Magic of the Maes

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 7:42 PM | add or read comments (1)

Today I was in beautiful Ruthin for a fabulous day at the Urdd. This was my first such event, having arrived from Liverpool back in August. Stunning, a festival of youthful exuberance and bucketloads of talent. And the sun shone brightly! Thanks to Sian and her team for making me so welcome. We have two more pages of content from the Urdd in tomorrow's edition of the Daily Post.
Back at the loom now to finish off tomorrow's front page - an incredible story of an Anglesey farmer's unfortunate ordeal at the hands of a particularly enormous boar. We also have latest details of the Gwynedd health scare. A total of 5,000 people will be offered tests, including for HIV, following concerns over a health worker.
I have also put together another front page - but this won't be on sale tomorrow, or any other day. You know when TV shows sometimes show people reading in their newspaper about characters they know? The props people get these papers by coming to the likes of us and asking for a dummy front page. This was what our friends at S4Cs Rownd a Rownd asked for. I had better not give the story away but the front page will feature in a dramatic storyline later this year.

Daily Post - the video

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 12:55 PM | add or read comments (0)

Prepare yourselves for one of the biggest changes at the Daily Post in its 151-year history. Your favourite daily paper is getting into video news!
We have acquired some high quality digital video equipment and several of our journalists are being trained in the arts of capturing and editing moving image with sound. It means we will be able to run stories with video on our website.
There's no end to the possibilities - but one I do find daunting. Some editors are appearing "on screen" to give a brief synopsis of the days news "a la Moira Stuart". I have, what is known as a face for radio, so I might find one of my more glamourous colleagues to go in front of camera.
What we are very keen to do is to get readers to send us their videos (no, not those kind, this is a family newspaper). We are upgrading our website soon so we can run several minutes of footage a day - and we are keen to hear from you if you have captured a news event on camera, even if it is just on your phone. When we're ready I will let you know how to send the stuff through.
My new deputy Gregg Fray has kindly agreed to hold the reins over the Bank Holiday weekend. Mrs Irvine is very happy about this as the garden in our lovely new North Wales home appears to be have turned into a little piece of Sumatran rain forest during the recent downpours. At the age of 40 I have reached that point in life where I do appreciate the delights of a lovely garden and delicate flowers but still resent every second I have to spend achieving it, when I could be more gainfully employed watching rugby or football on Sky. I don't think this is a battle I am destined to win.
Wela i chi wythnos nesa - see you next week.

News from the other side

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 5:28 PM | add or read comments (0)

It's a highly competitive environment out there on the news stands. Every morning we go head to head with the national papers competing for readers in North Wales.
Delighted to say that we keep winning - we are still by far the best read paper. But it's important to know all about the competition and my splendid colleagues in marketing have suggested that the best way to get inside their heads is to pretend to be them...
"Right then, what's shaping up for tomorrow's paper?
Well we've got a really exciting story about Rooney's girlfriend. Apparently she's been shopping and has bought a new handbag.
Excellent - but do we have pictures?
Yes, you can clearly see her coming out of the shop with the bag - it's inside a carrier bag with the shop's name on it.
Fantastic - that's the splash sorted, what about page three?
Picture of a lassy with no clothes on?
Aye, that'll do."

No, I'm being unfair. Our tabloid colleagues do a fantastic job - and write cracking headlines - but I hope you'll agree that there's more to news than sex, celebs and shopping.
As for tomorrow's paper, we are planning to lead with the dramatic collapse of the trial of the Criccieth guest house owner accused of shooting two brothers.
There's been a shock rise in the level of knife crime in North Wales.
And we have the bizarre story of a chap who was told to hand back a retirement bonus ...because it belonged to another employee with the same name.
Tomorrow night I'm off to the Gwynedd business awards at Caernarfon.
It's going to be a long day. Thursday always starts with my Welsh lesson which is far and away the most exhausting two hours of the week. When you're the only kid in the class there's no time to stare out of the window.
Anyway, that's yer lot... tara rwan, nos da.

Is the weather "news"?

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 4:08 PM | add or read comments (0)

One of the daftest stories I was involved in appeared in a newspaper I worked for in the English midlands a decade ago, when we revealed that Disney were threatening to sue the local council for breach of copyright after laying out flowerbeds in the shape of Mickey Mouse.
We were overjoyed to hear via BBC World Service a few days later that the story had "gone global", appearing in papers as far away as Australia.
Nowadays the Internet has made all news instantly global, whether it's good, bad, daft or indifferent.
So there's every chance that you might be reading this in far away, sunny climes and will have no idea that it has done nothing but lash it down all day here in North Wales. It's been pouring for days - and it's going to carry on for a several days more.
But is the weather news? - news is meant to be about the out-of-the-ordinary and "heavy rain in North Wales" sounds about as obvious as "firefighter fights fire" .
But the weather has a special place in our hearts. There's nothing we like to talk about more. And people love to read about extreme weather, especially snow (remember those blizzards in early March - they gave us a a daily sales lift of several hundred copies). So that's why page three tomorrow is devoted to all things soggy, including the five inches of rain that has deluged parts of Snowdonia.
Just make sure you get on your wellies and waterproofs and go and buy a copy tomorrow. And if you live in Australia, drop me a line and tell me what the weather's like.

