Belfast Telegraph – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

Nesbitt: “change happens and if you don’t roll with it then you’ll be left behind”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 18, 2013, 3:28 pm

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Interviewed in this morning’s Belfast Telegraph, Lynda Bryans was asked about the best advice she had received. It wasn’t about shrinking and growing. That’s an easy one. It was something Mike said to me years ago. I had to choose between a staff contract and a risky one-year contract that might not be renewed. Mike told me that change happens and if you don’t roll with it then you’ll be left behind. That’s been great advice ever since and I …

Why doesn’t Leveson pass Cameron’s “bonkers” test? And would Ofcom really be a “flawed” backstop?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 1, 2012, 8:30 am

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[David Cameron to Andrew Marr] “We must wait for what Lord Leveson says … I don’t want to pre-judge it. We don’t want heavy-handed state intervention. We’ve got to have a free press.” Backing up with legislation the self regulation of an industry that has consistently failed to be harsh to itself hardly qualifies as failing Cameron’s “bonkers” test. Labour – from the advantage of Opposition – are asking for the Leveson recommendations to be implemented in full. Ed Miliband: …

BelTel Poll: UUP disappearing in the east of Northern Ireland?

Mick Fealty on November 30, 2012, 11:38 am

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So, here’s today’s poll in the BelTel: DUP 30% SF 26.4 SDLP 13.5 Alliance 11.6 UUP 11.4 Alliance, without doing very much for it, are pounding the UUP east of Bann. As one leading commentator told Slugger this morning, this would cost the UUP key seats in Belfast and North Down. In fact, what’s happening underneath the figures are that the UUP are quickly becoming a border area party, with the DUP now holding majority shares in the broader pro …

Orange Order: No one will have veto over our Ulster Covenant parade

John Ó Néill on September 21, 2012, 11:30 am

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“No one will have a veto over our Ulster Covenant parade”, says Mervyn Gibson, county grand chaplain of the Orange Order in Belfast (as reported in the Tele): Mr Gibson said that the organisation had consulted with clergy and parishioners from St Patrick’s but that it did not feel compelled to consult with residents regarding the parade. “The reason we are not speaking to residents at this stage is that the issue was respect for St Patrick’s Church,” he added. “That was …

Irish News now sells more full price copies than Belfast Telegraph

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 24, 2012, 8:25 am

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local paper mastheads Belfast Telegraph Irish News News Letter

The latest set of audited circulation figures for Irish newspapers were published yesterday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. While the ABCs show some minor growth in portions of the local industry, they still highlight an overall year on year decline. The most startling finding is that the Irish News has overtaken the Belfast Telegraph in terms of the number of copies sold each day at the full ‘basic cover price’. However, the Belfast Telegraph’s circulation has not plummeted as …

Local papers and journalists getting UK-wide recognition at Regional Press Awards

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 27, 2012, 10:06 pm

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John McGurk (Sunday Life) - winner of Daily/Sunday Reporter of the Year 2011

Running alongside the build-up to and finals of the Eurovision Song Contest, it’s the season of newspaper awards. With fifteen nominations shortlisted across eleven categories in the Society of Editors’ Regional Press Awards, how did NI papers do at Friday’s award lunch when examined against the best of their regional counterparts right across the UK? Daily/Sunday Reporter of the Year John McGurk – Sunday Life – WINNER Bimpe Archer – Irish News – HIGHLY COMMENDED Ciaran Barnes – Sunday Life …

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery? Is the Belfast Telegraph standing on the shoulders of the News Letter?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 1, 2012, 1:40 pm

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news letter belfast telegraph articles comparison

Two articles in local newspapers this week show a remarkable similarity. On Monday, the News Letter published a story (also in Coleraine Times) following up Ian Paisley Jnr’s statement in Westminster Hall last week about the future of A&E at the Causeway Hospital. A tip off pointed to Tuesday’s Belfast Telegraph website which also carries the story. While a significant portion of both articles rely on statements made by Ian Paisley Jnr MP in the House of Commons – available …

Local papers well represented in the Society of Editors’ Regional Press Awards shortlists

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 29, 2012, 9:15 am

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Some local newspapers and journalists appear in the shortlists for the Society of Editors’ Regional Press Awards that celebrate the best of UK regional newspaper journalism in 2011. Good to see the local weekly The Ulster Herald making the list alongside Belfast Telegraph, Irish News and Sunday Life success. Given the entrance fee, some local publications may chose not to nominate. However, with only five names in each shortlist, Northern Ireland journalists and titles clearly dominate some of the categories …

