What's happened at H&H?

twobearsarthur said:
AdorableAlice said:
Don't worry about that the NHS has the KSF (Key Skills Framework).
So us Foreigners get the same pay as you English ;-)
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Does that go for us Scots, does that mean we can expect equal pay, even if we are mere females?
P. S I ve done a bit of breaking and entry in my time, so no need for keys in my case, anyway leading edge companies use swipe cards these days.
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Mrs B said:
I liked Lucy. If it's true and she's gone, then I'm sorry and H&H will be the worse for it. Good luck for the future, Lucy.

And if you think THAT was corporate bullhooks, read this ... It's a recent ad for a 70k NHS job for an 'Equalities and Diversity Manager'. Part of the job description was:

'In this newly created role, you will help to build and develop the required culture by influencing decision-making and increasing organisational and individual awareness of the value of diversity through the introduction, development and maintenance of leading-edge organisational development interventions'.
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Wonder what this person will be doing day to day, will they watch all the emergency programs and Panorama exposes as part of their "culture" induction?
 
Have heard about this too and sadly it's happening with all magazine companies. With the growth of social media, a lot of my magazine journalist friends are losing their jobs as teams are being downsized. I too look forward to my copy of H&H each week!
 
Well that's ruined my day...here's a copy of an e-mail I've just sent to the Group Head of PR at IPC Media....

Dear Ms Foster,

As a member of your “impassioned audience” I would like to wholeheartedly condemn your decision to reduce the emphasis and possibly cease the hard copy format of Horse and Hound and point out that I will be one of many who will not be subscribing to the new on-line format when it arrives.

The magazine is a long held tradition in thousands of die-hard horsey households. It appeals across the generations and is especially relevant to older horsemen and women without whose long honed skills of horsemanship and equestrianism your grasp of equestrian knowledge and industry would not be what it is today.

Your Publishing Director (or PR guru who may have written the quote for him...) is obviously adept at spouting media claptrap and I wish you all the best in future communications with your perceived marketplace.

Yours sincerely,

I'm obviously in grumpy old f**t mode today....:(
 
Old Bat said:
Well that's ruined my day...here's a copy of an e-mail I've just sent to the Group Head of PR at IPC Media....

Dear Ms Foster,

As a member of your “impassioned audience” I would like to wholeheartedly condemn your decision to reduce the emphasis and possibly cease the hard copy format of Horse and Hound and point out that I will be one of many who will not be subscribing to the new on-line format when it arrives.

The magazine is a long held tradition in thousands of die-hard horsey households. It appeals across the generations and is especially relevant to older horsemen and women without whose long honed skills of horsemanship and equestrianism your grasp of equestrian knowledge and industry would not be what it is today.

Your Publishing Director (or PR guru who may have written the quote for him...) is obviously adept at spouting media claptrap and I wish you all the best in future communications with your perceived marketplace.

Yours sincerely,

I'm obviously in grumpy old f**t mode today....:(
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Here here! Thursday would not be the same without my copy of H&H - I am so ludicrously happy when H&H drops through the letterbox as it's just a great excuse to sit down and read it from cover to cover - and yes I read the adverts too.

The coverage of Badminton was just fantastic this week - the photographs, the analysis, the interviews - all brilliant. Congratulations to all involved.

I suspect that the editorial team is under huge pressure to increase readership numbers - hence attempts to make the magazine more 'populist' and to appeal to a greater audience. (I can't have been the only die-hard who swooned to see exclamation marks make an appearance on the front cover a few years ago - shock horror!)

I met Lucy in the flesh once and she came across as a hugely talented, dynamic and knowledgeable person. I have enjoyed her editorials (you don't have to agree with everything someone writes) and she leaves big shoes to fill.
 
Old Bat said:
Well that's ruined my day...here's a copy of an e-mail I've just sent to the Group Head of PR at IPC Media....

Dear Ms Foster,

As a member of your “impassioned audience” I would like to wholeheartedly condemn your decision to reduce the emphasis and possibly cease the hard copy format of Horse and Hound and point out that I will be one of many who will not be subscribing to the new on-line format when it arrives.

