Chris Lewis on media & PR

The new Guardian – is it Cherry Coke?

The Grauniad has relaunched in a new bastardised size format. Actually, it’s a Berliner format. Either way, it’s a bastard size for the UK press which is either tabloid or broadsheet and, as such, it’s a big risk. The upside is they can charge more for colour ads. The downside is that they may continue to lose more readers. The paper has for years been steady at the 400k mark, but recently has dropped to 350ish. In reality, the biggest gamble is probably on the production side with the commissioning of new presses for the format. This means it will be difficult to go back if it doesn’t catch on. Let’s hope it doesn’t do a Cherry Coke. The redesign deserves to succeed. It’s brave, bold, intelligent and fresh. This must have been difficult for editor Rusbridger who described his staff in UKPG as “awkward” and “argumentative” with only a bare majority in favour of change. Fortunately, former editor Peter Preston set a precedent for this when he did the same thing himself in 1988. There’s just one thing. There always is. For many years, the paper called its business section “Finance”, before it saw the light. Unfortunately, it’s again reverted to this taxonomy for some of its business news. Business is dull enough as it is without burdening it further with the soubriquet of Finance.

Jeff bin in?

Yep. In and out. Randall has gone from the BBC. One of Europe’s best business journalists has left Auntie. He stood for too long doing pieces to camera live outside the Bank Of England as beered-up bankers jeered in the background. The competing business and economics journalists at the Beeb have always had a difficult job - how to make it a) interesting and b) understandable and c) short. They very seldom get a lead, except maybe for an interest rate change. Even then, a lot of business news falls into 'tombstone' reporting – company X did Y. Randall is a fine catch for any news organisation or PR company. He’s experienced, intelligent, hard-working and astute. He wasn’t universally popular with the BBC, but then that probably just adds to his credentials.