Monday, 18 March 2013

Talking to the editor of The Essex Chronicle.

Talking to the editor (Paul-Dent Jones) of the Essex Chronicle on the phone was extremely useful and showed me an insight into local newspapers.

Paul informed me that `hard hitting' news, often bad news is their most popular storylines as well as how peoples money is effected. Their most popular headline was 2012 story about the man shooting a police man in Clacton.

I also asked who were there typical target audience/ age etc. Just as I thought, he told me that it was hard to tell however it appears to be mainly 40-50+. I then went on to inform him of my project and my aim to attract younger people through my interaction of my website, he agreed with this yet said they achieve half a million hits a month on their website showing that older people also enjoy the website. I did then ask the difficult question of if technology and internet would be the end of paper local newspapers, he agreed and said eventually it would be after 10-15 years he still believes the Essex Chronicle would still be around in some form.

When I asked about their circulation figures I was shocked to hear how high the readership was and how many copies they sell. They sell 24,000 copies a week and have a readership of 11,000 people.

Talking to the editor of a large local newspaper was extremely interesting in looking into the real life processes of making a local newspaper. Unlike Braintree and Witham times the Essex Chronicle covers the whole of the country, showing a different demographic and purpose to a small local newspaper.

Below is an image of the Essex Chronicle.

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