What happened when I invited two comedians into my newsroom
Plus: Celebrating the best of Scottish journalism, when Liz Truss met the EDP - and the podcast celebrating 1million downloads
Hello,
Welcome to the weekly Behind Local News newsletter, sharing the best of local journalism every week. We’ve moved our weekly publication to a Wednesday morning based on feedback - but please let us know what you think!
This week’s big read is from Joy Yates, editor of Newsquest’s titles in Cumbria. She, and her team, recently appeared on Hold The Front Page, the TV series in which comedians Nish Kumar and Josh Widdicombe try being local news reporters.
The thought of TV cameras in a newsroom is enough to strike fear into many editors - but as Joy reveals, she doesn’t regret a thing (although is grateful some conversations caught on camera didn’t make the final cut).
The series, which includes several other Newsquest titles, is currently airing on Sky Max.
Thanks very much for reading,
Behind Local News
New on site this week:
EDP grabs headline as ex-PM claims: “I wasn’t the worst ever”
The Eastern Daily Press grabbed national election headlines when it scooped an interview with local MP and former prime minister Liz Truss.
Independent newspaper adopts new approach to covering General Election
How do you cover a general election differently? That’s the challenge an independent newspaper in the East Midlands is attempting to do, taking learnings from America.
From AI to tackling bad laws — the actions editors say the next Government needs to tackle to save journalism
Editors around the UK have joined forces to call on politicians to commit to action around five key issues which they say will determine whether journalism in the UK is able to thrive in the future.
Good news this week:
Congratulations to the journalists and news titles shortlisted for the Publisher Newsletter Awards, including Hannah Jones from Reach’s InYourArea, Debra Fox from National World and Will Hayward from WalesOnline. All three are competing for the newsletter hero award. Plenty of other nomination from local publications in the mix too.
Golf podcast bunkered, from publisher DC Thomson’s Scottish golfing magazine of the same name, has just celebrated its 1,000,000th download.
Much to celebrate in Scotland this week at the Scottish Press Awards were held. We’ve a round-up of the big local news winners here - a great time to be working for a newspaper with Courier in its title!
And particular congratulations to Ian Swanson, the political editor of the Edinburgh Evening News, who won the lifetime achievement award at the event.
Two comedians, a much-loved weekly newspaper — and a reminder of why local journalism is the best job in the world
Would you invite two comedians into your newsroom to spend time with reporters and readers — and then make a TV series programme about it? Joy Yates, editor of Newsquest’s titles in Cumbria did just that, and doesn’t regret what happened next…
“Journalism is THE best job in the world” — a quote from my appearance on Sky Max’s Hold the Front Page starring Josh Widdicombe and Nish Kumar.
And I meant every word — it’s because of my job that I got the opportunity to work with a talented production crew and two of my favourite comedians.
For anyone who hasn’t seen Hold the Front Page, The Westmorland Gazette — one of Newsquest Cumbria’s seven titles that I oversee — was the focus of the second episode of the second series where Josh and Nish become local news reporters for a week in different newsrooms.
The Wezzy Gezzy (if you know, you know) was one of four Newsquest titles to feature in the six-part second series.
Josh, who actually trained as a journalist, and Nish’s goal is to find local stories strong enough to make the front page.
During their time in Cumbria they took part in a ghost audit at a local pub; visited the egg tent at the county show; entered The World Gurning Championships; interviewed Britain’s dullest man; danced with East 17 and investigated The Beast of Cumbria, which was a main thread throughout the episode — so, a pretty standard week in the world of Cumbrian journalism.
And it was genuinely just a week they spent with us in Cumbria.
My team deserve the biggest mention — they took it all in their stride while a 24-strong production crew descended on our smart office in its prime location in beautiful Kendal.
The show really does celebrate local journalists and local titles and although it can concentrate on some of the more unusual stories we cover, the serious message is that local journalists are highly skilled and talented and champion their local communities.
Of course, for us, it was business as usual. We still had websites and newspapers to run — so it was an extraordinarily busy week.
After our first meeting, Josh is filmed saying “Joy was joyous” so you’ll not be surprised to hear I’ve been called Joyous Joy more than a few times since — I guess it could have been much worse.
On two occasions when I send the guys out on a job, I tell them to “have fun” because it is an honour to do the job and, when we are covering light-hearted content, why shouldn’t we be encouraged to enjoy and make the most of it.
I did love our episode — not least because it highlighted the stunning county we have the privilege to cover every day and the amazing communities we serve. And you couldn’t help but be in awe of the most fabulous views captured so well by the show.
After the crazy week was over and I had a chance to reflect, I did start to catastrophise over the edit as you’re not privy to the final cut and obviously — and rightly so — have no control over it.
And there were definitely some exchanges I’m happy to say didn’t make it onto our screens.
Since the show aired, the question I’ve been asked most is what were Josh and Nish really like? Honestly? Josh and Nish and the crew were so lovely with me; all of my team and with everyone they met during their time in Cumbria. They were so respectful of our industry and I think it shows in the episodes.
I’m never complacent about the beauty of Cumbria and I particularly loved my final on-camera chat with Josh and Nish which was filmed in Thirlmere, showcasing the Lake District at its beautiful best.
I’m also pretty stoked that I got a big laugh out of Nish during this scene.
After posting on social media about the show, I received a message from an ex-colleague saying they’d seen a review of the episode in the Daily Mail Saturday supplement written by TV critic Kathryn Flett.
I was slightly terrified to read it, but I was a bit overwhelmed, to be honest.
However, unsurprisingly, I never did get the suggested call from Have I Got News For You.
I also have to admit getting a bit of a buzz when the credits rolled and my name was under Josh and Nish’s — at the very bottom of course, the beauty of having Yates as a surname.
Josh and Nish said they’d “learned loads in Cumbria” and it really was pretty cool having them hang out with us in the newsroom.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience afforded because of the job we do.
I loved every minute and would do it again in a heartbeat — yep, journalism really is the best job in the world.