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If last week’s Council budget decision was grim – and it was – yesterday’s NEN Board meeting finally brought it home that we’ve almost reached the end of the road.

Our board of directors will issue a formal statement shortly, but we can say now that the March NEN will be our last, and NEN’s Crewe Road North office – our home for twelve years – will be put on the market with immediate effect.

There will be more time later to talk about other things, but for the moment there are two pressing issues.  Firstly, to get out a final edition that’s as good as it can be, our swansong.  The deadline for this is next Friday (25 February) so if you have any comments, adverts or other contributions you’d like to make – do it now!  Take this last opportunity to have your say;  your chance to be part of a wee piece of local history, our final edition.

And then, it’s winding down the operation, archive and save what needs to be retained (or can be found a caring and loving home!) and clearing out the office.  I can’t say any of us as looking forward to that – so many memories being consigned to the bin; that part is going to be very difficult.  It’s probably then that the enormity of what is happening will really bite.

In the meantime, though, it’s back to the next edition.  Where was I?  Oh yes, budget cuts!

 

Dave Pickering

 

 

No real surprise when the City of Edinburgh Council voted through its cuts to community newspapers at last Thursday’s budget meeting but the community is determined to fight on to save its newspaper.

Strong deputation’s from North Edinburgh News and The Chronicle emphasised the measures taken by both publications to meet emloyability criteria yet councillors refused to listen and cut funding completely from NEN, The Chronicle and The Speaker, in Restalrig. Continue reading Council cuts community newspapers

At NEN we have been really encouraged and heartened by the response of the local community to the proposed closure of their newspaper.

It really shows just how much NEN means to local people and the sense of ownership they feel for the local paper. It is great to see the community mount its own campaign to save NEN.

A Facebook campaign group has been initiated by local activist, Anna Hutchison – and has over 270 members already!

Anna is planning to make a deputation to the Council’s Budget meeting on Thursday on behalf of the local community.

Anna writes in the February edition of NEN:

“The NEN is part of our heritage.  Councils have taken enough out of our area. This must stop.  NEN has provided placements for journalism students at Telford College so it is more than just a newspaper but also a valuable training resource.  NEN belongs to our community and yet the community has not been consulted.  What happened to democracy? The staff at the NEN have tried their utmost to keep the paper going.  It is now time for the community to act and save our local paper.”

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/10257304″]

http://twitter.com/#!/aoifemaria/status/33452584945729536

I  always thought Twitter was something for people with too much time on their hands. But Tom Allan has encouraged me into this online society and I must say it’s really useful and great way to make contacts.

It’s the quickest way to get your message out there and given that NEN is facing closure we really need to highlight our plight in an immediate and interactive way.  That instant impact is something extra we can now bring to local news – something which the monthly newspaper cannot achieve.

NEN has only had a Twitter presence for a couple of weeks and we’ve already achieved quite a following.  It’s really encouraging to know that there is a real support for the community newspaper.

http://twitter.com/#!/tomallan/status/34927852793102337

http://twitter.com/#!/danfrydman/status/28540831375826944

http://twitter.com/#!/lumpinthethroat/status/28083183652175873

http://twitter.com/#!/aoifemaria/status/33452584945729536

I  always thought Twitter was something for people with too much time on their hands. But Tom Allan has encouraged me into this online society and I must say it’s really useful and great way to make contacts.

It’s the quickest way to get your message out there and given that NEN is facing closure we really need to highlight our plight in an immediate and interactive way.  That instant impact is something extra we can now bring to local news – something which the monthly newspaper cannot achieve.

NEN has only had a Twitter presence for a couple of weeks and we’ve already achieved quite a following.  It’s really encouraging to know that there is a real support for the community newspaper.

http://twitter.com/#!/tomallan/status/34927852793102337

http://twitter.com/#!/danfrydman/status/28540831375826944

http://twitter.com/#!/lumpinthethroat/status/28083183652175873

This video, produced by the NEN’s Dave Pickering, and Paul Chan (formerly of Pilton Video) highlights some of the amazing community organisations operating in North Edinburgh, some of whom are now facing funding cuts at this weeks council meeting on Thursday.

The film examines the services they provide, and their hopes and fears for the future.

[vimeo vimeo.com/18737319]

The film was shot on one very wintry December day and expertly edited by Paul in record time. The documentary was first screened as a presentation to Forth Neighbourhood Partnership’s public meeting held at Spartans Community Football Academy on 15December 2010.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed and participated, and particular thanks to Paul for his technical expertise.

This video, produced by the NEN’s Dave Pickering, and Paul Chan (formerly of Pilton Video) highlights some of the amazing community organisations operating in North Edinburgh, some of whom are now facing funding cuts at this weeks council meeting on Thursday.

The film examines the services they provide, and their hopes and fears for the future.

[vimeo vimeo.com/18737319]

The film was shot on one very wintry December day and expertly edited by Paul in record time. The documentary was first screened as a presentation to Forth Neighbourhood Partnership’s public meeting held at Spartans Community Football Academy on 15December 2010.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed and participated, and particular thanks to Paul for his technical expertise.

Journalist and community media trainer Tom Allan has interviewed our long-time staff members, administrator Vicky Scanlin and reporter Dave Pickering. He asked what it means to them that the NEN is facing closure.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/10253192″]

Last Friday Council papers  went online, and finally confirmed our worst fears.

They showed that the City of Edinburgh Council is recommending that ALL funding to North Edinburgh News is cut completely for 2011-2012.

This report goes before full Council on Thursday 10 February when councillors meet to set the Budget for the year ahead.

So what does this mean for your community paper?

Continue reading Crunch time for North Edinburgh News

Hello, and welcome to the brand new NEN blog.

For those of you not already familiar with the newspaper, we are a local community paper serving the North Edinburgh community. We’ve been here for over thirty years.

This blog, along with our new Facebook page and Twitter stream, represents our first foray into the world of social media.  We really want to encourage more participation, more questions and ideas from the North Edinburgh community – both online and offline – and hope that these new tools will help us to do that.

We already have a good website, where you can always find the latest edition of the printed newspaper. The blog won’t be replacing that, but will instead be there to show people the latest news about the area, and also to help us cover the current funding crisis we are facing as an organisation.

Above all, we want to include your input on the blog – be it ideas for stories, comments, pictures and events. So get in touch!