Steve Dyson: 'My fears over centralised subbing'

Steve Dyson today on his blog, hosted by HoldtheFrontPage, highlights central subbing problems with a look at the Johnston Press-owned Burnley Express and related weeklies in east Lancashire.

Dyson noticed that the Nelson Leader had the wrong imprint, instead carrying the one for the Burnley Express next to its barcode, and says: "It was an edition-change error somewhere in the production process, of course, but such a fundamental one."

Dyson adds: "We all know that group editors and multi-title subbing hubs have rightly or wrongly become the norm for weekly newspapers, as companies strive to preserve profit margins. But I fear that local identities are being further swallowed up as some papers amalgamate pages across different titles as well to cut editorial and production costs."

He concludes: "My residing thought, however, is that Johnston Press – and others with group editor, central subbing and 'clever' CMS operations – must take more care and retain enough resource to eliminate costly and brand-diluting production errors."