Loaded’s massive jump
Lads mag Loaded was shaking up the men’s magazine market. It had
seen sales jump a massive 84 per cent year-on-year to reach 127,166,
overtaking long-established monthly GQ. Tony Long, associate publisher
of GQ, was sniffily dismissive of the upstart.
“Full credit to Loaded for spotting a glaring gap in the market, but
it is wrong to see it in the same sector as GQ,” he said. “Loaded is
more mass market. It’s about men behaving badly and Pamela Anderson
with her kit off, so it’s no surprise they overtook us.”
Loaded
publisher Andy McDuff hit back: “Loaded is about much more than birds,
booze and biscuits. If it weren’t, why would GQ be copying us and
trying to steal our writers?”
Tabloid twisting of Robbie scoop
Robbie Williams (centre) was on the run from the media pack after
causing a sensation by quitting boy band Take That. Then Tom Ross, head
of sport at Birmingham radio station BRMB, had a stroke of luck when he
spotted the singer at a football match and nabbed an exclusive
interview. His delight turned to anger when it was lifted by the
tabloids. Ross claimed that flippant remarks by Williams were twisted.
For example, Williams told Ross that leaving the band was “like a
release from a mental hospital”. One national reported this as “He
[Williams] had denied being in a mental hospital”. Ross said Williams
was friendly and helpful and he didn’t want him to think “that bastard
in Birmingham let me down”. He added: “People say they don’t believe
what they read in the papers, and now I’ve got first-hand knowledge
they are right.”
Schofield killed in Croatia
The BBC’s John Schofield was shot and killed in Croatia. The
29-year-old was an experienced journalist who had reported from
Northern Ireland and covered the Gulf War. He was on assignment for BBC
Radio 4’s The World Tonight.
The programme’s assistant editor, David Stevenson, said: “John was
very resourceful and determined, with a great desire to uncover the
truth.
Apart from his journalism, what a very nice and engaging
man he was. There’s an idea that in journalism you need to be arrogant
and devious to succeed. He disproved that.” The International
Federation of Journalists said Schofield was the 76th journalist to be
killed in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
Standard: sorry for fax bungle
An amazing bungle at the Evening Standard left executives with red
faces after an article attacking Tony Blair, by Michael Howard’s son,
Nick, was bylined by former Labour MP Bryan Gould (left). The Standard
had been expecting a fax from Gould, which got mixed up with an
unsolicited article sent in by Howard. Standard editor Stewart Steven
(right) told Press Gazette: “I accept that serious mistakes were made
down the line, but it is one of those situations where a series of
mistakes builds into a catastrophic mistake. This is a case for Fleet
Street to think ‘There but for the grace of God…'”
Free Times splits journalists
The Times was given away in a oneday £500,000 promotion deal with
Microsoft Windows 95. Some Times journalists felt this devalued the
paper, but editor Peter Stothard (right) said Microsoft had no
influence on the editorial. The Sun mocked up a front page which it
sent to Times executives. It carried a strapline: “Your chance to bore
yourself to death for the day, folks. Free Times with every copy of The
Sun.”
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