[Albion] Andy Naylor is leaving

[trueblue]

They're not claiming to report day-to-day news/activity though, are they? Isn't that the whole point - the journalists have been recruited to write longer, more in-depth articles and are able to do so because they don't have that requirement of generating content every day and breaking news.

Aren’t they? This is what it said at the start of what they call their 'daily football briefing', delivered by email. I'd have thought Maupay's £20m move to a Premier League club might have merited a mention in passing! (although 24 hours later Andy Naylor has a good interview on there with him):

"This newsletter is free and will always be so. The plan is to have an easily readable, vaguely analytical, not too stuffy pick over yesterday's news and tomorrow's, while dropping any nuggets of information that don’t make our stories".

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Having read a couple of bits and bobs of Naylor's new stuff I've got to admit I am a little put off by it.

He's clearly a very good reporter, his work on the Albion has kept the Argus ahead of the curve and has been a valuable source of information. However, is his style suited to long form? If you compare it to something like this https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/article/setting-sun from The Blizzard (which made me cry) you have got to say that Naylor's short paragraphs of two Hollywood statements comes up painfully short. It is all very tabloid-y and perhaps this will work for an American audience that doesn't have that emotional investment in the clubs themselves but for me, I don't want to pay a subscription fee for what is essentially Argus coverage with a vaguer focus.

The retweeting of compliments is putting me off at the moment.

The Blizzard is brilliant.

 

[London Irish]

When this goes tits up there will be a lot of journalists looking for work

There already is! Which is why different business models need to be tried. And to be fair, journalism has got to get a lot bloody better than it has been for ages

 

[Greg Bobkin]

They've moved back to central Brighton now. But it was for cost-cutting reasons.

I hope this whole thing doesn't lead to more personal brand-based journalism. There's always room for the personal but it's the stories wot matter, writers are a vital but incidental part of that. I can foresee anyone with delusions of importance and an iPhone getting louder on social in the hope of catching the next big contract. Grump grump

Said it time and time again – the journalist should never be the story. But it's a trend that is becoming more and more common across all areas of news.