Alastair Machray, editor of the Liverpool Echo, is clearly feeling the heat over the decision to have the paper printed in Oldham from late 2009. Machray pens a piece in his paper today (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/09/06/echo-editor-why-we-ve-moved-printing-out-of-liverpool-100252-21685560/ ):
"Machray responded to criticism from some quarters yesterday -- including some from misinformed media pundits -- that the ECHO was effectively 'pulling out' of the city and heading to Manchester.
"NONSENSE!"
The article on the mediaguardian.co.uk site & the comments of bloggers obviously struck a nerve at Old Hall Street. Machray bellows:
"Some clots in the media have tried to portray this as a move to Manchester. Let me give them a basic geography lesson. Oldham is five miles from Manchester and no one in the town of Oldham would EVER say they were from Manchester."
Er, sorry, Alastair, but this blog, for one, didn't describe it as "a move to Manchester."
I described it as a move to Oldham, which just happens to be in Greater Manchester. The Guardian piece also specifically said Oldham. So, too, did the Press Gazette in its coverage of the story (http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=42040&c=1 ).
Get your facts straight, Alastair.
There's more third-rate guff & bluster from Machray as he desperately tries to reassure the normally docile element of the Echo's readership.
However, as the blustering continues, the contradictions in Machray's position become clearer:
"We've been here for 153 years -- and in that time we've provided thousands upon thousands of people with jobs. And that's the plan for the next 153 years."
Assuming there is a plan stretching through to 2161 for the Echo (highly unlikely, I'd say), it doesn't have a place for the 100 workers who stand to lose their jobs over the next 15 months.
Machray concludes his bombastic blusterings with a combination of the pathetic & the risible, professing hurt that the Echo's commitment to the city can be questioned, & that the paper has "played a part in Liverpool's extraordinary renaissance."
Really, Alastair? If that's true, its part must be microscopic.
FACT: Those aspects of 2008 which HAVE succeeded have mainly emanated from grassroots & community groups, from unsung musicians, writers, film-makers, etc. in the city. The local media & the third-rate "celebrities" they obsess over have played no genuinely useful role in it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
With their stomach churning scouseology claptrap, their obsession with minor celebrity and patronising editorial, it cannot help but give rise to a sense of glee when they now finally come under attack for doing the very same thing they have been whinging about in others and taking jobs out of the city. What no campaign or Editorial about how we must keep these jobs in Liverpool? Our great heritage?
The self appointed champions of Liverpool. Your Echo! Ha!
The Oldham Chronic more like.
They set themselves up as the moral voice and defender of the city and weep for every threat to jobs but now they themselves take away the livelihoods of their own loyal staff. So why should anyone believe their loyalty to the city?
They cry their crocodile tears now only for the negative publicity.
Perhaps they really believe their own propaganda and cannot comprehend that people could turn against them. More likely, they have underestimated the intelligence of their readers who can still spot a phoney see that this is just wrong. Especially coming from this lot, our heroes and defenders.
But people can now see that it is all lies and marketing gimmicks. Give the idiots what they want create a phoney sense of belonging and that will sell the rag. They will think we are all a family and enough of them will buy into this rubbish.
It seems the only person they have that has any journalistic integrity is Mr Bartlett who writes for the Post. He will often cover stories of major local political interest that simply do not appear in the Echo or at best in a very watered down version. This suggests that the Echo views its own readership as idiots.
The Editors feeble excuse is that they are doing this for us, the people of Liverpool to give us the Print quality we deserve and they can only do it in Oldham. Isn’t that magnificent? They are prepared to do this for us. The greatest happiness for the greatest number. .
Well we can’t allow you to make this sacrifice for us Mr McCreep, so lets have a readers vote, after all, you like things like that.
Lets ask the readers; Are we all happy to put up with the current standard of printing and save the jobs of our loyal Echo printers, or are we all really desperate to have high pixel photos of assorted planks from HollyOaks, that we would prefer to throw these people out of work with a major recession on the horizon?
If nothing else, their hypocrisy is now exposed. I hope that those readers who have not had their brains suffocated by the drip, drip, drip of fairyland scouseness the selective readers letters (Bradley’s Mum for Christ sake) and abysmal poems, as well as the complete hogwash and hype for the most mediocre events will continue to tell the Editor exactly what they think of his feeble paper and weasel words.
Post a Comment