On Tuesday 22nd May Liam Pape (Presenter for the Wyvern TV) interviewed editor of the Northern Echo, Peter Barron. The full interview is on the 3rd Episode of the Wyvern TV but here it is…
So what first got you into journalism?
When I was at school, about 11, we were doing a school newspaper project and I wrote a story about a horserace. The teacher who was running the class just said to me ‘you should do this for a living’ and that was it really. It just stuck on my mind. I could go on and be a journalist. So that was it really, I wanted to work for a newspaper.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever reported on?
You look back and you remember all of the big stores, September the 11th I’ll never forget, Princess Diana, I’ll never forget. I like stories that change things and that make a difference. The one in my career was a campaign that we launched after one of our photographers called Ian Wear died at 38. He died because he needed a heart bypass operation and he needed to wait 8 months. He died whilst he was waiting. This lead me to launch a campaign looking into how long people were waiting for heart bypass operations in this country. I found that the average waiting time was 12 months in this country however in other parts of Europe it was 3 months. So I realised that that was something that needed to change. We launched the campaign in Ian’s memory and it lead to the government launching an initiative which lead to heart bypass waiting times to being cut and the government acknowledged that it was the Northern Echo’s campaign that caused that.
So I look back at that and it makes me think if nothing else happened that made my career worth while.
The Northern Echo has recently got an iPhone app. What do you think the chances are of the Northern Echo or other newspapers moving completely to apps and the internet?
I think it is the way that we are moving however I think it will be a long time until they completely replace newspapers. I think we all know that newspapers are in decline and we do need to look to the digital future. But I think it will be very slow.
In terms of the iPad app. We lanched it around 2 months ago and the numbers are very small but it is a start and you need to be in there and make a start. The numbers online are growing all the time. The Northern Echo gets 2 and a half million viewers online and 10% of our revenue comes from online. It is becoming serious.
I do think though that newspapers do have a decade or 2 to go before they do stop. When people talk about the death of newspapers they don’t realise that the Northern Echo is making more money now than it was 5 yeas ago.
The Northern Echo is moving out of it’s current building to make way for a Debenhams in Darlington. Will that affect the Newspaper in anyway?
I don’t think that it will affect the newspaper at all. You can produce a newspaper from your bedroom these days. You don’t need a big office. The echo has been based there for 130 years and over that time the number of people based there have diminished. We don’t print there anymore, we haven't printed there since 1990 so we don’t really need the space anymore. It’s not going to make any difference to the paper. The question is (because of the economic situation in our country) when will we be moving and when will Debenhams be moving in? It is all up in the air. All we know is that they have put a down payment on the building. They want it sometime in the future but it could be ages away.
You’ve been editor of the Northern Echo for around 13 years now. So what is the best bit of the job?
The best bit of the job is doing stuff like this, coming out into the community and meeting people. I think the great thing about my job is that when I go to work in the morning I don’t know what is going to happen. News is unpredictable. You can come to work thinking you are going to do one thing and then something changes that. The unpredictability and the verity is great. I love the fact that I’m in a very privileged position. I’ve been to 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace, I’ve met famous sport’s people. It is a very privileged job.
Before you did the Titanic production earlier this year you quoted “I can’t sing, I can’t dance and I can’t act” so how did that go for you in the end?
I loved it! I have never done a theatre production before and I’m a great believer that you need to experience things to understand the. I was asked to perform in Titanic by the Darlington Operatic Society and I need to say that it was one of the best experienced in my life. There is a real camaraderie that comes out of performing with a group, I made new friends and loved the experience. It also showed me how important the arts are. I underestimated Darlington Operatic Society and they bring people together, improve people’s confidence and they generate a lot of money (£30,000) into the Civic Theatre. If it wasn’t for that group of people, where would the civic theatre be? It is a lot of money to loose. I think it is very important for the community to appreciate the importance for organisations like that.
You went on horse back to work one day for the production. What was that like?
Scary. It had been a long time since I’ve been on a horse. I rode to work in my costume of William Stead because it was around 100 years ago when William Stead rode his horse to work and he ties it up outside crown street library. So we re-enacted his journey to work to promote the show really and also to commemorate his death because it had been 100 years since he died on Titanic. We did that and I was amazed how many people turned out to watch me ride this horse. It was a bit scary because I don’t think the bus drivers were particularly nice. They hooted their horse a little which made the horse a bit skittish. But I did it and I got through it and it generated a lot of publicity for the show.
