View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

Playwright sets sights on papers

By Press Gazette

One of Britain’s top satirical playwrights has visited the offices of several national newspapers to research his latest work.

Alistair Beaton, the writer of TV plays The Trial of Tony Blair and A Very Social Secretary has been commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to write the as-yet unnamed play which is set to air later this year, possibly in the autumn.

Beaton visited The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times offices and said his hosts were ‘incredibly open-minded’and cooperative.

He told Press Gazette: ‘The advent of online content a salvation for newspapers, a greater and brighter future or is it a threat to the quality of news? I’m very interested in that and I’m getting very contradictory arguments about it.”

The play will be set in a fictional national, quality newspaper office.

Beaton said: ‘There is a big, broad, brightly coloured comedy to do set in a tabloid, but it just strikes me as a bit too easy.

‘There’s a popular conception that all journalists are cynical and dishonest… and I don’t really believe that – many journalists are still trying to tell a story under extreme pressure.”

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

Beaton said that on one of his visits, on a day when three murder stories were all breaking, he overheard a journalist say: ‘Oh, bloody hell, three murder stories is too many.”

‘I love the idea that you can have too many murder stories at once – you’d like them spread out a bit,’said Beaton.

Go to blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/editor to share your newsroom tales

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