Coventry Conversations has seen many Journalists, Sporting managers and Media bosses over the years, and it shall return this year with a large collection of speakers. Below is a calendar of media speakers for Autumn 2011. All Coventry Conversations are free to the public and students and operates on a ‘first come, first served’ policy. Question and answer sessions normally follow the talk, and are open to everyone.
Coventry Conversations - Autumn 2011
Filed under Coventry Conversation, News
We gathered, a small group of us, on the other side of the traffic lights. I wished I had worn warmer clothing – the bright sunshine that morning had misled me. This was a bracing Coventry day, and there was not much of a welcome on other fronts either.
Across the road was the office where I had started my career. More than an office: the words “COVENTRY EVENING TELEGRAPH” were bolted to the front and side of a four-storey building which, my dusty memories told me, dominated the entire city centre.
I squinted at the place. The memories must have played me wrong. Sure, the building was still four storeys. But a reconditioned theatre and modernised shopping mall took the eye away, and the pedestrians passing did not shoot the newspaper office even a glance.
We looked, of course. The building was the reason we were back for our reunion. Organised by BBC environment correspondent Roger Harrabin, who normally covers the destruction of the planet, these former journalists with the CET had returned to reflect on the distress of a somewhat smaller world: newspaper journalism. Writes Jeremy Vine…
Filed under Features
Many frown upon the ‘prawn sandwich brigade’, especially Roy Keane, who once criticised fans for indulging in beer and prawn sandwiches instead of supporting the team. Commentators are the first to criticise the members of ‘Club Wembley’ who are usually the first ones in and the last ones out at half time, again, indulging in the food and drink that is offered to them. I had never seen what the big deal was about, but after writing to John Mair, a lecturer at Coventry University, he managed to get me an opportunity to give it a try.
The ticket was for 22 February, a Tuesday night game against Swansea City, a team pushing for promotion, either via the two automatic spots or the play-offs. This was my first trip to the Ricoh Arena and I was looking forward to my prawn sandwiches.
Though they weren’t the main event for me, it was indeed the opportunity to sit alongside Bobby Gould, former professional footballer and manager, Roger Monkman, former Coventry Telegraph journalist and Darren Parkin, the current editor of the Coventry Telegraph. Upon entering the box, there was food laid down straight away. No prawn sandwiches unfortunately, but a three-course meal consisting of chicken Caesar salad, lamb shank and a fruit crumble desert. This was all very nice, and much better than the food available at Kiosks up and down the country. Writes Callum Maclean…
Filed under Features
Coventry Telegraph editor Darren Parkin spoke of the challenges facing regional newspapers at the Coventry Conversation.
Addressing a mainly student audience at the Herbert Museum, he talked of the uncertain future facing local newspapers and how he began his great journey from tea boy to editor.
Now 39, Parkin went into journalism at the tender age of 18 and became the youngest editor in Britain, at 24, when he was working on local paper, The News of Wolverhampton.
Putting his meteoric rise down to a mixture of hard graft and good old fashioned luck, Parkin’s advice to budding young journalism students was suitably direct for a man that doesn’t waste time pulling his punches: “get yourself noticed and give it 100%. If you put the work in, you’ll get the rewards.”
Launched in 1891 by William Issaac, the Coventry Telegraph has proved its got what it takes to survive the tests of time – even weathering the upheaval of the 1944 Blitz. The building may have been destroyed, but the paper wasn’t – with that evening’s edition appearing on the streets just two hours later than usual, thanks to a relocation to Nuneaton. Writes Philip Shoulder…
Filed under Coventry Conversation
Darren Parkin, editor of the Coventry Telegraph, attended Coventry University to speak about the future for newspapers in the current recession.
Newspapers in the UK have recently been suffering and have lost up to 50% of turnover since 2009. This is mainly due to the rising cost of newsprint which has gone up by 20% causing newspapers to have to higher their prices.
The Coventry Telegraph is amongst these with its sales declining by 8.7% in 2010. However, Parkin, very aware of the situation, still promises a future for newspapers. The Coventry Telegraph is still selling around 35,000 copies per day and he is expecting an improvement in 2011. Writes Kirsty Quigley…
Filed under Coventry Conversation
You have to be brave or foolhardy to take over as editor of a local newspaper in the current perfect storm. Circulation dropping, advertising plummeting, revenues through the floor. Darren Parkin, the 38-year-old editor of the Coventry Telegraph is not foolhardy. ‘Surviving the perfect storm; One year on’ was the topic of his Coventry Conversation last Friday in the Herbert Art Gallery. Survive he has.
Parkin took over a ship fourteen months ago that was rocking and reeling on the seas of change. The figures were down as everywhere else but worse ‘The Tele’ seemed to have lost touch with the heartbeat of the Coventry community. He spent his first weekend as editor reading, eating and sleeping in the newspaper’s library to see if he could rediscover that Holy Grail. One concrete result is a page each and every week of community news and - in an innovation - much of that is now written by Coventry University’s Journalism students in a real live portfolio project. Writes John Mair…
Filed under Coventry Conversation
