Mr Hack 64

A New Mr. Hack today. The old one was getting a bit crowded and I am delighted to see so many of you contributing this past week.

Comments

[Chairman]

THE ABOVE IS A PAGE FROM YE OLDEN DAYS WHEN HOT METAL WAS STILL AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF NEWSPAPER TECHNOLOGY AND THE ROYAL AND UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITERS WERE THE SWITCHBLADES. IT IS FROM 1957, BEFORE THE TROUBLES REALLY GOT UNDERWAY AND HACKS STILL HAD TIME TO WILE AWAY SOME IDLE MOMENTS BY PRODUCING AN IN-HOUSE SATIRE PAPER AT THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH. FORMER FEATURES EDITOR, THE LEGENDARY TOM CARSON EDITED AND WROTE MUCH OF THE COPY.

[Simpson]

Reminder, as if you need it. Click on the picture page and it will expand to a size you can read.

[Graham]

LOCAL PAPER TO SHUT

The Down Democrat is to close. The last issue of the Downpatrick-based paper is tomorrow. Twelve people are redundant. Only one reporter's job has been saved.

The paper, founded 17 years ago, is owned by the people who own the Irish (Cork) Examiner, and a clutch of other weeklies and radio stations.

The title is to be merged with the Newry Democrat as the Newry and Down Democrat. A local councillor said on BBC that a paper covering 25 square miles couldn't be replaced in terms of local coverage by one covering a much greater area.

He seemed to be suggesting that local coverage would be diluted.

It's a far cry from only 8 months ago when the owners' managing director Anthony Dinan, reported a Euro 11 million profit, and his company described itself as "Ireland's fastest-growing media group"

And only 18 months ago Mr Dinan was talking about his company's "commitment to expansion"

Meantime, Downpatrick's other newspaper, the "Down Recorder" one of Northern Ireland's remaining independently-owned weeklies survives after more than 100 years.

But the fear must remain that other weeklies may be under threat.

[Graham]

THE WORLD AS SEEN FROM DOWNPATRICK

Having now looked at the latest edition of the Down Democrat I realise that it takes a wider perspective than most local weekly papers in Northern Ireland.

It may therefore merge well with the Newry Democrat away on the other side of the Mournes, even though Downpatrick and Newry are a fair wee bit apart.

You see, the Down Democrat has a number of columnists (God, what paper hasn't these days?) One of these, Gordon Graham, writes with a broad brush. His column last week began...

"READERS will recall that in last week’s column I was a bit fulsome about what I expected to happen in the Mideast as a result of President Obama’s highly rhetorical Cairo address to the Islamic world.

Responding to the critics' complaint that his words would not be matched with deeds, I suggested we gauge by changes on the ground in the elections of Lebanon and Iran and the stubborn resistance to a negotiated settlement in Palestine by the newly elected Israeli prime minister “Bibi” Netanyahu....[and so, and so on...]

Who said the spirit of the "Skibereen Eagle" was dead?

Or were the burghers of Down getting a bit world-weary? - i.e. tired of the international persective

[Graham]

NOW FOR SOME OF THE REST OF THE OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF (if at all)

ITV's website is to drop ITN News. Press Gazette dubs this "a further retreat from news by ITV" Several journalists jobs are to go as a result.

Certainly, it's a way to save money. Some newspapers owners may also be tempted to "retreat from news" in their newspapers. Or is that happening already? Or is this writer a mere cynic?

[petermcmullan]

Hoisted indeed by a long-since-forgotten Teletalk piece. What a
shock to see it all in print again, albeit electronically. For the record, the original was headed RESCUE BY HELICOPTER with the sub-head What it is like to dangle in space at the end of a steel cable. It appeared in the BT in October 1956 and was worth three guineas according to my tattered scrapbook.

Others in the series included AN EVER OPEN DOOR, about a day in the life of the emergency dept. at the RVH; Ups and downs of life in submarines; A Night at sea with the Portavogie fishermen; MEN WHO TAKE THE WEATHER PULSE; When the Lough Neagh trout have the last laugh; Men in clogsdredge a Belfast seaway.

Life for a young reporter -I was in my very early twenties at the time - was truly an adventure in every sense of the word and I loved every minute of it.