The magazine is a long held tradition in thousands of die-hard horsey households. It appeals across the generations and is especially relevant to older horsemen and women without whose long honed skills of horsemanship and equestrianism your grasp of equestrian knowledge and industry would not be what it is today.

Your Publishing Director (or PR guru who may have written the quote for him...) is obviously adept at spouting media claptrap and I wish you all the best in future communications with your perceived marketplace.

..:(
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and so say all of us.....
 
I guess that occurred after the email survey they sent round - although that would only have been those that have internet.
 
Another who would really miss the excitement of waiting for Thursday's Horse and Hound to come out particularly when there is a chance your horse may be in the results or even have a photo in it. Horse is mentioned is dispatches this week and that is always exciting plus personally I think for me at least it means I read about other aspects of equestrian sport which I probably wouldn't read on line. Mind you I still prefer paperbacks to the kindle.
 
I think online magazines have a lot of potential - you can imbed videos and links to suppliers and all sorts into the articles. I do like having the paper version in my hands though. I'm not surprised H&H is struggling as it is - it's now expensive enough not to be an automatic weekly buy for many people but I doubt they make much profit per copy as production costs don't seem to be reducing. Possibly the future might be a weekly news digest distributed electronically and a monthly paper edition. Though apparently ebooks are more expensive to produce than printed ones - not sure the same applies to magazines.
 
Tradition, nostalgia and experience count for nothing in the modern world, its all about the money, perhaps it was ever thus though.
 
Oh No! My ambition is to be mentioned in H&H, or at least my horse to be. We all have horsey goals and this is mine - I can't be the only one who desperately scours the results to see if someone or somehorse I know has been mentioned. I feel so pleased whenever a friend of mine does.
 
skint1 said:
Tradition, nostalgia and experience count for nothing in the modern world, its all about the money, perhaps it was ever thus though.
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At the end of the day, it is a business and a business has to make money to survive. Tradition and nostalgia are great, but it doesn't pay the wages bill! I like the paper version of the magazine too, but they would be foolish not to develop the internet side of their business too.
 
Mrs B said:
And if you think THAT was corporate bullhooks, read this ... It's a recent ad for a 70k NHS job for an 'Equalities and Diversity Manager'. Part of the job description was:

'In this newly created role, you will help to build and develop the required culture by influencing decision-making and increasing organisational and individual awareness of the value of diversity through the introduction, development and maintenance of leading-edge organisational development interventions'.
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Now it's job descriptions like this, that just make my brain hurt .........
 
While I'm a kindle convert magazines are different for me. I also look forward to my paper copy of H&H arriving every week and would be unlikely to keep the subscription going if it went online only!
 
Iownayetti said:
I didn't like Lucy's tone on several matters recently and last years " Hi-Viz is being over done to the extent of riders looking like Bertie Basset " was an epic fail
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I agree totally came across as arrogant ans stuck up. Not good for the general horse rider who still has to face rude remarks about being a snob in some areas of the country.
 
I've received a very kind and considered reply to my e-mail from the H and H publishing director who confirms that there are no plans to ditch or reduce the magazine. Yay!!
 
Old Bat said:
Well that's ruined my day...here's a copy of an e-mail I've just sent to the Group Head of PR at IPC Media....

Dear Ms Foster,

As a member of your “impassioned audience” I would like to wholeheartedly condemn your decision to reduce the emphasis and possibly cease the hard copy format of Horse and Hound and point out that I will be one of many who will not be subscribing to the new on-line format when it arrives.

The magazine is a long held tradition in thousands of die-hard horsey households. It appeals across the generations and is especially relevant to older horsemen and women without whose long honed skills of horsemanship and equestrianism your grasp of equestrian knowledge and industry would not be what it is today.

Your Publishing Director (or PR guru who may have written the quote for him...) is obviously adept at spouting media claptrap and I wish you all the best in future communications with your perceived marketplace.