Why the sixth (fifth, fourth, third and second) edition(s) of the Belfast Telegraph had to go…

Mick Fealty on April 22, 2012, 9:13 am

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I want to come back to the issue of newspapers and the problem of staffing good product in a highly contested digital age, particular in the wake of the recent discussion on Hearts and Minds. But in the meantime, I think it’s appropriate to quote one of Squinter’s best column’s of recent times, which described precisely the pain inflicted by the internet on the news paper industry… The Tele was an indispensable part of every punter’s toolkit in the 60s …

Belfast Telegraph says “nothing is going to change”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 18, 2012, 11:30 pm

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The online Belfast Telegraph today featured an open letter from the paper’s editor Mike Gilson in which he cryptically defends the Belfast Telegraph’s reach and cryptically explains the decision to switch to being a morning paper only. See if you can spot the sentence where he clearly explains the change? Facts that show the Belfast Telegraph is greatest media force in Northern Ireland Throughout its 142-year history the Belfast Telegraph has been the most comprehensive and trustworthy news service for …

Belfast Telegraph to drop evening edition, while News Letter may (not) go weekly?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 16, 2012, 9:53 pm

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Six weeks ago I posted about the continued decline in the circulation of local newspapers. Amongst the stable of Belfast dailies, the ABC figures for July-December 2011 showed that the Belfast Telegraph had lost 8.1% (4,270 copies) compared to the same period in 2010, and 9.4% (5,548 copies) when compared to the first six months of 2011. In fact, when free and discounted copies were taken out of the figures – eg, the copies that you find in hotels, airline …

Dead tree circulation continues to decline – Belfast Telegraph dropping at nearly twice rate of News Letter & Irish News

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 1, 2012, 6:30 am

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Table showing circulation decline for Belfast Telegraph, Irish News, News Letter and Irish Times - up to date with second half 2011 figures

Looking at the latest set of newspaper circulation figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) – July to December 2011 – it is once again a story of decline. You’re unlikely to read anything about this in today’s papers! For the last few years, the Belfast Telegraph has performed better in the first half of each year. However, its overall trend is still down. With an average audited circulation of 53,771 copies in the second half of 2011, the …

Hold the Front Page: “Three serious daily newspapers in Belfast”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 23, 2011, 8:45 am

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News Letter Belfast Telegraph Irish News

To finish off what O’Neill started on Sunday night with Tele takes a hiding and the discussion around the circulation graphs, former editor Steve Dyson dissected the morning editions of the three local papers over on Hold the Front Page. With his eyes set on the Wednesday 24 January morning editions of the News Letter, the Irish News and Belfast Telegraph:am, he comments on the “calm” headlines that accompanied one of that week’s main stories, the evacuation of 100 homes …

Newspaper sales: could the Irish News overtake the Belfast Telegraph in 2012/3?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 21, 2011, 6:00 pm

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NI newspaper sales 2004-2010 - Belfast Telegraph, Newsletter, Irish News (and Irish Times for comparison)

To add some longer term data to yesterday’s Tele takes a hiding post by O’Neill, the graph below outlines the performance (using the six monthly Audit Bureau of Circulation figures) of the Belfast Telegraph, Irish News and News Letter. I’ve added in the the Irish Times sales for comparison. The overall trend is one of decline. However, it is significantly more pronounced for the Belfast Telegraph. In fact if simple linear trend lines are added to the graph, sales of …

One small region, slightly damaged, several careless owners…

John Ó Néill on September 2, 2010, 6:20 pm

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Mary Dejevsky has written a piece for the Belfast Telegraph that will go down well in some quarters and not so well in others. She is suggesting that it is time that the British government off-load Northern Ireland by one of several routes: including independence, secession or to offer to sell it to the Republic of Ireland. Her objection handling is quite interesting, for what it ignores as much as what she deals with, like religion. There is no mention …

NI Water: Contractor starts legal proceedings against MacKenzie and the Bel Tel

Mick Fealty on July 20, 2010, 12:04 pm

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Slugger understands that Sue Holmes – whose contract with NI Water sparked what some might term an internal witch hunt – has started legal proceedings against the Belfast Telegraph and Laurence MacKenzie for an alleged breach of a confidentiality agreement she signed with NI Water. Slugger understands Ms Holmes also has other actions in play. Given Mr MacKenzie’s recent directive against any member of staff talking to UTV, it is not clear how this news will go down inside the …