather nasty survival of the fittest tone to your post. I wish the Herald was better than it is, but I would never wish it to go under completely :thumbdown:

 

[davie nine]

To copy from something someone else responded to you on a different thread this afternoon, Biggs.

"Great post, ......... Sums up my thoughts exactly."

I didn't agree with that but I certainly agree with this.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

It's clear the Herald is struggling, for the second year running they didn't send a reporter to cover the Holland training camp despite Argyle news being a big attraction on their website.

The clickbait stories are annoying but are a needs must, although there has been some big Argyle news within the last three hours of a Celtic striker signing for Argyle but no story in the Herald just yet. That's the type of story Argyle fans want to read, not tenuous links to Argyle in other stories.

To be fair the journos are stuck between a rock and a hard place, they need to publish regular stories, especially Argyle articles, to attract readers to the website to satisfy advertisers which brings in the money to survive and earn a living but in doing so they have to sacrifice quality.

Plymouth needs a local paper, although at the moment I'm not sure it has its tactics right.