View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
February 27, 2009

Peter Bale: ‘Papers should cut production costs, not journalists’

News organisations should be cutting production costs rather than journalists – or they will damage the “fundamental quality” of what they produce, former Times Online editorial director Peter Bale has warned.

Bale, now an executive producer at Microsoft UK, was speaking to Press Gazette after yesterday’s Association of Online Publishers forum in London – where journalists and digital media experts gathered to discuss multimedia story production and the changing face of journalism.

“The difficulty at the moment is people are looking at cutting costs in newspapers by cutting the journalists as opposed to cutting the cost of production, and that’s not the same thing,” he said.

“There are tools for editorial production going very much towards a lower cost framework, tools that allow you to publish much more efficiently.

“We have to embrace them, otherwise we will damage the fundamental journalistic quality of the papers.”

Bale said it was true that journalists at all levels tended to fear technology.

“You need to tap into a couple of opinion formers on a newspaper and they can change that attitude overnight,” he said.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

“I don’t think young journalists are scared of technology, but a lot of older journalists are finding it difficult to find their place in it.

“They find it difficult to hand over the control to the readers, and to believe that editing systems don’t have to be as complicated and as horrible as they often are.”

Guardian blogs editor Kevin Anderson said many journalists were worried about their job – and that they saw technology as having a role in that.

But he added: “Where I would have said a year and a half ago the primary fear for journalists is technology, now I’d say it’s economic.

“I think some journalists are still worried about the army of content creators out there, formally known as the audience, so there’s a little bit of anxiety about that.

“People are spending more time uploading videos and writing blogs, and are spending a lot of time on social networking sites that compete with news sites.”

The AOP forum was held at the IPC Media’s Blue Fin Building in London and was chaired by Sun Online editor Pete Picton.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network