Interview: Jeremy Deedes, Daily Telegraph (Evening Standard)
By David Rowan
NO sooner has Jeremy Deedes sat down in his office than Aidan Barclay, the Telegraph Group's new chairman, summons him to the phone. Deedes, the genial chief executive brought out of retirement to oversee the papers' sale, is gone for so long that one can only guess what proprietorial decrees he is being handed. The decision about Andrew Neil's future role? Sackings to purge any Conrad Black appointees?
"Actually, quite the opposite," Deedes says as he breezes back in. "It was about the arrival of Murdoch MacLennan." The longstanding MD at Associated Newspapers - publishers of the Daily Mail and Evening Standard - was confirmed yesterday as the Telegraph's new chief executive, the Barclays' first senior appointment.
The group certainly needs a tough decision-maker. Since Black was ousted as chairman last November in the dispute over unauthorised secret payments from Hollinger, the Telegraph papers have been in limbo, circulation tumbling and tabloid plans on ice. With the Barclays in control, Deedes feels they are loved again - although Aidan Barclay, he says, has still to set foot in the building.
"It's been a very low-key and nontriumphant change of ownership, but that's how they operate," Deedes, 60, explains. "The Telegraph has never been a paper that enjoys the panoplies of pomp and circumstance."
Don't expect any editorial change of direction. "The Barclays have bought something very much in tune with their thinking, and while they may want to change things in a business sense, they're not about to turn the paper over." Chequebooks, however, are likely to be opened, Deedes says. "I'd be surprised if, having paid £665 million, they won't be investing in the papers to maintain and improve our position as market leader."
But that dominant position is under threat as never before. The Hon Jeremy Wyndham Deedes, the Old Etonian son of Bill Deedes - the former Telegraph editor - tries hard to minimise the seriousness of the paper's predicament. New presses are needed urgently; the daily must also respond to the challenge of The Times and Independent tabloid editions. Hasn't it been irreversibly damaged?
"Actually, I think our enforced sitting on the fence over the tabloid has been rather good for us," he replies. "Six months ago, I was a great advocate of a tabloid alternative, but the cost of dual publication is far greater than we thought. The Times have rather precipitately gone down that path, and my perception is they've been surprised by the size of the resistant rump of readers. If they force-feed them a tabloid, they have a pretty shrewd idea where they'll go."
However, last month, full-price Times purchases were only 32,000 behind those of the Telegraph. Although the Telegraph's headline sale was 905,000, a third went to subscribers paying as little as £1 a week. For The Times, a much higher proportion pay full price.
Again, Deedes turns his confident charm to pooh-poohing an apparent liability. "Subscription sales are the most important of the lot," he insists. "These are committed readers who take the paper every day." Yes, but at far lower revenue. "That's our problem. Every paper is spending millions on marketing to compete for the promiscuous reader. Subscription locks them in."
Deedes, "custard socks" to his colleagues (he is wearing that colour today), has a positive answer to every difficulty. The Telegraph's ageing readership is not a terminal problem but a boon, as "older people are richer". The paper's perceived metropolitan bias in recent years has prevented it from "becoming a pub bore" on countryside issues. Even the ownership battle was "uplifting"for its positive effect on editorial-quality.
"It cannot have been easy for the editor, Martin Newland, to know that the new proprietors may have had their own editor in mind," he says. "I hope he's given a proper run at it." A decision, it seems, has still to be made.
What of Andrew Neil, who runs the Barclays' other newspapers? "Does Andrew really want another job?" Deedes responds diplomatically. "Even with all his energy, to try to do a serious job here, and his Scotsman stuff, and his broadcasting... I hope he doesn't give up the broadcasting, as he's bloody good at it."
Is Deedes embarrassed for having missed the warning signs about Black? "Embarrassed isn't the word," he says after a pause. "It's disappointing. Even if there were dark moments early on, when one thought this might result in the paper being sold, there's bugger all you could do about it. Most of the things that emerged since, yes, they are a huge surprise."
He suggests adding a few "allegedly"s as "none of this has been proved yet". But haven't US regulators made a convincing case against Black? "Conrad lived high on the hog, that was plain for all to see," he replies. "But if there were improprieties, they took place in the United States. We're squeaky clean."
DEEDES faced a new crisis this week. He visited The Spectator, part of the Telegraph Group, to "comfort" staff concerned about coverage of the relationship between its publisher, Kimberly Fortier, and David Blunkett. "I just identified a few first-aid points at the Telegraph if they needed help," he explains. "I said it would be better to ring us for help than the Mail or the Mirror. Then they went and told the Mail what I'd said..." Fortier, he adds, will return "at some point".
He now plans a second retirement, with time for golf and his "bits of horses" here and in South Africa which have recently started to win. "The Barclays were kind enough to ask what I wanted to do, but I said but didn't want to continue five days a week. That might have accorded with their plan anyway."
Besides, having moved from editorial to management - he was managing editor of the Evening Standard and Today, and editorial director then MD at the Telegraph Group - he says there are no jobs left that he covets. "I've had the best of both worlds, though for sheer enjoyment you can't beat being a hack."
He leaves the profession optimistic about its future. "Look how clever are the people coming into our business. You've got sharper minds in the media than among the people they're writing about, from politics to the civil service."
Any regrets? "Well, I did write a headline while deputy editor of the Express," he reflects. "'Charles to Marry Ingrid - Official.' I suppose that's one I'd like to rewind."
