James Mitchinson on how to support The Yorkshire Post

Yorkshire Post

The Yorkshire Post Editor, James Mitchinson, on the future of the industry and how you can support Yorkshire's National Newspaper.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, I'm James Mitchinson, I'm the editor of the Yorkshire Post and I'm here talking

00:05 to you today because of something I was asked at an event last week. I was afforded the

00:10 privilege of speaking to West Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce at a lunch event, having been

00:15 invited to do so by the chief executive there, James Mason. And James, I have to say, gave

00:21 me something of a hospital pass. I had to follow Ed Anderson, the indefatigable Lord

00:27 Lieutenant for West Yorkshire and for anybody who's not heard Ed speak, his stories are

00:32 always so entertaining, so brilliant and he's so knowledgeable. A quite intimidating act

00:39 to follow, I can tell you. But I was asked to follow Ed and talk about my 20 year career

00:43 in local journalism to date and how I came to be the editor of the Yorkshire Post. And

00:49 during that conversation with James, as I often do when asked about the future of good

00:53 quality, meaningful and impactful regional journalism, I found myself getting more and

00:58 more emotional and agitated because it's something I've given two decades to and will happily

01:04 give two decades more to if asked. That is, if it can win out against the tittle-tattery

01:10 of social media and the greedy tech platforms that have hoovered up all of the ad revenue

01:15 that once supported brilliant, vibrant local journalism and made it possible in every community

01:20 in this country. But one thing that really stopped me in my tracks was that as I was

01:27 in the Queen's Hotel last week, my voice cracking and my gestures becoming more and more animated,

01:33 trying to articulate my concern for what local journalism really is, there were people nodding

01:38 in agreement. You know, the consensus was that having compassionate, community-focused

01:44 journalists representing very often people who have the least in life, holding powerful,

01:50 sometimes self-centred, often greedy and powerful people to account, shining a light where bad

01:57 actors hate light being shone. There was agreement, you know, that's a good thing and must be

02:03 protected at all costs because, you know, some of the people who have the power to protect,

02:08 preserve and enhance effective scrutiny, especially in public office, they don't want an effective

02:13 press, they don't want a capable watchdog poring over their every move. You know, those

02:19 with things to hide would rather we didn't exist and weren't able to poke our noses into

02:23 the sometimes dodgy dealings. But then, without a Yorkshire Post, the county just doesn't

02:31 lose a fearless campaigning guardian, it loses so much more than that. And so, I was asked

02:38 a sort of killer question and the killer question that came from the room was, how can we have

02:43 helped you to keep doing what you're doing, to keep our Yorkshire Post strong and on its

02:48 A-game? And, of course, turning to us to advertise your business or products is what we've always

02:53 done brilliantly for hundreds of years. But we're now so much more sophisticated than

02:58 that. The Yorkshire Post can design, it can create complex, data-driven ad campaigns bespoke

03:06 to your target client and through powerful application, we've a proven track record in

03:12 industry-leading reach and campaign engagement which delivers results. And we know as well

03:18 as you do that consumer behaviour has really, really changed rapidly through digital and

03:23 convenience reasons and so have we. And hopefully, if you are to come and speak to us again,

03:31 we can show you some of that. So, if you're a business that believes in Yorkshire, one

03:35 that cares about this place, the people who call it home, and if you share my absolute

03:41 conviction that what myself and my team do day in, day out is worth fighting for, worth

03:46 protecting, the quickest, easiest and most effective thing you can do is become a subscriber

03:51 today because every single subscriber makes us stronger. We even offer corporate packages

03:57 so if you're a big business, you can give a subscription to the Yorkshire Post to the

04:01 people who work for you, perhaps as a thank you, but whilst also helping to protect good

04:07 quality meaningful journalism that I think makes Yorkshire a better place, I think makes

04:13 Yorkshire a more informed place and I also think it makes Yorkshire a more attractive

04:18 place. People on the outside know that this sort of scrutiny, this quality journalism

04:26 exists in this county and they understand the impact that that can have on institutions

04:34 within the community and within the county. So, really what I wanted to say was to that

04:40 person who asked, what can you do to help the Yorkshire Post? Become an ambassador,

04:47 become a friend, become a subscriber, because I can honestly tell you with my hand on my

04:53 heart that not every community has a Yorkshire Post, certainly not every county has a Yorkshire

04:59 Post and often I receive emails offering admiration, appreciation from outside the county saying

05:07 we used to have a newspaper like this, we used to have what you have in Yorkshire. So,

05:12 protect it, it's precious, look after it, because if it's gone, you'll certainly miss

05:17 it and I couldn't agree more with those sentiments. So, thank you for taking the time to listen

05:22 to me, I hope you can find a way to support your Yorkshire Post and to keep us going for

05:28 at least another couple of decades, if not a couple of centuries. Thank you for your

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