The Hubey Love, mentioned in the third para of the Teletalk story was, of course, the late Hugh Love, with Barry White another BT motor cyclist at that time, elder brother of the N.I. BBC's evergreen Walter Love and, most important, brother of Daphne to whom I have had the good fortune to be married for just short of 47 years.

In addition to his general reporting duties, Hugh covered golf before Jack Magowan's days. He went on to work in PR in England and later moved to first Canada (Vancouver), at much the same time as Jack Clarke, and then to Seattle where he spent many years in communications in the forest industry. He died of a sudden heart attack four or five years ago.

[Graham]

SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU'VE JUST READ

So that's why you read it a second time just to make sure. This is an example:

The Guardian Media Group is to close the offices of 22 district weekly papers it owns and centralise staff in the city centre.

"We will hold local surgeries and clinics in local areas where residents can talk to journalists on a regular basis and offer them stories," said The Guardian Media Group's chief executive Mark Dodson.

(Yes, that why I read it twice!)

Dodson's remarks have sent the Press Gazette columnist Grey Cardigan into a rage.

"Does this man," he splutters "have even the vaguest idea about how journalism works?...You get stories by being out there on the street talking to your readers

"Expecting to replace this kind of essential contact with 'surgeries' and 'clinics' will only attract single issue nut-jobs and assorted local loonies."

The columnist describes the whole thing as "simply pathetic" and a "tragedy" for those "so-called guardians of journalism" at the Scott Trust, which runs the Guardian.

And your comment??

[KB]

@!!&*!!

[Chairman]

Grey Cardigan's reference to single-issue nut jobs and assorted local loonies is perhaps a bit harsh in describing Guardian readers.

[Chairman]

An e-mail from my old friend and former features editor, Tom (I'll be brief) Carson, informs me that he was not the sole contributor to the Teletalk satire on newspapers and journalists. He says "A lot of copy came in from the many sharp brains who were about in the Telegraph in those days. I seem to recollect a number of well-fashioned slings and arrows from the Leader Writers, among others. As for any poetry that appeared, I would guess that came from the inimitable Bob Young. As to cartoons, I drew a few but there are drawings from others in the three issues. Teletalk came out in time to be distrubuted at the Telegraph Editorial's Christmas dinner each December." After three issues the Telegraph management called a halt. The last issue appeared in 1958. Three years was not a bad run. There is an old theatrical adage about satire shows on Broadway. They close Thursday.
`

[Graham]

I wonder if Tom could tell us if the hugely entertaining Teletalk was abandoned for a) cost-cutting reasons; or b) its (mildly) subversive content.

[A.McQ.]

But his explanation will need to be brief!

[MS]

re. Guardian weeklies ``centralizing'' staff : Wouldn't you hate to be the last reporter left and assigned to man a ``clinic'' or a ``surgery.''?

[Cal McCrystal]

re Graham's posting (six above), here's a glimpse of the future:-

SCENE GUARDIAN ANGEL MEDIA GROUP CLINIC.

Guardian Angel: “Next!”

Enter Joe Public.

GA: “What’s the scoop?”

JP: “Our public library’s shut. It’s a scandal.”

GA: “It’s Sunday. The library’s supposed to close on Sundays ... Next!”

Enter Kate Streetwise.

GA: “Hi! What’s your story?”

KS: “I’m not giving it you for nothing. How much are you prepared to pay?”

GA: “Depends. Put out your tongue.”

KS sticks her tongue out. GA depresses it with a spatula.

GA: “Hmmn ... I’m afraid your tongue betrays you, Mrs Streetwise. Not to put too fine a point on it, you’re a liar. Get out!”

.........

[KB]

I notice from the excellent gentlemenranters site that Ken Smiley has died at the age of 89. He was before my time but others may remember him as a reporter in the Telegraph and then in Fleet Street but perhaps mostly as a renowned jazz musician.

[Graham]

There's a nice story on the site to which Keith refers about Ken Smiley's days in Belfast:

"It is a useful lesson in working relationships with officialdom

"Ken had cultivated a local JP, who would make himself useful when he was struggling to find a court story worth reporting.

