A cautionary tale from the Brighton Argus on the use of centralised subbing hubs. The Newsquest daily has moved its subbing to Southampton, and on the first day somehow they have managed to misspell the name of the city where the newspaper is published.
Brighton-based Journalism.co.uk has the story: “A BRIGHTEN graduate has wooed crowds and judges to reach the final of a national singing competition”, the Argus reports.
Oh dear.
What I find impossible to understand is the obsession of Newsquest and other companies with the geographical location of sub-editors. In this age of technology they could sub pages from just about anywhere on the planet, so why not in the place where the newspaper is produced?
Related
You lose so much when you take the subs out of the newsroom in terms of experience and local knowledge and what do you gain?
As Allan Prosser noted for In Publishing it is probably only a matter of time before other regional publishers come full circle on remote subbing hubs, as there are signs Northcliffe is already doing.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
