Jack Peat on TLE’s story so far
“While Jack Peat reports a far more balanced article concerning the failings of the Football League and not just Leeds bashing it doesn’t cover up the inept report from one of his journalists which is why it had so many replies. If this is some sort of half-hearted attempt of an apology for the aforementioned report it doesn’t come close.” – Steve
Perception is a funny thing in publishing. When we were a one-man blog nobody really gave a toss about what we said, nor did they kick up much of a fuss when we were a blog sharing platform. But of late we seem to have smashed through some invisible barrier that separates fledgling media types from the big dogs, or dare I say, the mainstream media.
Our transition into a bona fide digital newspaper creates a funny juxtaposition for us. On the one hand I believe our offering is deserving of such stature and we are afforded more opportunities with the kudos that mainstream media brings, but on the other hand we’re still a bedroom publication, and that has its limitations. Time poor, financially strained and resource stretched we don’t have the means of some of our competitors, despite being perceived to be on level footing.
Which has consequences. A recent sports article by one of our contributors was lambasted by Leeds United fans looking for answers from management about why our “journalists” on our “payroll” would write such poorly-researched (I personally believed they missed the point) copy. ‘Steve’ even suggested “TLES should take internal action” over the matter, and several questioned whether we really are bastions of ‘opinion without an agenda’.
Hell hath no fury like a Leeds fan scorned, but here’s the thing, we rely on contributors to keep the site running, and their opinion and our un-biased editorial policy is actually what upholds our standards. But that’s what happens when perceptions change. We don’t have newsrooms, we don’t have a payroll or the budget to send hacks around the country to source interviews, so that we look like we do is actually a massive complement.
But I’m pleased to say that perceptions of The London Economic are somewhat justified. In terms of traffic we can see up to a quarter of a million people visit the site in any given month and we’ve built new Sports, Lifestyle, Travel, Music, Film and Food pages over the past year. We’re an incorporated company and have established some revenue streams and our current site is by far the most sophisticated we’ve had to date.
Chief behind our success is the people. We have a team of excellent contributors – Pieter Cranenbroek, Elsa Buchanan, Valentina Magri, Jonny Smith, Philip Benton and Gregory Taylor to name a few – and a growing team of sub-editors. Our Sports Editor David de Winter is like a walking Wikipedia (digital similes for a digital platforms) of sporting knowledge, our Film Editor Anna Power seems to have a direct line to Hollywood, Charlotte Hope is integral in a Lifestyle role that’s rather conducive to a glass of wine and the travel bag that is Sky Holmes is producing thoroughly entertaining travel features. Then there’s our CIO Harry Bedford who has built a website befitting of such good content and Joe Mellor, who is as integral to our success today as he was when the idea of setting up this blasted site was first conceived.
So thanks to all our sub editors and writers for making The London Economic what it is. But mainly, thanks to you, our readers, for engaging with our features, sharing our content and spreading the word amongst friends and family. For it’s thanks to our readers that we find ourselves in the position we do today, turning a few heads and changing people’s perceptions.
From all of us at The London Economic, a very Merry Christmas to you all and a happy New Year.