"As a dull court list dragged to a close, Ken would catch the magistrate’s eye. Obligingly – and often to the surprise of the defendant – the JP would suddenly work himself into a rage and launch into a furious tirade: ‘People who ride bicycles without rear lights are the scourge of society... an absolute disgrace... a menace that must be removed from the streets... the entire province must share my sense of outrage...’

"This was all delivered at dictation pace and Ken, knowing he now had the page lead he needed, would gratefully get it all down. Including the rather lamer ending: ‘Fined 1s 6d.’"

We've all had times when we've suspected that the magistrate/councillor/whoever was hamming it up a bit, sometimes in a sort of unspoken conspiracy with members of the Press.

I recall a day when the late Lord (Gerry) Fitt, then a Belfast city councillor, rang me up and said: "Are ye not coming down to the City Hall today? I'm going to get threw out!)

How he knew that I don't know. But when I arrived Gerry's demeanour in council over some (to me) fairly obscure subject (something about a cemetery, I think) ensured that his ejection would be ensured.

So, after much effort, he was indeed "threw out" and I, as a then freelance was able to report these uproarious scenes for BBC, UTV, Mail, Mirror and Express.

But, of course, that sort of thing would have been very rare. Wouldn't it?

[A.McQ.]

I well remember "wee" Ken on the Mirror. His stories in our office pub, The White Hart, but known everywhere as The Stab In The Back, were hilarious.

[Emily Lea]

Can anyone remind me of the name of the pub that used to be opposite the Tele's 'back gate'? Library has spread itself over the space now.
Emily Lea

[jc]

Surely you mean the Brown Horse ... scene of many a happy event which others may recall more vividly.

[Graham]

THE BROWN HORSE

The Brown Horse, run by owner Sam Casey and his son, and staffed by barmaid Kay was the favourite watering hole of the Bel Tel's printers.

Malcolm Brodie also took refreshment there, bought a round or two, and the back lounge was eventually known as the Malcolm Brodie Room.

It is twist of fate that the very spot on which those printers stood is now occupied by the newspaper archive library of the Central Library - including many of the words those printers set.

[Cal McCrystal]

The BH, I recall, was a great favourite of Ivan Lambert. Didn't Kay become his live-in partner for a while?

[KB]

This would have been after his living-in days with Jenks, of course.

[Graham]

Correct.
Bob Young also drank, composed, recited and sang there.

[Graham]

And Paddy Reynolds entertained with Michael O'Hehir impression.

[KB]

It was also the favourite watering hole of the late Tommy Edgar who used to relax there after work with his very good pal Hazel from the BT switchboard - and how could we have forgotten her? Indeed, Tom was often so relaxed on the bus home to Glengormley that he ended up in Antrim.

[JC]

Let's not forget Jack Bennett's oratory in the Brown Horse ... particularly at NUJ meetings.

[Emily Lea]

Thanks guys. I now remember it well and the good nights with Malcolm Brodie maybe not so well...

Thanks too for the reminders of Bob Young (I was recipient of one of his missives once upon a time) and lovely Hazel from the switchboard (all the switchboard girls were great).

Emily Lea

[A.McQ.]

The late great Des McMullen was also known to imbibe there. As was Jimmy Walker, Ronnie Harper, Harry Duff and other sporting gentlemen.

[jc]

Hmmm, I thought Des preferred the smaller downstairs bar in McGlade's (Theatre lounge?) ... and Ronnie Harper much preferred the Ava in Bangor ... I think he even went there occasionally in his slippers, but that's a story for another time. PS ... one of Valerie's pix in her web page has a lovely shot of Harry Duff in the front row.

[A.McQ.]

JC: I was talking about Saturday nights after the Pink had gone to bed. Remember as well that people often changed their preference for a boozer after a few months. For one spell the Brown Horse was favourite, then The Theatre Lounge, sometimes Mick Rogers or Keenans which later became The Blackthorn. I think The Old Vic Lounge was always the favourite of reporters. It certainly was mine - and there was always the Tele-Ad Girls to ogle!

[Simpson]

Never cared for the Brown Horse. It was always full of people talking sport and filling in betting slips. For really intellectual stimulation (and a fine hiding place) the bar to go to get away from the risk of discovery by some senior editorial stool pigeon at McGlade's, the Blackthorn was ideal. Many an hour I've wiled away there with the great Peter McKenna of the Irish Independent. He and I had formed the Raymond Chandler Appreciation Society and misspent many a pleasurable afternoon talking in Chandlerese to each other until we either fell off our barstools or Tom Slevin refused to serve any more drink.

