I left my iPad at work yesterday afternoon because I had to leave in a hurry to pick James up from his first football training session with the Lockleys under 9 team.

A whole weekend without the iPad! That’s a daunting proposition and not one I’d like to encounter again any time soon.

Along with the mobile phone, the iPad is the must-have gadget I would struggle to go without.

I pick it up first thing every morning to check my emails and to download newspapers using PressReader. I usually read the papers on the bus to work.

The iPad is with me constantly during the day. I use it for email when I’m not at my desk, for reading Twitter and Google News feeds, checking the weather and web browsing.

In the evening I use it for reading books, if I have the time.

In the absence of my iPad I had to buy newspapers this morning for the first time in almost a year. I had just about forgotten the feel of newsprint and the ink smudge it leaves.

It brings home the realisation that newspapers really are dying. Journalism will continue, and so will newspapers I suppose, but their relevance is likely to decline even further. They are just one method of distributing written news, among many.

The other notable fact of my first full day this year without an iPad is that I’ve rediscovered my mobile phone.

The Samsung Galaxy SII is a great device, but I’ve been using it pretty much just as a phone since I got the iPad.

It has most of the same apps and functions that I have on the iPad, only in a smaller package. I could even read the newspapers on it, if I wanted to.

This website publishes press photographs of angry people.

As the author says: “I feel sorry for local news photographers. They are hugely skilled and poorly paid, and sent out to photograph miserable people pointing at dog turds. Here, we celebrate their work.”

Until discovering this site I wasn’t fully aware how many angry people there are.

I verified the anger by searching Google News for “angry residents”. Here are some recent examples:

Residents fear trees chopped ‘willy-nilly’

East Auckland residents (from left) Alison Dyson, Gary Muller, Bill Dalziel and Andrea Robinson are angry trees on Marine Parade in Howick have been felled. Photo: Natalie Slade.

The sight of a pile of tree limbs chopped to improve sea views has angered users of a popular coastal walkway in one of east Auckland’s premium streets.

“A lot of people are sick to the guts about what is happening,” said Alison Dyson, who lives near the scene of the clearing work on a subdivision overlooking Mellons Bay, Howick.

• Full story in the New Zealand Herald.

Hearing draws angry crowd of citizens, officials

Hundreds of concerned citizens turned out at Salem City Hall Annex on Jan. 25 to weigh in on the cuts to bus, train and ferry services and fare hikes proposed by the MBTA.

Inside two overcrowded rooms that spilled out into the hallway, outraged residents, officials and politicians asserted their opinions, insisting that the changes would be detrimental to the quality of life on the North Shore.

• Full story in the Cape Ann Beacon.

Fury over noisy road upgrades

Angry North Sapphire residents have left Roads and Maritime Services in no doubt about their feelings over the amount of noise road works on the Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrade are creating.

Residents are fed up with the noise from compression brakes and heavy machinery and have asked for noise barriers to be installed.

• Full story in the Coffs Coast Advocate.

Bad case of gas riles Darebin residents

Raleigh Street residents say Darebin Council wasted ratepayers’ money landscaping their nature strips only a few weeks before a gas company ripped them up.

“Very annoyed” resident Enver Sakiri said he had had to put up with council machinery breaking concrete and digging holes in his nature strip late last year only to have to endure it again a few weeks later when gas company APA Group replaced mains.

• Full story in the Preston Leader.

Angry Mombasa clerics demand repair of roads

The Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya yesterday stormed the Kenya Rural Roads Authority and Kenya Urban Roads Authority offices in Mombasa to demand answers about the pathetic condition of roads.

Council officials led by nominated MP Sheikh Mohamed Dhor caught managers of the two authorities by surprise.

• Full story in The Star.

Angry parents demand action over dangerous crossing

Angry parents say they are still waiting for action two months after calling on the council to introduce parking restrictions on a busy road.

More than 600 people signed a petition demanding action be taken on a section of Inmans Row at the junction with Monkhams Lane in Woodford Green, where children are encouraged to cross by painted footprints on the pavement.

• Full story in The Guardian.

Residents join bid to save lollipop patrols

Angry residents and ward councillors have backed calls to save city school crossing patrols.

The patrols are under threat as part of Peterborough City Council budget proposals.

