Blood In The Water Drips Down Fleet Street

Grim news from the Daily Mirror where editor Alison Phillips has quit amid “massive job and budget cuts”.

By widely common consent Phillips (who I don’t know) is: a) really well liked; b) really good at her job.

She has reportedly taken voluntary redundancy – one trusts and hopes the settlement is generous.

To those not aware of the history, The Daily Mirror was once arguably the most important UK newspaper, the best tabloid in the world.

Originally designed as a paper for women – no one had thought of that in 1903 – it became perhaps the most campaigning tabloid paper ever.

It covered huge issues in accessible ways, not least by promoting the work of the recently deceased John Pilger.

Now, meat and potato hacks getting whacked is par for the course. The Sun was particularly brutal for that, I recall.

You’d notice you hadn’t seen Steve for a couple of weeks and ask if he was ok. Eyes would fall to the floor. There is no Steve. There had never been a Steve.

Top execs going – on whatever terms – does not bode well for the rest of us.

Reach, the owner of The Mirror and much else besides, has serious problems. It is hard to see how its business model ever works.

But the troubles hardly end there.

For PR companies thinking of hiring hacks, the advice must be: wait a few months.

You might be able to get better people for less money.

To hacks who think I am treacherous for so saying, I can only apologise and say I’m just telling the truth.

To any flaks who think this is an early job application, I promise I will spare us both that particular embarrassment.

There is blood in the water. The sharks that we better know as the HR department can smell it.