Anyone wondering what happened to the Newsquest journalists on strike in south London might be interested to hear that enough have left permanently to allow those few who remain on the job to stagger on – while the editor of one denuded paper in the chain, the Croydon Guardian, tries a new wheeze.
“In an effort to get even __more of your news stories on to our websites, we would like to invite you to publish your own stories,” he informs readers. “Write your article as close to the style of a news story as you can, making sure you include details of the what, who, where and when.”
But, in historical fairness, before you ask what the blank’s going on and who dreamed up this debacle, maybe where and when real journalism dies, you’ll remember the great old days when local papers were full of reports from outlying villages penned by the local postmistress or schoolteacher. The voice of the people. What goes around has an odd habit of coming around again when crisis strikes.