• Full story in Peterborough Today.

Comment

All these stories are from the past few days and I could have easily picked another 20 or more.

It shows that anger is universal, although the Brits seem to get more angry more quickly than the rest of us.

In some parts of the world anger is saved for life-and-death issues, whereas in England outrage is sparked if the local council removes a parking space.

All good fodder for local newspapers and now the internet.

It mentions The Independent in England, the Daily Mirror and regional UK publisher Archant.

“Newspaper photographers are in retreat. Staff jobs are vanishing as publishers look for new ways to cut costs. National papers have gradually been reducing numbers in recent years. Many titles have only a handful.”

The same applies in regional Australia, although I’m not sure about metropolitan newspapers. In fact, The Advertiser in Adelaide seems to have a healthy complement of staff photographers, but I wonder how long that will be the case.

When I started with country newspapers in 1986, most had staff photographers.

I worked with the talented Eric Yeates at the Bairnsdale Advertiser. He taught me how to use a camera and even let me into the dark room to learn the mystery of how pictures were developed. The unique smell remains a clear memory.

Eric had a great eye for detail. He taught this to me, along with the eternal message: “fill the frame”. He also advised some parameters for manual photography using flash, which I never forgot.

The first significant threat to the photographic craft was one-hour processing. It became possible to get film developed offsite, and easier to use contributed pictures.

Then came digital photography and finally the insatiable internet.

When I worked at the Gippsland Times in 1988 there were two staff photographers. As far as I know, there are none today.

The daily Kalgoorlie Miner had two full-time staff photographers and a couple of casuals when I was there. I hope that’s still the case.

In regional South Australia however, the only regional newspaper with a staff photographer that I’m aware of, is the Mount Barker Courier. And that knowledge is several years old.

I can understand that publishers want to save money. Most journalists can take adequate pictures, some better than others. Readers can and do contribute pictures, especially of junior sport and social events.

But a good photographer is priceless. They know how to compose a front page picture, how to engage subjects and how to create. Excellent photos sell newspapers.

I always valued good photographers and I think the newspaper industry is poorer without them.

The photographers themselves are now taking wedding pictures.

As one commenter on The Guardian post remarked:

“Anyone can snap a photo of a burning bus. Not everyone can consistently make something boring look visually compelling. That’s the job of a professional photojournalist. They have the ability to make storytelling images all the time no matter the situation, especially when the image isn’t staring you in the face.”

While the loss in quality may not be immediately noticeable, it will be over time and readers will feel that newspapers offer them less value.

• For some light relief, visit this site for Angry people in local newspapers.

Ruins of the Black Swan Hotel at Barfold, Victoria. Picture by Dave Callaway

However, a brief visit today yielded an interesting snippet regarding my great-great grandparents James and Sarah Evans.

I knew from Shire of Metcalfe rate books they owned a property at Barfold in Central Victoria between 1866 and 1876. I also knew that James was at various times a farmer, road building contractor and publican.

Everyone knows that running a pub isn’t easy, as this report from The Argus newspaper in Melbourne on January 24, 1872 confirms:

“A drunken and fatal brawl,” reports the Kyneton Observer, “took place on Sunday afternoon, at Barfold. Two men in a state of stupefaction commenced a quarrel at the house of an inkeeper named Evans. An argument arose between the deceased Thomas Corbin and a man named Isaac Simpson. Before any one could interpose, the two men were struggling in a small room off the bar. After sundry blows had been exchanged the deceased fell heavily to the ground, the accused falling on top of him. At this moment the landlord entered, and took Simpson by the collar and thrust him out. The deceased then called out, ‘Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Evans, I am a done man.’ He breathed heavily, rolled back his eyes, and died within a few minutes of the onset of the row.” At the inquest, a verdict of manslaughter was returned against Simpson, who was then committed for trial.

I searched for the trial report, but couldn’t find one. Unfortunately the Kyneton Observer hasn’t been digitised yet.

I might check the inquest file one day at the Public Record Office.

Note: The picture above is published courtesy of Dave Callaway. It is believed to be the ruins of the Black Swan Hotel at Barfold. I don’t know if that’s the building where the fatal brawl occurred.

I retain a fondness for all the newspapers where I worked. I think my special favorite is the West Coast Sentinel at Ceduna because that was my first posting as editor and the town has a frontier feel.

