Local story, national impact
The story of four-year-old Jack Williment-Barr is a perfect symbol of what a serious local newspaper can do when that story is then amplified across the media – and how social media remains a double edged sword
The latest PAMCo numbers for the UK news brand sector are impressive and show continued growth. Where earlier this autumn the boast was that the monthly news brand reach, local as well as national, was 44 million, it is now no less than 48 million for the period from September 19th to October 18 when fused with Comscore September results.
The sharp-eyed will note that the latest rise pre-dates the current general election campaign.
Although forecasting the future, after allowing for statistical variations, is a tricky business it can be confidently predicted that the next set of PAMCo numbers will breach the 50 million mark for the first time.
Before your eyes glaze over entirely let us get the current necessary numbers out of the way before passing on to much more important matters.
Apart from the monthly figure of 48 million we have 45 million a week and 31 million a day. While phones provide the greatest monthly hit with 36.5 million, print is not far behind on 33.4 million.
The key comparisons are that the total news brand reach is 5 million and 6 million more than that of Facebook and Google, respectively, and national news brands alone have a 2.5m larger reach than the tech platforms.
Naturally such numbers feed into a fighting quote from Tracy De Groose, executive chair of Newsworks who notes: “News readership is at record levels – and still growing – as more and more people are demanding reliable and trusted sources of news, analysis and insight.”
Enough PR Tracy and definitely enough numbers.
It’s time to talk about impact, stories, journalism, importance, relevance and truth.
The story of four-year-old Jack Williment-Barr, the child treated for suspected pneumonia on the floor of a room in a Leeds hospital A & E department, is a perfect symbol of what a serious local newspaper can do when that story is then amplified across the media and how the social media remains a double edged weapon.
It began as all best stories do with a reporter, Dan Sheridan of the Yorkshire Evening Post, a paper than might soon be owned by David Montgomery. The story and the picture came direct from the boy’s mother and its authenticity had been checked before publication.
The doctor involved confirmed that the incident had indeed happened because of an acute shortage of beds and the chief executive of the hospital trust apologised to Jack’s parents.[advert position=”left”]
Step up the Daily Mirror with a front page “exclusive” on the story with the picture under the headline “Desperate” and the news that Jack’s mother Sarah Williment, a former Conservative voter now planned to vote Labour.
And that is where the story might have remained – a bad example of the current pressure on the NHS – but for another enterprising reporter – this time local ITV News reporter Joe Pike.
Pike pursued Boris Johnson to the car park of a fish market where Johnson had been holding dead fish for the cameras and invited the Prime Minister to look at the picture of the boy on the floor of a hospital ward.
In what many people will think was a truly extraordinary reaction, Johnson not only initially refused to look but put the phone in his pocket while spouting the party line about billions about to be spent on the NHS.
This was the single most defining image of a rather lacklustre, predictable campaign carrying much more impact than Gordon Brown’s “bigoted woman” indiscretion.
A few seconds of moving images seemed to encapsulate a serious political problem – the crisis in hospital accident and emergency departments – combined with a wholly inadequate response from the Prime Minister that showed at the very least a lack of empathy.
The pictures show the look changing on Johnson’s face as he realised what he had done and finally pulled out the phone, looked at the pictures and said how “terrible” they were.
Too late, the story and the Prime Minister’s reaction to it was already leading television and radio news bulletins and within hours more than 2 million people had seen the Joe Pike story on the internet.
The Daily Telegraph carried a vast picture of Boris and the dead fish across five columns but had no room for a picture of Jack.
The Sun had a postage stamp sized picture with an accompanying story accusing Labour of playing politics over the plight of the four-year-old.
The story is still resonating – in the shape of the Times cartoon showing Johnson slipping on the boy’s red coat draped over the steps of 10 Downing Street as the polls continue to narrow.
It’s impossible to know whether the story played a part but it certainly cannot have helped.
Meanwhile social media was awash with conspiracy theories suggesting that the story was all a fake and had been manufactured by Momentum supporters to damage the Conservatives.
There was certainly one item of fake news following the instant dispatch of health secretary Matt Hancock to Leeds to sweep up after his boss. An anonymous government spokesman said a Hancock aide had been punched or roughed up by a Labour supporter outside the Leeds hospital, a story unfortunately put out by no less than two television editors, Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC and Robert Peston of ITV.
A video of the incidence showed that no such thing had happened – the aide had accidentally walked into the outstretched arm of a protester.
Nobody’s perfect but the main act of distraction came from Boris Johnson himself. Asked by a factory worker when he was going to abolish the BBC licence fee Johnson first said that the BBC should “cough up” the money for free licence fees for the over 75s and then said he was being discouraged from making up policy on the hoof – before proceeding to do so.
“You have to question whether that way of funding media still makes sense – how long can you justify such a system,” asked Johnson who must know that the present licence fee settlement issue is to run until 2027.
The “story” turned into the Daily Mail splash and made the front page of the Times.
Apart from repeating the magic number 48 million, yes 48 million, the last word should go to the Yorkshire Evening Post whose reporting staff are still being attacked by trolls and bots over their story.
“It is appalling that, having published a legitimate story in the public interest, the Yorkshire Evening Post and their journalists should have to suffer torrents of abuse on social media from trolls who seek to denigrate and debase a highly trusted and respected brand. These vicious attacks on journalism undermine our democratic way of life and then is no place for them in our society,” the paper said.
Perhaps Prime Minister Boris Johnson might like to send a message of support.