As enthusiastic and energetic as Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout, Geere spoke at several training courses I attended in the late 1990s and was nearly vicious on how important readers were to newspapers' futures... it was warming to see Geere's own paper enacting so much of what I'd heard a decade ago. More
Alan Geere has joined the board of directors of the National Council for the Training of Journalists.Alan is regional editorial director of Northcliffe Media's South East division with responsibility for papers across Kent, Essex, Surreyand Sussex.Alan, who has worked in training and education for more than 20 years, will represent Northcliffe's interests on the NCTJ body. More
Interesting op ed article of May 22; it’s one, I feel, that requires a response. First of all, congratulations for putting your self ‘out there’, stating principles, and giving a lucid thumbnail of editorial practice. Most of your predecessors and peers were/are either too cowardly, or lack the basic knowledge of news values and media responsibility, to articulate such a statement. But from your statement, a few issues arise as to your interpretation of the relationship between media and society in Trinidad. More
An interesting article appears in the latest issue of CPQ, the quarterly magazine of the Commonwealth Press Union. It is written by Editor of the Trinidad Express, Alan Geere, and touches upon the issue of responsibility of the press. Says Geere: “As I write, this week we’ve had a businessman abducted and found dead in a cane field with a plastic bag on his head, a woman killed in a car crash after swerving to avoid a jay-walking pedestrian and four men murdered in one evening. None of these stories made our front page. More
British editor Alan Geere, who lectures in journalism in London and has been a chief editor of several newspapers, said on his blog, Alan Geere Online, “Maybe to have c**t not once, but twice, on the page wasn’t the brightest idea… but for the editor-in-chief to not only fire them but also send out a pompous email may also count as an, er, misjudgment. “As a fully paid-up member of the editor-in-chief club I always reckon its best to save your public bollockings, sorry b*********s, for something that really matters, aka something that affects readers.” More
Then on Sunday I picked up the Express, the leading daily. The front-page story was about nesting leatherback turtles. There was a quote over a shot of a turtle, from a foreigner, about how “magical” Trinidad is. The story was written by the paper's editor-in-chief, one Alan Geere, who is British. Then in Tuesday's paper there was a column by Mr Geere on Sunday's turtle story. Apparently the story had elicited quite a lot of feedback from readers, most of whom, tired with the despressing news of crime and politics, were in favour of the paper leading with a “feel-good” story. Geere is all for this “positive” sort of journalism. Not only because you have to give the people what they want (because that's the bottom line) but because, he says, the media is too much in thrall to special interest and pressure groups who wish to air their grievances. More
“InCirculation is a unique read for anyone in the publishing business. I must admit that most magazines sent to me get 'binned'. However InCirculation caught my eye as the first edition I received had an article on free papers (mainly because I own, edit, set and publish one!). One of my favourite articles has been Alan Geere on the nationals: Tabloid Sundays - more please!”
Tabitha van der Does, Editor & Sole Proprietor, The Sheringham Independent More
Alan Geere, director of the Journalism Training Centre, referred to a story in his local paper about 2,000 patients who won't be getting the hospital operation they've been waiting for. Only two people were quoted in the story, the Primary Care Trust chairman and the director of planning. But none of the patients or hospital staff. “The regional press needs to wake up quickly and reinvent itself, before the only readers left are those officials, PR people and pressure groups who make up the news conspiracy along with bored reporters and unimaginative editors,” he commented. “It's time to reward editors who work hard to enthuse their staff to engage with readers - back them when they want to introduce innovative programmes of community journalism that get the journalists out of the office and into the field.” More
Alan Geere, head of the London-based Journalism Training Centre, was quoted in the hack's magazine, Press Gazette, criticising regional newspapers for their “old fashioned, one dimensional, institutional reporting” and slams their “cavalier disregard for readers who don't seem to matter. No wonder they're not buying papers any more”. Never one to mince his words, he goes on to cite such new media success stories as Ohmynews as placing tanks on the lawn of the press and even suggests newspapers scrap their offices altogether. He's told me since he expects fewer Christmas cards this year but that may be mildly prophetic, given the number of job cuts the same magazine reports every week. More
“En province, les gouverneurs se sont complètement emparés des radios et des télévisions. Les contenus sont très pauvres : de la propagande ou des informations locales. C’est vraiment Radio Gouverneur”, explique Alan Geere de l’organisation de formation des journalistes IWPR. Les journalistes sont sous la pression des autorités locales et ne peuvent envisager de travailler de manière indépendante. More
By William Prochnau, former national reporter for the Washington Post and contributing editor of Vanity Fair.
It is not quite 8 a.m., a thoroughly uncivilized hour for a morning publication, and the newsroom already is abuzz. “To hell with e-mail!” comes sudden thunder from the corner. The accent is British neighbor boy, steam-pressed only slightly by several years of overseas living. This is Alan Geere's way of calling the first meeting of the day.
This effervescent man has caught me up in his whirling orbit, too. Then I watch his face change, fatalistically. Sauce for the goose... And he moves quickly on, a man full of an adrenaline mix of ideas, good and bad, soon to be yesterday's news, no cheers or jeers. He also is the only one in two months who invites me home for dinner. More
You can't legislate for what people are going to write about you.
Here's a selection of the good, the bad and the downright indifferent.