Accrington Observer
 

Hello,:wave:
I'm Lisa and I work for the Accrington Observer. We're constantly reviewing the paper and would welcome feedback from you guys on how we can improve the paper. Feel free to email me at [email protected] or send me a private message.

Lisa

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Hi Lisa.:)

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Hello :)

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Hiya welcome to accyweb:)

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Thanks everyone.
Like I said, all feedback is welcome (I know i'm opening myself up there to criticism) but i'll do my best to make sure your voices are heard by the new editor.
A lot of people don't realise how dedicated the staff are behind the scenes to providing a good quality paper to the people of Hyndburn. And i'll be the first to admit it hasn't been the easiest task with numerous behind-the-scenes issues/pressures recently, but that's another story.

Be gentle.

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Welcome

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Hello and welcome:)

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I've contacted Lisa a few times now, and she always goes out of her way to be very helpful. As I'm sure she is with everyone who gets in touch with her.

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Quite a few people have moaned on this forum that the Observer doesn't seem as local, since the recent changes.

Having an independent local newspaper is very important, at least as far as democracy is concerned, and we should try to help if we know of any leads, or stories that might benefit from publication.

I've twice contacted the Observer with what I thought were issues of interest. One being the non-recycled trade waste in Hyndburn, and the other about the questionaires not being delivered from the council, which came to light via Accy Web.

Both times the staff were very willing to help.

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Welcome/Bienvenue.

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welcome to accyweb

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hello and welcome

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Hi Lisa and welcome. good luck ..

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Welcome, Lisa. :)

Yes, I am one of those people Garinda mentions.

I've complained on here about spelling errors in the Observer, especially ones relating to the local area, e.g. Hayward Road instead of Haywood Road.
I have also mentioned that I am not interested which pub in Hyde does the best food. :(

I assume some of the errors are made because the journalists are not local and, in my opinion, there is too much focus on goings on in Manchester..........jobs, events etc.

What can be done about this?

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Thanks everyone.
Garinda, it's nice to hear positive feedback every once in a while!
I realise there have been quite a few changes recently, but the staff work very hard to provide local news to the people of Accrington.
If anyone would like to let us know about anything going on in the area, they can call me on 0161 211 2955 or email [email protected]
Alternatively, a reporter is based at ASDA Accy every Friday between 9.30am and 11.30am and everyone is welcome to pop by and give them details of anything going on.

Lisa

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So this is the new style journalism - sit at a desk for an hour or two and hope:rolleyes:

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Hello Lilly
Regarding the spelling errors, there is no excuse. Part of this has been because of significant staff changes/redundancies. To put you in the picture we have a team of staff working on the Accrington and Rossendale papers as there is quite a bit of cross over. We have also had a number of management changes and obvious things like street names and areas have gone unnoticed.
We have also gone onto a new computer system which is causing no end of grief for everyone, putting even more pressure on the stretched resources.
Since relocating the office to Manchester (nobody is unaffected by the credit crunch) we have reporters out in Accrington every day, gathering local news and speaking to people in the various towns and villages.
The Manchester office is simply a base - mainly for the sub editors (who place the stories on pages and write headlines) and the big wigs. The reporters are out there grafting every day.
We do not work for the MEN, but we are part of the same group. As you are probably aware, we are part of the Greater Manchester Weekly Newspaper group (even though we're in Lancashire) and therefore the company as a whole does concentrate on Greater Manchester. Our team isn't really interested in what's going on in Manchester, we care about Hyndburn. But sometimes, the company bosses put their foot down and there's not much we can do. It has been a bit of a learning spike for everyone.
As for the 'Manchester bit in the middle', this has been another sore point of the staff covering the area. It's not local. We know that. We are currently in the process of changing that though and are working towards making it much better and much more local.
Just this evening, I have been out to review a local restaurant as we are replacing the more remote reviews with ones of local businesses in the near future.
We are also making a big push to get more local events mentioned in the paper - especially in the What's On section.
As for moving out of Accrington, I would love to move back to the Blackburn Road office. However, as mentioned above, it's a decision the company has taken - way above us lowly staff. We were (and are still) not happy about this but the business had to look at how it could survive the recession.
Feel free to get back to me if there's anything else.

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Hi Margaret,
We don't appear to be able to win. We are getting it in the neck for being based in Manchester, yet when we dedicate a certain time at a regular venue for people to come and see us face to face, we still cannot please people.
We are always available by phone, email, fax and in person.
What would you like to see us do?

Lisa

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I'm signing off for the evening, but will be back on tomorrow.

Night night.

Lisa

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Hi lisa.....welcome to Accyweb......:D

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I can call collect, right:D

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Hi Lisa, many thanks to the Observer for going "on line" it,s great to be able to see what,s going on from this side of the Atlantic. Keep up the good work.

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welcome lisa ya got n hell of a job on yer hands, hope ya suceed.:) hope yer papers gonna really help the towns football club who are in dire straits at this moment.

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greetings and welcome

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Hi and welcome lisa..i have pm'd you.

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One small thing that has angered me this week, is the lack of support for our local Accrington Theatre Group which was established in 1893. They are just about surviving and this recent show 'Boogie Nights' was dependant on bums on seats.

Seemingly, a crit of the show was sent to you on Monday, and I know you said if you had room would publish it. I do understand the fact that, due to your redundancies, cannot send reporters any more to local shows .. I'm sure you are saddened by this yourself.

I was annoyed though that there were articles on certain people who have had more than their fair share of coverage, who could have been sidelined for another week ... :(