(Evening Standard, August 25 2004)
NO sooner has Jeremy Deedes sat down in his office than Aidan Barclay, the Telegraph Group's new chairman, summons him to the phone. Deedes, the genial chief executive brought out of retirement to oversee the papers' sale, is gone for so long that one can only guess what proprietorial decrees he is being handed. The decision about Andrew Neil's future role? Sackings to purge any Conrad Black appointees?
"Actually, quite the opposite," Deedes says as he breezes back in. "It was about the arrival of Murdoch MacLennan." The longstanding MD at Associated Newspapers - publishers of the Daily Mail and Evening Standard - was confirmed yesterday as the Telegraph's new chief executive, the Barclays' first senior appointment.
The group certainly needs a tough decision-maker. Since Black was ousted as chairman last November in the dispute over unauthorised secret payments from Hollinger, the Telegraph papers have been in limbo, circulation tumbling and tabloid plans on ice. With the Barclays in control, Deedes feels they are loved again - although Aidan Barclay, he says, has still to set foot in the building.
"It's been a very low-key and nontriumphant change of ownership, but that's how they operate," Deedes, 60, explains. "The Telegraph has never been a paper that enjoys the panoplies of pomp and circumstance."
Don't expect any editorial change of direction. "The Barclays have bought something very much in tune with their thinking, and while they may want to change things in a business sense, they're not about to turn the paper over." Chequebooks, however, are likely to be opened, Deedes says. "I'd be surprised if, having paid £665 million, they won't be investing in the papers to maintain and improve our position as market leader."
But that dominant position is under threat as never before. The Hon Jeremy Wyndham Deedes, the Old Etonian son of Bill Deedes - the former Telegraph editor - tries hard to minimise the seriousness of the paper's predicament. New presses are needed urgently; the daily must also respond to the challenge of The Times and Independent tabloid editions. Hasn't it been irreversibly damaged?
"Actually, I think our enforced sitting on the fence over the tabloid has been rather good for us," he replies. "Six months ago, I was a great advocate of a tabloid alternative, but the cost of dual publication is far greater than we thought. The Times have rather precipitately gone down that path, and my perception is they've been surprised by the size of the resistant rump of readers. If they force-feed them a tabloid, they have a pretty shrewd idea where they'll go."
However, last month, full-price Times purchases were only 32,000 behind those of the Telegraph. Although the Telegraph's headline sale was 905,000, a third went to subscribers paying as little as £1 a week. For The Times, a much higher proportion pay full price.
Again, Deedes turns his confident charm to pooh-poohing an apparent liability. "Subscription sales are the most important of the lot," he insists. "These are committed readers who take the paper every day." Yes, but at far lower revenue. "That's our problem. Every paper is spending millions on marketing to compete for the promiscuous reader. Subscription locks them in."
Deedes, "custard socks" to his colleagues (he is wearing that colour today), has a positive answer to every difficulty. The Telegraph's ageing readership is not a terminal problem but a boon, as "older people are richer". The paper's perceived metropolitan bias in recent years has prevented it from "becoming a pub bore" on countryside issues. Even the ownership battle was "uplifting"for its positive effect on editorial-quality.
"It cannot have been easy for the editor, Martin Newland, to know that the new proprietors may have had their own editor in mind," he says. "I hope he's given a proper run at it." A decision, it seems, has still to be made.
What of Andrew Neil, who runs the Barclays' other newspapers? "Does Andrew really want another job?" Deedes responds diplomatically. "Even with all his energy, to try to do a serious job here, and his Scotsman stuff, and his broadcasting... I hope he doesn't give up the broadcasting, as he's bloody good at it."
Is Deedes embarrassed for having missed the warning signs about Black? "Embarrassed isn't the word," he says after a pause. "It's disappointing. Even if there were dark moments early on, when one thought this might result in the paper being sold, there's bugger all you could do about it. Most of the things that emerged since, yes, they are a huge surprise."
He suggests adding a few "allegedly"s as "none of this has been proved yet". But haven't US regulators made a convincing case against Black? "Conrad lived high on the hog, that was plain for all to see," he replies. "But if there were improprieties, they took place in the United States. We're squeaky clean."
DEEDES faced a new crisis this week. He visited The Spectator, part of the Telegraph Group, to "comfort" staff concerned about coverage of the relationship between its publisher, Kimberly Fortier, and David Blunkett. "I just identified a few first-aid points at the Telegraph if they needed help," he explains. "I said it would be better to ring us for help than the Mail or the Mirror. Then they went and told the Mail what I'd said..." Fortier, he adds, will return "at some point".
He now plans a second retirement, with time for golf and his "bits of horses" here and in South Africa which have recently started to win. "The Barclays were kind enough to ask what I wanted to do, but I said but didn't want to continue five days a week. That might have accorded with their plan anyway."
Besides, having moved from editorial to management - he was managing editor of the Evening Standard and Today, and editorial director then MD at the Telegraph Group - he says there are no jobs left that he covets. "I've had the best of both worlds, though for sheer enjoyment you can't beat being a hack."
He leaves the profession optimistic about its future. "Look how clever are the people coming into our business. You've got sharper minds in the media than among the people they're writing about, from politics to the civil service."
Any regrets? "Well, I did write a headline while deputy editor of the Express," he reflects. "'Charles to Marry Ingrid - Official.' I suppose that's one I'd like to rewind."
(Evening Standard, August 25 2004)
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, August 25, 2004
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