[Graham]

THE BLACKTHORN

1)Is that the place I knew as Keenan and & Hamill's?

2)If so, is it the same place where "Big John" from McGlades had a serious accident?

3)Was it Chandler who said: "If you're getting stuck while writing a novel, have a man come through the door with a gun?" Or was that some critic/wit?

[Alastair McQueen]

Are there any newspaper pubs left in Belfast or are they, like us, things of the past? Several of the old Fleet Street watering holes have gone, the Mirror's old pub The Stab became - shock, horror - a gay bar at one stage before becoming a Pizza Express and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a tourist haunt. I was in Glasgow a few years back and there were still a couple but the wine of the country had such an effect on me I can only remember one called Tom's and I know that's not its real name. I called into The Printers which is beneath the Evening Chronicle and The Journal offices in Newcastle upon Tyne one day and that, too, was peopled by office workers and tourists. Ho hum. We're all dinosaurs.

[Graham]

GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHY PROOFREADERS ARE STILL NEEDED.

This from Press Gazette:

click here:http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/greycardigan/2009/07/well-it-looks-genuine/

[Graham]

Columnist Grey Cardigan is hedging his bets by saying: "Well, it looks genuine." The online version has the words in the right order. So there's some suggestion the thing may be a hoax, designed to be picked up elsewhere...like in Press Gazette...and here.

I dunno.

[Graham]

JOBS BLOW COCK-UP:
STORY FROM IRISH-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER

click here: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Massive-blow-jobs-for-Belmullet-the-headline-thats-shaking-Ireland-with-laughter.html

[JC]

Alastair ... the Front Page in Upper Donegal Street attracts a selection of journalists to its excellent bar and dining facilities ... as does Frames beside the Telegraph, where the long-gone repro and plate picture-making house, Grapic Plates, used to be. Cheers!

[KB]

We've been down this Keenans/Blackthorn alley before, you know? And no doubt we will again.

[eddie sterling]

Hi Emily Lea, you are a brave soul to enter this club. I recall conversations with KB in McGlade's. They were always quite one-sided. Plus ca change ...

[JC]

This is from Page 10 of today's Belfast Telegraph ....

Editor of Belfast Telegraph announces his retirement

Wednesday, 8 July 2009

The editor of the Belfast Telegraph, Martin Lindsay, is to retire at the end of the summer.

Mr Lindsay, who has edited the paper since 2005, will step down on Friday, September 4, after completing 47 years in journalism - most of it in various roles with the Belfast Telegraph.

Speaking today, Mr Lindsay said: "I have had a wonderful four years editing the Belfast Telegraph, but all good things come to an end and I intend to retire at the end of the summer.

"I leave a paper that is in very good health indeed, with a successful transformation into compact format earlier this year, confirming its position as Northern Ireland's pre-eminent newspaper.

"The media industry in general is going through a difficult period, but I have no doubt that the 'Tele' and the other papers in its stable will continue to develop and embrace the challenges of this multimedia age."

Mr Lindsay added: "I will be leaving behind many good friends and dear colleagues who have always hugely impressed me with their professionalism, flair and work ethic."

Mr Lindsay began his career with the agriculture title Farm Week, before moving to the East Antrim Times, based in Larne. He joined the Belfast Telegraph in the mid 1960s as a reporter, before moving on to become Chief Reporter, Deputy News Editor, Assistant-to-the Editor and Deputy Editor.

Along the way, he had a year-long stint at the Daily Express in Glasgow, before returning to the Belfast Telegraph.

In January 1993, Mr Lindsay moved to the Telegraph's sister paper, Sunday Life, as Editor, before rejoining the Telegraph as Editor in 2005.

Michael Brophy, Chief Executive, Independent News & Media NI, said: "Martin Lindsay will be sadly missed at the helm of the Telegraph. He has shown great leadership and brought the newspaper through the most radical transformation in its history.

"He is to be admired and thanked for his work with the paper. On behalf of the company and all his colleagues I would like to wish him a happy retirement".

