Grant goes to Golwg

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 4:48 PM | add or read comments (4)

So the Assembly Government funding for Welsh language news media has gone to Golwg. All £600,000 of it.
I need to declare an interest here. We put in a bid for just some of the money to help us develop a Welsh language news website. We came away empty handed which was a pity because, as well as being staunch supporters of yr iaith we have a fantastic reputation for delivering news in print and online.
Golwg cyf, based in Lampeter, does pretty well out of public sector funding. They already get £75,000 a year from the books council to support their weekly magazine's art pages. Other publications they produce have also received public funding.
The question for us now is whether we press on and create a brilliant Welsh language news website and make it so popular that advertisers and sponsors will be clamouring to come on board with us.
A little leg-up would have helped. But I wouldn't mind having a crack at it anyway. What do you think?

The BBC - yesterday's news tomorrow

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 3:44 PM | add or read comments (0)

There is considerable venting of steam from ears across the newspaper industry over reports that the BBC is planning to take £68m of licence fee money to put lots of video on their local news websites.
It’s for “young people” says Auntie Beeb, as though anyone under 21 can only cope with bright, shifting colours.
Silly me, thinking that my licence fee was just a protection racket for TV owners. Now, it seems, I am forced as a telly owner to hand over chunks of money to support a non-commercial organisation seeking to steal my customers.
But the BBC remains what it is, a follower of the news agenda set by other media organisations. No doubt we will be seeing lots of videos based on stories (and videos) which have appeared days before in the Daily Post or on dailypost.co.uk.
So if you want to get the news first, stick with us.

Here’s my first update on life as publishing editor North Wales.
“Congratulations on the new job” said a colleague on day one. “You ought to know that the men’s loos have flooded”.

See, shouldering the burden already.

• Tags:
• BBC

Trains, strains and automobiles

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 11:01 PM | add or read comments (0)

Commuter chaos is the theme of Tuesday's page one lead.

Two gargantuan sets of roadworks on the A55 were bad enough. Then a fire in a derelict school close to the railway line halted all train services between Chester and both the North Wales coast and Wrexham.

I was caught up in the roadworks on the way back from a morning meeting in Chester. How utterly frustrating to be burning £1.25 a litre diesel when you're not moving. I filled up in Llandudno Junction yesterday. At these prices I half expected a sommelier to be manning the pumps.

We also have the story of a headteacher of a school where a child fell and later died who has had his health and safety conviction quashed. James Porter, the owner of Hillgrove School in Bangor, was found guilty last July following the death of Kian Williams, who died from MRSA after the accident.

We report how local MPs have voted in the embryology debate in the Commons this evening.

• Tags:
• A55

Come on you Reds

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 8:25 PM | add or read comments (0)

If you saw Saturday's Daily Post then you'll know I've been in the news myself.
Happily it wasn't a court story with a photo of me emerging from a police van with a blanket on my head - nothing so exotic as that.
No, this was just a little story to say that I have a new job as publishing director for Trinity Mirror North Wales. I will still be editing the Daily Post but my range of responsibilities now extends across editorial and advertising for all our newspapers, websites and other publications in North Wales.
What exactly does that entail? Well I think I'll spell things out to you as we go along, via this blog.

Anyway, enough about me. Monday's splash centres on an arrest of a man on suspicion of murder after a pensioner was found dead in Bangor. We have a great eight-page pullout previewing Wednesday night's Champions League final between Man Utd and Chelsea in Moscow. This is one Manchester blue who'll be cheering on the Reds, if only for the fact that I'd rather see anyone win than Abramovich's bunch.

And don't miss the letters page for Dafydd Iwan's last word on what happened in the Gwynedd council elections. It's great reading, as is the Professor's Monday column which asks some very tricky questions about the mess that government support for Welsh tourism seems to have got into.

• Tags:
• Man Utd

Proof that a good website helps to sell newspapers

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 4:45 PM | add or read comments (1)

The traffic on dailypost.co.uk doubled on Friday as we revealed the results of the North Wales council elections - and Saturday's paper sold like hot cakes.
This is the latest of many examples of stories that are a hot topic online and which sell well in print too. So all that stuff about the Internet being the death of newspapers doesn't quite stack up.
Tell me if I'm wrong but we feel that we have achieved what we set out for with dailypost.co.uk - and that's for it to serve as a companion to the print edition. The web gives you the instant news while the paper puts flesh on the bones.
The election provided real drama - not just the nationwide meltdown of Labour but the drama in our own part of the world, particularly in Gwynedd where the issue of school closures burst onto the party political scene to the detriment of Plaid. Such great stories were as usual passed over by the London papers who were far more obsessed with the capital's mayoral battle.
I'm still getting my head around the notion that Boris Johnson is among the most powerful half dozen politicians in the UK, considerably more important than his own party leader. Have thousands of Londoners woken up in the night in a cold sweat, asking themselves; "Oh no, what have we done?"
Still, let's see how he gets on. At least he combed his hair for his first day at work.
Tomorrow's splash is about the High Court's decision to throw out plans for a multi-million marina in Beaumaris to protect the nearby mussel beds. We're working on a terribly clever headline involving mussels with muscle (now stop groaning!).
And page three reveals the shameful truth about where Welsh councils buy their daffodils.