Yours sincerely,

I'm obviously in grumpy old f**t mode today....:(
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You do see the irony of this 'online' complaint in Horse and Hound don't you ? It seems to me that most of the names/users in this thread complaining about the possible demise of the print magazine, spend ions of time on these forums, often complaining about stuff they have bought online, articles they have read online etc., or some Facebook /Twitter rubbish that has annoyed them.

It's like complaining about the demise of the high street as you go shopping to Waitrose/Sainsbury/Aldi.

I have no problem with it, I read it online anyway (more content and much faster) It is called communication in the 21st century, and it is fantastic. Why do you wait for a postman on Thursdays?

Now,I will let you all go to prepare the wicks for this evening, on your nighttime candles.


Stands back and braces shoulders!

,
 
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:D nice one! I still prefer the tradition of the magazine though....and the corner shop...and the postman....and refuse to buy a kindle. Just off to trim the wicks on my candles for the evening.
 
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Old Bat said:
........ ...here's a copy of an e-mail I've just sent to the Group Head of PR at IPC Media....

Dear Ms Foster,

As a member of your “impassioned audience” I would like to wholeheartedly condemn your decision to reduce the emphasis and possibly cease the hard copy format of Horse and Hound and point out that I will be one of many who will not be subscribing to the new on-line format when it arrives.

The magazine is a long held tradition in thousands of die-hard horsey households. It appeals across the generations and is especially relevant to older horsemen and women without whose long honed skills of horsemanship and equestrianism your grasp of equestrian knowledge and industry would not be what it is today.

Your Publishing Director (or PR guru who may have written the quote for him...) is obviously adept at spouting media claptrap and I wish you all the best in future communications with your perceived marketplace.

Yours sincerely,

I'm obviously in grumpy old f**t mode today....:(
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I reckon that when the best thing is 'The Truth', then that's what you hand out.

Well said Old Bat, and again....... An excellent post, but Uni degrees, firsts indeed, are being achieved in B-S, and that is how you will be treated, I suspect.

A good effort, for all that!! :wink3::rolleyes3:

Alec.
 
There is no way I'd keep up with an online subscription if it stopped coming in print, and I'm hardly computer illiterate or suck in the old age (in fact at 26 years old I'm likely to be the supposed generation that are meant to be involved in the modern era of technology). I get enough junk through my email inbox (of which I rarely read) without having to look out for the weekly H&H coming through. I sit at a computer quite enough as it is. H&H is embedded in the sport and a part of the sport's history, it would be an utter shame for it to die (as if it were to become online only it surely will).

Wish Lucy the best of luck.
 
Another vote here for hard copy magazines.

And here's a thought, if the mag goes completely online and you have to subscribe to get all the issues, would there be a pay as you go version as well. I'm a bit of a 'dipper in' where horsey mags are concerned, with 3 field ornaments I only buy if there is an article of interest to me. This may not be great for circulation figures, but I only want stuff of interest and most of the 'how to mags' seem mostly only to cater for those that compete regularly or are regular riders. Now that mine are all too old or infirm to be ridden so I'm not in the saddle regularly enough to compete all those articles are of no interest at all, and its the care and vet research stuff that is more the thing.

I also like being able to take my copy with me to the stables for a read whilst having a coffee or snack. Sitting with a gadget that is susceptible to being dropped on a mucky floor and breaking is not a thought I cherish. No way would my Kindle go near the stables.
 
I enjoy the mag every Thursday and when I've finished with it I pass it onto a friend who isn't on the net, and no I wouldn't pay for it on the computer, how can you sit back with a coffee and mag if it's only on the flipping machine. :(
 
A big part of the problem with the www being such a huge part of our lives now is that everyone who is growing up with nothing BUT the internet as a reference point thinks everything should be free to download on demand: photos, music, gifs, magazines, fiction, recipes, films, dressage tests, avatars, emoticons, instruction manuals, self-help tips, porn, art and jokes ... even tips about how an Olympian would ride that xc course ;)

But behind every note, mouse-click, word, frame, diagram, photo or brushstroke is a human trying to earn their living. And no one wants to pay for what they produce. Their salary isn't MY problem, right? I didn't ask them to write a guide to climbing Kilimanjaro but since it's 'out there' and it interests me, I'll have a read. Or I didn't ask them to take a picture of my horse but they did, and it's a nice one, so I'll put it on FB ... But pay for it? Nah. Why should I?

