Business assistance - frustration's setting in

We're 12 days away from our next meeting to discuss the union-triggered journalism co-op. I sincerely hope our working party members are able to report some progress that night - because embracing public sector-sponsored help is starting to frustrate.
All the individuals we've met as we seek guidance and assistance have been decent, good-humoured individuals with good credentials but, blimey, they ain't half hamstrung by the system.
Costa Coffee in Swansea - opposite Ann Summers, nudge, nudge, wink, wink - was the venue for today's lunchtime chat with a business advisor appointed by the Swansea Business Centre. She was attentive, understanding, ready with ideas and thoughtful in her approach.
However, we were left with a feeling of: "We've come this far - we've ploughed through meeting after meeting - but we're not much further forward."
It was the nth time we'd outlined our plans and aspirations, it was another blast of espresso for the body to fight and it was another valuable two hours out of a day.
The time has come to be decisive and forceful. Our November 2 gathering must deliver some significant advances, including an agreement to formally register the company.
It's also clear that we need cash from somewhere to pay for a development go-getter to kick-start this Vespa that we want to be a Harley. Without a couple of months hard graft from him or her the progress of our willing volunteers will be severely hampered.
There's a thrilling uphill adventure in prospect - but we've not yet starting packing the tent poles for base camp.

Heartstrings and headlines

The story of the out-of-work Welsh journalist may not tug at the heartstrings and it's unlikely to hit the headlines. A cocktail of inhuman old stereotypes and distant mega-media managements in self-preservation mode will ensure the lack of furore.
Yet the work sector in which these (mainly) hardworking, modestly paid professionals operate is undergoing a revolution. It's difficult to predict who the winners will be. Or whether there'll be any.
Radical times call for radical thinking and that's what's been occupying the minds of a working party from the National Union of Journalists' Swansea and District branch.
For two months the group has been considering options with one common aim: creating work for freelance and out-of-work journalists based in south-west Wales.
Experts have been consulted, gatherings of interested individuals called, miles clocked, coffees consumed and valued new acquaintances made. Those in the know from the worlds of business start-ups, the co-operative movement and the community regeneration sector have been encouragingly helpful and supportive.
Now - crucially - a marketplace has been identified, trading principles agreed and options for business models are on the table. It may well be that this is an opportunity not to be missed.
It's also time for the union to hand over the reins to a team of members who are passionate about going it alone (with the branch's wholehearted backing and support, of course) and who will take the project forward.
As cliches go, it's now or never - the idea, the marketplace and the professional assistance awaits. All that's needed now is hard work, vision and a great dollop of the teamwork ethic.

Let's get together To find out more, to get involved, to get energised and to start generating work meet up on Monday, October 12, from 6-7pm in the Swansea Yacht Club, close to the maritime quarter's Dylan Thomas Centre.

Details Andy Pearson - 07758 745 240, andy@hopestreetmedia.co.uk

Trinity's unholy outlook

Bad news has been a feature of newspapers since the industry began - it sells papers don't you know.
Today, the fact that the doom-laden messages now focus on the news business itself was brought into sharp focus. Trinity Mirror - a margin-hungry nationwide PLC which recently announced an operating profit of almost £50m - has announced the closure of South Wales twin titles the Neath and Port Talbot Guardians.
It'll mean the loss of 15 jobs, a fight by National Union of Journalists members to highlight their heartfelt concerns for print's future ... and the drastic diminution of the crucial local information network for two great Welsh towns.
Neath (population around 47,000) and Port Talbot (35,000) deserve better than the cold, distant relationships offered to them by regional dailies the Western Mail and the South Wales Evening Post. They've enjoyed the warmth of the Guardians for 80 years; the journals have been a cornerstone of their communities.
Which non-Establishment enterprises will now hold in close check the tax-heavy goings-on at the local council and in the courts? Which media will genuinely celebrate the next rugby trophy won by Neath RFC, Aberavon RFC - or by the neighbourhood under-11s? How many ticket sales will be lost at the local cinema, theatres and operatic society presentations? When the hospital wants to publicise news of new visiting hours, the politicians of their surgeries and the police of their Pact meetings - what effect will the loss of the Guardians have?
The demise of the Neath and Port Talbot Guardians - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8273676.stm - is alarming. And they won't be the last local rags to go in these trying times; if you live in a smallish town with a tidy looking weekly newspaper please look after it, support it, buy it.
Good luck to anyone in line to lose their job, best wishes to the Trinity Mirror journalists fighting their corner and all strength to any ... body energetic enough to work hard to rebuild the crucial local media network in those two great Welsh towns.
As newspaper-loving townsfolk are denied their own local papers, here's where Trinity Mirror stood in their latest half-yearly financial report (June 2009) - group revenue £383m, digital revenue £18.6m, operating profit £49.1million.
Have a word, someone!