• Tags:
• Boris Johnson
• elections

LIVE ELECTION UPDATE

• Posted by Rob Irvine at 1:51 AM | add or read comments (0)

Our content management system is poorly. Great flipping timing!
So I am using my blog to update you on the latest election situation in North Wales.
Here you go:
02.14am
Flinshire latest Flint Trelanwy - Labour x2, Hawarden Cons, Holywell West - Plaid, Mold West - Lib Dem, Saltney Stonebridge Ind
01.58am
We have the last few on Anglesey and they as follows......
Beaumaris - Ind, Trearddur bay - Cons, Llannerchymedd - Ind, Maeshyfryd -  Plaid
All in all a 54% turnout.
01.46am
Time for a catch up on Anglesey.....
Amlwch Port - Labour, Parc a'r Mynydd - Ind, Porthyfelin - Ind, London Road - Labour, Morawelon - Labour, Kingsland - Labour, Mechell - Ind, Llaneilian - Lib Dem, Llanbedrgoch - Ind, Llanddyfan -Ind, pentraeth - Ind, Cwm Cadnant  - Plaid, Bodorgan - Ind
01.44am. A few more from Flintshire....
Flint Castle has gone to Labour, Flint Oakenholt is Ind - a big Labour loss there, Holywell east - Lib Dem as is New Brighton
01.33am.
Okay this is how Flinshire looks at the moment
Aston - Ind, Bagillt East - Con, Bagillt West - Lab, Broughton North East - Lab, Brynford - Con, Buckley Bistre West - Lib Dem, Buckley Mountain - Ind, Buckley Pentrobin - Ind, Caergwrle -Lab, Caerwys - Con, Cilcain - Con, Connah's Quay South - Lib Dem, Connah's Quay Wepre - Ind, ffynnongroyw - Ind, Greenfield Lib Dem, Gronant - Ind, Gwernaffield - Con, Holywell Central -  Lab
01.21am
Well in the time we have been away it has been a nightmare for Labour in Flintshire where they have had some big big losses
Labour have won in Bagillt West and Caergwrle but have been beaten badly in the likes of Bagillt East where they have lost to the Conservatives
01.16am
Right folks I'm back in the game, some technical glitches but here goes....
00.52am
Big shock in Flintshire, Labout stalward Kevin Jones is hammered in Bagillt East by Norma Jones from the Conservatives. Could this be a signs of things to come. Words is there has been a really low turnout in Flintshire and that usually spells bad news for Labour.
Elsewhere in the countyMike Reece (Lab) holds Bagillt West, Owen Foster (Cons) holds Cilcain, and William Mullin hold Broughton North east for Labour.
00.45am
Dyffryn Ardudwy is won by Eryl Jones Williams (Ind)
00.42am
More from Gwynedd, coming in thick and fast now.
Corris / Mawddwy is won by John Roberts and Independent and Diffwys and Maenoffere by Gwilym Euros Roberts from Llais. That will make it three.
00.37am
Another run from Anglesey....
Llanfaethlu is won by Ken Hughes (Ind), Valley Goronwy Owain Parry (con), Rhosneigr Philip Fowlie (ind), Bodffordd - William Hughes(Plaid), Aberffraw Glyn Jones (Ind), brynteg Ieuan Williams (ind), Llgoed - Lewis Davies (Plaid), Braint Jim Evans (ind), Llanidna Hywel Eifion Jones (ind).
Phew....
00.33am. Word on the street is it could be all change on Anglesey. Stay tuned.
Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan admitted he was ``apprehensive'' about Labour's prospects in Wales, where he said other parties had fought the election as an opportunity for voters to ``give an interim verdict on Gordon''.
Mr Morgan said Labour’s strategy of seeking to fight the Welsh elections on local issues did not seem to have worked, with the party’s supporters staying at home.
The elections came at a "very inauspicious" time for Labour in Wales, with many low-income workers in the principality hit by the abolition of the 10p tax rate.
"If Labour voters are disaffected they are not going to come out and we are going to lose seats," he told Sky News.
00.25am The POWER in Trawsfynydd (sorry bad joke) is with Thomas Ellis (Ind)
00.20am
Here we go again, Llangelynnin is won by Louise Hughes of Llais Gwynedd. 2-1 up after the first three, and unlike Liverpool last night this one cannot go to extra time.
00.10am
Linda Morgan takes Dolgellau South for Plaid
00.00ish
Well we have our first big story of the night as the party formed on the back of Gwynedd school closure plans have their first council seat. Could this be a sign of things to come. Just to point out only one of the three parts of Gwynedd will be counting tonight, the other you will have to wait for until tomorrow.