Things to do in Gwynedd in the rain

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 4:37 PM | add or read comments (0)

Monday was spent in the company of Mr Eryl Crump, the Daily Post's man in Gwynedd, touring round the county, meeting and greeting some key contacts to update them about what we're up to and to get the latest vibe on the big stories of the moment.
And we also found time for a bit of tourism, despite the best efforts of some relentless North Wales rain. This really is a stunning county! - the awe-inspring Caernarfon Castle, the fascinating slate museum in Llanberis plus wonderful new facilities such as Galeri in Caernarfon town.
We've got a heck of a lot to offer to tourists in this part of the world. But every year the world gets smaller thanks to low cost flying and we need to keep sharp and offer new attractions. That's why it's so important that the council needs to keep to its timetable and make a decision this year on the future of the old Llanberis quarry. There's a stack of schemes competing with the indoor ski centre plan. All of their backers will be trying hard to demonstrate sustainable benefits to Gwynedd. Here's hoping the winner - or winners - meet all the criteria and throw in a big wow factor that will attract visitors from far and wide.
Tomorrow will be spent on trains back and forth to London for an editors' conference at Canary Wharf. There you go, one moment you're looking down a slate mine, the next you're half-way up a skyscraper. Funny old world.
News update - not for tomorrow's paper - the smoking teenanger on crutches has been spotted again - playing truant from school with her pals. Who knows where her hobbling adventures will lead to next?
And news for the paper - tomorrow's page one is shaping around the fury of a young North Wales squaddie who has served his nation in Kosovo but can't get a passport to go on his hols because of some Passport Office red-tape nonsense about his family background.

Crackers - and Christmas

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 4:43 PM | add or read comments (0)

I took Max out in the lashing rain this morning, before heading in to Daily Post HQ, and witnessed a tragic-comic sight outside our local secondary school. A kid, she must have been about 15, was hobbling into school on crutches. She looked a sporty type (well, she was wearing a track-suit) and was caked in the de rigeur Outspan orange fake tan. Despite an incapacitating leg injury, she was determined to stay looking cool.
And that meant having a ciggie on the way to school.
Squillions of pounds is spent trying to turn kids off fags but they still think it’s a hip thing to smoke.
It’s simple. The Welsh Assembly should just get a video of this daft lass trying to walk on crutches and smoke - at the same time. Everyone will see what a barmy habit it is.
(Says ex-smoker Rob Irvine, who took 25 years to kick the habit).
And so to work, where there was a festive mood in my office as we gathered to discuss our plans for the Daily Post carol concert at Llangollen (date for your diary, folks, December 10).
I know it sounds appalling to be talking about Christmas on May 8. But, hey, you have to plan for success. Last December was my first Daily Post concert and I have to say it was a cracking night out. I’ll tell you more about this year’s event in the coming months.
So to tomorrow. Still early in the evening at this stage so we have not committed yet to our front page choice. The chief contender at the moment is the story of a North Wales dad who has admitted the manslaughter of his baby son in a moment of temper. We also have an interview with a hospital porter who is, as we speak, staging a rooftop protest over the planned closure of Prestatyn Hospital. You have to admire his determination – it hasn’t stopped chucking down on the poor fellow all day.
Another contender for a front page picture is an amazing photo a reader has sent to us of Beatle John Lennon with wife Yoko Ono visiting his ex-missus in North Wales. Bet that was a fun day for all concerned!
It’s certainly given an added buzz to our very popular new four-page Flashback section, which this week focuses on showbiz.
That’s all for now. I’m designing the front page tonight so I’d better go and make my mind up what to put on it.

Who's that fat blogger?

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 3:18 PM | add or read comments (0)

I knew it wouldn't be a good idea to put my picture on this page. It looks like I'm inflating and about to explode. And as for those rosy cheeks, anyone would think I sit in my office all day guzzling port, which in fact I hardly ever do.
Anyway, welcome to my new blog. I am going to be writing regular updates about life at the Daily Post. Feel free to leave your comments about the blog, the Daily Post and our website. And if you have a story to tell me, you can leave a message about that too.
So what does an editor do? My pub quiz pal Gwynfor-of-the-garage reckons I read the paper all day long. Indeed, he has offered to do my job for me when I'm on holiday. Sorry, old son, but there's a bit more to it than that (although, yes, I do read a lot of papers).
The key moment of the day is our afternoon conference when various folks huddle round a desk in my office, fighting for the seat next to the fan (my kindly company is saving the planet by leaving me off the air conditioning system). We run through all the stories being worked on for tomorrow's paper - news, sport and features. And the picture editor Richard Williams chips in with the day's best photos. Actually, he describes them, as no one prints out pictures in this digital age. But he can certainly create a vivid image.
Tomorrow's splash (that's the name of the main story on the front page) details a brutal case of kidnapping in which a teenage girl was nearly throttled. Of major interest is that the defendant is a foreign national, raising the question, posed by the Home Secretary this week, of criminals from abroad eventually being deported. See the paper tomorrow (Friday) to find out more.
Right, that's all for now, better do some work.