Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey People
Came through my door this morning. How much does it cost to produce this glossy full-colour magazine and why are the council still publishing it while cutting day centres and other essential services? An paying someone to deliver it house to house.
If they must publish something, Hackney council produce a smaller newspaper-style one, presumably cheaper, which actually has a lot more local community information in it and not just council good news propaganda.
Tags for Forum Posts: haringey people
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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I note that the Council claims,
Residents rate Haringey People highly
We know from independent research that it is the source most often used and most preferred by residents to obtain information about the council and is rated more highly than all the local newspapers combined.
This was confirmed in a readers’ poll, where 87% of respondents said the magazine is a useful way of keeping them informed about the council.
Does anyone believe this?!
This was part of a pitch to advertisers. It appears that few advertisers take HP seriously. In the current edition – 32 pages in full colour – it appears that perhaps half a page is a paid for advertisement. Last month there was a whole page ad.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Clive, they get it. They've heard it from you; they've heard it from other people on HoL. The critique is accurate. Take it as given.
Then do what FPR suggests. Download and look through the latest edition. Then, for a few moments, forget the critique - a very well-deserved criticism of the Council for Party Propaganda.
Turn the thing upside-down. Instead consider what 'stories' - the "narratives" - they are constructing. And why?
And that percentage? Just forget it. A percentage of an unknown number remains an unknown number. I've used that quote several times to point out the absurdity of some or other Council claim.
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If HP is less propagandist now that is a good thing; however the main objection is that it is largely unnecessary.
It's especially extravagant when the Council prioritises cuts to public services, over cuts to their house magazine that sometimes features full-page stories about employees and articles that tell the credulous how well the local authority is doing and that everything is rosy.
Sometimes its forgotten that the Local Authority exists to provide services to the public who pay for them.
There are several ways the costs could be reduced; one suggestion I heard recently was that the Council could take out paid-for advertising of say one, two or even three pages in the local (real) press for the relatively small amount of HP that contains genuine information:
e.g. 'From your Council ...'
This would be far less expensive. It would have the added benefit of supporting the local press when it is under pressure.
This could be one of several steps to make Council Communications better fit the real needs of today.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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To Alan, Clive, Hugh, Liz et al:
78 months later, I still maintain that Eddie Finnegan is a racist, politically biased b-st--d who should be blackballed from any self-respecting social website. HOL moderators are obviously fellow-travellers in that they ignored my repeated appeals to reason and their own house rules.
Old-Age-Emporium
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Permalink Reply by Finsbury Park Ranger on
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I preferred reading it as PDF, it didn't feel so painful somehow. Still fairly crap though. I learn much more from this website.when it comes to local initiatives.
For the 100k plus it will cost to make that colour throw away mag I think the money could be far better spent commissioning public art and community events that would make Haringey a more interesting place to live. Massive two day events that can garner sometimes even a national focus can be made for as little as 20k when done well with community support. Haringey could have a number of them all year round for this money.
100k is a fortune.
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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Where did you get the figure of £100K, FPR? That's a lot of money! I'd vote for maintaining basic services, such as daycare centres that give respite to people like my neighbour, who is the carer for her elderly mother with dementia. She probably saves the council masses by taking on that responsibility, but doing it day and night without a break is physically and emotionally exhausting.
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Well once I start doing the maths is look like it could be worse.
Population of haringey 255'000. So one Mag printed per 5 people (one to each house hold) equals 51,000 magazines. 51k at 50p each equals 25.5k Times by 4 editions a year equals 102k. That's without man hours spent by coms team or postage.
Making large magazines and printing them quaterly full colour and sending them out by post to the whole population of a borough is very costly operation. I doubt the council will ever admit how many man hours truely goes into making it but would imagine it would take the lions share of work for one experienced worker a year and draw in lots of others into the making of it. The print cost will be really high with it being full colour and so many pages.
So I think it's going to be quite a serious amount of cash, not in council terms for that kind of money but in the right hands with local people leveraged amazing things could be made for that kind of money suporting all sorts of initiatives.
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Permalink Reply by Abi on
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I agree that the scale of it sounds huge, but would try to avoid speculating on the actual production costs without knowing for sure what systems are in place. However if HC refuse to be transparent about how much it does actually cost then they can hardly complain when people do pull large figures out of the air...
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Don't forget to add the additional expenditure on the Tottenham sheet where they print more propaganda to help them believe their own message about the 'regeneration' ( i.e. developer facilitation and social cleansing) plans.
They are a purely cynical bunch of intellectual crooks and Rome is burning while they fiddle.
Here in Tottenham they subsidize a big archtitectural firm to set up a temporary and big PR presence but can't even do what is necessary to make real small changes to assist small traders at Holcombe market by realising very long overdue but relatively minor plans to improve the stalls there! TFL is spending money to redo parts if the High rd but no public realm street furniture and design guidelines have been set so all we are getting is money being spent on the same old same old. At the gyratory the place is already looking disheveled because it is quite plain that the upkeep budget hasn't been factored into the equation and the place is going back to looking unkempt.
It is all a sham and a scam. Something needs to give! They aren't fooling anyone.
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the upkeep budget hasn't been factored into the equation
JJB that's long been my concern about the revamp of Green Lanes. Let's get the basics right first ...
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They are fooling some people, JJ. With vague promises of "building stronger".
Haringey "leaders" are now like Milo Minderbinder in Joseph Heller's Catch-22. Especially now they're contracting with the enemy to destroy their own side. Occupying schools; demolishing residents' homes and businesses.
Our job is to try to rewrite the end of Joseph Heller's account of Milo's almost ending. (chapter 24).
"This time Milo had gone too far. Bombing his own men and planes was more than even the most phlegmatic observer could stomach, and it looked like the end for him. … Milo was all washed up until he opened his books to the public and disclosed the tremendous profit he had made."
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Permalink Reply by KP on
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Frankly even if it cost a fraction of that amount it's still a total waste of money! There are so many better ways that money could be spent in a borough like ours. It really says a lot about our council if they can cut useful services or things that visibly improve our area to produce something as trivial and wasteful as Haringey People
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