Similarly, the Kalgoorlie Miner will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s a proud daily newspaper in the Western Australian outback.

The Border Watch has an important status as the newspaper serving South Australia’s largest regional centre.

In my view, the paper should make the jump from publishing four days a week to five. The publishers should add a Saturday edition.

As for milestones, I was editor of the West Coast Sentinel when it celebrated its 80th anniversary in 1992. The historical supplement featured the paper’s first full-color front page (below), which I had produced in Melbourne.

I seriously hope someone is planning a special celebration for the Sentinel’s centenary next year.

The gentleman pictured above with The Border Watch editors’ honor roll is John Watson, who was editor for an amazing 62 years.

West Coast Sentinel

The best effort was from Advertiser cartoonist Jos Valdman, who showed red-colored pandas, with a caption: “I know we’re in the red but …”

According to the Western Argus, Winthrop was living in Dugan Street, Kalgoorlie, at the age of 72 in 1922 when he was shot in the thigh by a 35-year-old married woman.

I think she might have been aiming for his groin.

The prosecutor described the accused, Lillian Haight, as Winthrop’s “housekeeper”.

Winthrop protested: “There appears to be some misconception. The accused is not my housekeeper. She is an old friend of mine, and as she was temporarily without a home, I told her she could stay at my place until she obtained a situation.”

Lily said she went to reside at Winthrop’s house in August 1921. Winthrop promised to pay her 20 or 30 shillings per week, the payments to be made when he received his remittances. On February 21, Winthrop received a remittance from England, but did not pay her wages.

Winthrop was drinking, and, knowing he had a revolver, she was afraid he might use it. On February 22 she asked the postman to withdraw the cartridge from the revolver and he did so (and testified accordingly).

On the night of February 23, Winthrop came home with a man named Spain. Winthrop had been drinking, and Lily told him that if he could spend money on liquor he could afford to pay her wages. The court heard Winthrop caught her by the wrists and threw her onto the floor.

During the struggle she caught up the revolver with the intention of frightening Winthrop. She did not think it was loaded. When she caught hold of the revolver, it fired, followed almost immediately by another shot and Winthrop ran out of the room.

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty and Lily was discharged.

I know Dugan Street, Kalgoorlie, of course, from my two and a half years in the gold city.

I also know the Western Argus. There were bound copies in the Kalgoorlie Miner office, where I used to work.

It’s wonderful the National Library is digitizing these old records and placing them on the web. I look forward to finding more snippets about Winthrop, who is sure to have left a trail of litigation.

In 1965, she married William “Billy” McMahon, an aspiring politician in Sir Robert Menzies’ government. She was 32, he 57.

Since the slow and ambiguous denial of imperial honors in Australia, the media has largely struggled to cope.

Hence we see articles like:

But of course she is not “Lady Sonia” but “Lady McMahon”.

It’s embarrassing that modern editors and sub-editors don’t understand imperial honors.

When you hold a senior position in an organisation you learn to ride the bumps and take the rough with the smooth.

If you’re unhappy in a job you either put up with it, change the things that make you unhappy or leave.

I couldn’t change the things that were making me unhappy, so I chose to leave. I reflected on this while on holiday in January, and handed in my notice the day I returned to work.

The Border Watch is a very good newspaper with a proud history. It will be 150 years old next year.

The Border Watch is unique.

It’s the only paper I’m aware of that’s published four days a week.

It’s also the only paper I’m aware of that’s owned by a transport and fuel company.

There have been some things said and written in the past about issues that confronted my predecessors as editor.

Issues don’t arise every day and I don’t wish to exaggerate them; you’ll have to read the book for details.

At this stage I will simply point out the obvious — that when a company has diverse commercial interests there is a potential for conflict between those interests and the role of a newspaper.

When the core business of a newspaper’s parent company is not publishing, the people who run the parent company may be unaware of newspaper conventions or may choose to disregard them.

I have no axe to grind and no resentment. I simply concluded the culture is one I can’t change and it’s not one I want to be involved with as an editor.

As to the future, I have several options to consider over the next fortnight. One of these is to stay in Mount Gambier and work as a freelance journalist and consultant in public relations and website development.