A relative of mine is a journalist. A good one. Their articles are regularly published in the broadsheets. However, the amount of money paid these days, even for regular commissions doesn't even approach a salary.

Is it right that because such information - in whatever form - is so readily available at the click of a mouse, that those whose talent created it for others to use and enjoy should forfeit any reward for their efforts?

I don't know how to begin to remedy the situation longterm but HHO already has a 'subscription only' area as do many of the online newspapers.

Maybe if more people had realised the truth of the unfolding situation and been willing to pay a small amount for what they download, then they could still get the resource they want or need for a relative pittance each time and the creators could earn enough to carry on doing what they do best: creating the stuff people want. Whether in print or online.
 
Up until a few weeks ago I might have agreed with you Mrs B. Then a H&H journalist contacted me about a post I'd made on the forum, saying they were doing an article and would like to mention what I'd put, they also asked if they could use my photo from the thread. I said they could. The journalist copied, pretty much word for word, what I'd written on the forum along with my photo, she added about five words to it. I expect she got paid for that, so the internet works both ways! Its not the first time that I'd been contacted by a H&H journalist about a post on HHO asking to use what I'd said in an article, just the first time I'd agreed. (and after this particular journalist barely said thanks and didn't bother replying when I asked which week it had been in the magazine, I won't be helping them again).

I'm a dipper in type reader too, I don't want to subscribe, I just buy previews and reviews of 3DEs or buy it if I'm looking for a horse. In winter it doesn't interest me at all.

I have to say that it has been incredibly difficult to find it for sale lately - our local newsagents don't seem to stock it anymore, the motorway services seem to have stopped too. I've only been able to find it in the supermarket five miles away lately. Anyone else noticed this?
 
I have subscribed to the H & H for around 30 years now and love my paper copy which is read from cover to cover.

As my copy this week did not arrive I contacted the subscription office and they were going to send me another copy. This copy arrived Monday. I asked if it was possible to receive the digital edition on my tablet (not a Kindle) but was told I would have to buy it as a separate subscription on Google Play.
I subscribe to a large daily paper and my tablet edition of it comes as no extra fee. This is great for days when I don't travel in to town, I can still read my "paper".
If they are so keen on a cross-over why not let subscribers have the opportunity to download it as well?
 
I stopped subscribing to H&H which I love, when after several complaints, it still took 3 weeks to cross the channel. When my Shagya stallion was in training with Sebastien Poirier, I took an early morning ferry to UK saw my boy and came home the same day!! A long day but why does H&H take so long?

For me the on-line service is not the same as the magazine which I can read in bed, or while in front of the TV.
 
Honey08 said:
Up until a few weeks ago I might have agreed with you Mrs B. Then a H&H journalist contacted me about a post I'd made on the forum, saying they were doing an article and would like to mention what I'd put, they also asked if they could use my photo from the thread. I said they could. The journalist copied, pretty much word for word, what I'd written on the forum along with my photo, she added about five words to it. I expect she got paid for that, so the internet works both ways! Its not the first time that I'd been contacted by a H&H journalist about a post on HHO asking to use what I'd said in an article, just the first time I'd agreed. (and after this particular journalist barely said thanks and didn't bother replying when I asked which week it had been in the magazine, I won't be helping them again).

I'm a dipper in type reader too, I don't want to subscribe, I just buy previews and reviews of 3DEs or buy it if I'm looking for a horse. In winter it doesn't interest me at all.

I have to say that it has been incredibly difficult to find it for sale lately - our local newsagents don't seem to stock it anymore, the motorway services seem to have stopped too. I've only been able to find it in the supermarket five miles away lately. Anyone else noticed this?
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So they just lifted your text without making clear it was a quote? That is pretty shocking.
 
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