Bold challenge for George

Those of you in the know will recognise the pseudonym at the end of the following contribution, which came by way of comment on last Friday's "Week ending"column.
"Regarding your comments about George Wheatman and his column taking Mark Simmonds MP to task for having his constituency newsletter printed in Surrey.
"Is it worth asking George how come his paymasters at the Boston Target are moving its sub-editing team, again, this time from LINCOLN to HULL after it was wiped out in BOSTON a couple of years ago?
"And why is the Target now printed in STOKE, DERBY or LEICESTER. Will the Target and the Lincolnshire Echo, whose page designers have also lost their jobs in the move out of the county, still use their page one titlepieces featuring the proud boast "At the heart of all things local"?
"The Boston Standard is unlikely to ask - its sub-editing tasks are likewise being moved to a 'hub' ....in Peterborough.
"The few remaining employees at both Boston papers suspect that much of the design, accounts, 'backroom' services and some advertising tasks will be 'outsourced' to India sooner rather than later. Possibly after their respective owners, Northcliffe and Johnston Press, have merged."
Yours etc.,

Franklin Bold (Mrs)

Mrs Bold makes some good points - a number of which we have touched on previously in the Boston Eye.
The huge companies that now run local newspapers care only for their bottom line ... and not for the people that they claim to serve.
In times of recession, fewer people advertise locally, so fewer people buy newspapers. This reduces income, so the proprietors sack staff and/or create remote hubs. This dilutes local coverage, so fewer people buy the papers. This means that fewer advertisers buy space ... etc ... etc.
Whilst others may argue to the contrary, thriving local newspapers reflect a thriving local community, and the declining state of Boston's local press is testament to that (irony alert!)
Thank you Mrs Bold - the ball (to stick with his favourite sporting analogy) is now back in George Wheatman's court. But somehow, we doubt that he will run with it!


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