Ivan Fallon, chief executive of Independent News & Media UK, added: "Martin Lindsay's long and distinguished career, which spans nearly half a century, represents all that is best in Northern Ireland journalism: fearlessness, professionalism, intelligence and, above all, integrity.

“He has done the Belfast Group proud over many years, including a highly successful time as campaigning editor of Sunday Life where he carried many an exposure and scoop, and then as editor of the ‘Tele’ as he always affectionately called it.

“We at INM are very proud of him and wish him well in his retirement.”

[KB]

Marty is a first class journalist and an all-round good bloke. He will be much missed. But the newspaper world's loss will be the Copyboys' gain and I urge our President and Chairman to sign him up right away. And then there's the question - who will replace him? I predict Noel Doran of the Irish News.

[Graham]

MARTIN LINDSAY

I never had the pleasure of working with Martin, but throughout my own career, when I was out on job, or socialising, and the talk turned to "shop", I always heard Martin Lindsay lauded as a journalist's journalist.

Its not often that you hear journalists give such praise. Had he chosen to leave his native Province I am sure he would have achieved national heights.

The people who own the Belfast Telegraph should be grateful that Martin stayed there so long.

[A.McQ.]

Well said, Graham. I did work with Martin and know he would certainly have reached the top had he chosen to leave NI. Both the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail offered him jobs - not once, but several times - and he preferred to remain with the BT.

[KB]

Don't forget - he did work in Glasgow on the Scottish Daily Express for a while. But it's time we heard from the great man himself about what he plans to do with his retirment. The last time I spoke to him about the prospect, he was a little uneasy. Someone had said to him - 'Just imagine - you get up in the morning, look out the window, it's a lovely day, you and Yvonne decide to take a drive to Coleraine or somewhere, do a bit of shopping, have a bite of lunch and meander home in the afternoon at your leisure.'
'Brilliant,' Marty said.
'Now just imagine - you can do it all again tomorrow.'

[A.McQ.]

Editors don't just retire, it's not in the nature of the beast(s). They have to find something to fill the hours and days. Within a very short time - after he's had a breather - he'll pop up again as some sort of consultant or whatever.

[JC]

I think it's called golf ... and the consulation parlour is the 19th hole ...

[Graham]

"STAFF CUTS A CONSTANT SHADOW OVER BELFAST TELEGRAPH PERFORMANCE"

This from ex-Bel Tel and BBC man Brian Walker on Slugger o Toole website

"So Martin Lindsay is to retire as editor of the Belfast Telegraph in September. Having served nearly 50 years in the business man and boy, Martin gives to lie to the notion that only spring chickens can respond to the formidable challenges of a 24/7 news agenda and the internet – and now the recession.

"The Tele still manages to straddle demographics, communities and technologies and make some money that up to now at any rate has helped to keep the parent Independent group afloat, as press commentator and part-time Donegal man Roy Greenslade notes.

"I’m pretty sure the Tele will continue to adapt and flourish, provided its new leadership continues to supply what Martin and his predecessor Ed Curran possess: an intimate knowledge of the community and the respect of movers and shakers.

"Staff cuts have been a constant shadow over performance. Martin’s successor will no doubt have to continue the struggle to maintain the essential resource without which a newspaper dies: its reporters."

[A.McQ.]

I've had a message from the outgoing editor of The Belfast Telegraph to say his new office "will be the garden, the golf course and the trout stream".

[Simpson]

I've known and admired Marty Lindsay for the 40 odd years I've known him. The first time I was on a job with Marty was back in the 1960s at the Balmoral Show, where Billy Morrow did the drinking and socialising and Marty and I did the work. The first day a row broke out at the horse jumping areana, I got the gist of the story and rushed to phone an intro and a couple of sketchy pars while this kid I hardly knew said he try for quotes. Before I'd finished filing copy, Marty was back with several crackerjack quotes and the story made the front page lead. I learned a valuable lesson from that smart kid. You get much better quotes from people when they are really pissed off. Or even just pissed.

[Graham]

PUBLIC REACTION TO MARTIN'S PLANNED DEPARTURE

There's been considerable public reaction to Martin's retirement announcement on the slugger o toole blogsite

click here: http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/belfast-telegraph-editor-to-retire/P0/