Insiders have been saying that the magazine is not broken and does not need fixing.MEDIA DIARYAll work and no playThere was a good turnout at the newspaper quiz challenge the other night, organised by PR firm WMC Communications. The Times won the contest, narrowly defeating The Independent and more easily seeing off teams from the Daily Mail, the Financial Times, the Evening Standard and The Guardian. The one disappointment was the failure of the Telegraph team – taken mostly from the City desk – to turn up for the event, which started at 8pm. “The problem is,” says a tremulous desk-tied figure, “nobody dares leave the office before 9pm.”Rise of a little helperDavid Blunkett may be out of the Government, but his influence is being felt at No 10.
David Hill, Tony Blair’s director of communications, has found a home for Blunkett’s ex-spin doctor Matthew Doyle as “special communications adviser” to the Prime Minister. Clearly, Hill feels that all the bad press the former work and pension secretary got was down to Blunkett himself, not the PR helper and a former Labour publicist.Movers and apologisersBosses at The Observer are highly sensitive to the needs of their employees. They booked a bar called The Priory for the office Christmas party, only to find that it had had its application for a late licence turned down. Happily they have managed to book some space in the Turnmills complex across the road from the offices, and wrote to staff apologising for the change of venue.
“The least you could expect was a good party after all the money they’re spending on their relaunch,” sniffs a Farringdon mole.Maggie never forgetsSpotted dining at The Ivy some days ago was the ex-Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, accompanied by a pretty blonde Also present was Lady Thatcher, before she had her turn. As the Iron Lady stood up to leave her table, Morgan jumped up and ran over to say hello “Lady Thatcher, it’s Piers Morgan,” he exclaimed. “I know who you are,” snapped Lady T, who turned on her heel and continued to make her exit.The Best-laid plansTo be filed under “Oops”: Men’s Health could not really have picked a more inappropriate interview for their January/February issue. They interviewed George Best, hardly an advertisement for healthy living at the best of times. It was also woefully mistimed, the footballer dying a fortnight ago after eight weeks in hospital.”We did the interview just before he went into hospital,” says the features desk “Our lead times are two months. There’s been some argument in the office to see if we can say this was the last interview with Best.”.
The relaunches and the downsizings, the hype, the endless “What do you think?” conversations, have all taken place. Is the new Sunday Telegraph like an iPod? Well, it’s a lot bigger; it isn’t even a compact. Is the Berliner-format Guardian beautiful, as some of its staff will tell you? Does The Independent on Sunday “work better” as a compact?
Such conversations are more enjoyable than studying figures, but the day of reckoning comes, and it comes with data, not opinion. We have now had a full (circulation) month of the “new” Sunday Telegraph and Independent on Sunday We have had two of the “new” Guardian. December’s figures will tell a partial story, as they will be distorted by public holidays and priorities greater than newspaper reading. So the latest (November) figures, just published, give some first indications of the results of all the investment and change this autumn.
We will need to leave it another few months before we try to answer, in each case, the “has it worked?” question. Editors and publishers are selective in the figures they use – whichever shows them in the best light – and circulation departments will regularly deploy the dark arts to massage the figures.