Level | Item |
Ref No | OHP/110 |
Title | Jim Markwick |
Date | 22 July 2002 |
Extent | 3 minidiscs, 3 cds, 1 file, 6 AIFF files and 1 WAV file (2.09 GB) |
Creator Name | Markwick; James Charles; chief executive, Guardian Media Group |
Description | Interview with Jim Markwick, chief executive, Guardian Media Group. Conducted by Brian Whitaker on 22 July 2002. Also includes a data sheet containing biographical details about the subject and information about the recording and notes made after the interview.
Summary contents of interview (with rough timings):
Disc 1: Track 1* 01.10 Family involved with newspapers since 1890 01.10 Father worked for the Manchester Guardian, 'newspapers in his blood' 01.10 After reading law at Oxford takes management job with Bowaters, suppliers of newsprint to the Guardian 02.28 Laurence Scott offers him job as assistant company secretary 02.28 The 1948 Scott Trust reform which solved the inheritance duties issues 03.50 May 1, 1961 starts as assistant company secretary at Manchester Guardian 04.44 Describes how the MEN/Guardian ran as one entity 04.44 Profits of £300,000 were regarded as tremendous, brought in substantially by the Evening News 07.30 London printing discussed - talks of the Manchester Guardian becoming a national paper 09.50 Research into producing papers by facsimile
12.24 How the move to London eventually worked 14.20 How the NPA (Newspaper Publishers' Association) operated and how the Guardian needed to join the cartel 16.11 The Guardian was told by NPA to pay its contribution to Reuters 18.06 Became the owner of three and a half per cent of Reuters - by the flotation it became £50m 18.45 Leased presses from Sunday Times - taught how to run a printing operation
20.24 Facsimile or TTS - discusses union issues. Decided against facsimile - too controversial 27.10 Pay rates for composing room and what the Guardian was paying for 27.10 London printing was running into difficulties
32.57 Aug/Sept1963 asked by Scott to move to New York to build the Guardian Weekly
41.15 Arrives in New York in January 1964 in a snowstorm 41.15 No Guardian journalists in New York, so he starts his career by covering the UN 42.00 Describes time in New York - three years of enormous fun 48.58 1967 returns to London where everything had gone 'belly-up', serious shortfall in ad revenue
50.29 Guardian at risk, November 1966 'things looked very dicey' - redundancies 53.37 Decision to reform into parent board with two subsides - Guardian and MEN 53.37 After this, slowly but surely the staff would move to London 57.33 1969 returns from studying at Harvard
Disc 2: Track 1 00.07 1971/72 becomes general manager in London. Good team, things going better 00.40 Remembers Harvey Thompson, production manager. 'Old Guardian man' who later became production director at The Times 00.55 Remembers colleagues Gerry Taylor, investment director, Michael Jack, circulation director, and Peter Gibbons, managing director 01.45 Guardian became national newspaper 02.21 Discussions on printing arrangements with Thomson 04.00 Becoming general manager 04.45 1976 committee 05.30 Finances 05.45 Maintaining the Guardian's position 07.25 Printing deal
10.00 Producing in Manchester and London 10.44 November 1974 found 119 Farringdon Road. Technology arguments 15.18 Moved to teletypesetting (TTS) 17.55 August 1976, Farringdon Road opens 18.35 Gaining printing independence 19.20 Setting up own hot metal printing
Track 2 00.55 Regularly attended National Press Association (NPA) meetings 03.00 Agreement to print in Gray's Inn Road 05.00 Rumours about moving printing
Track 3 00.10 Trade unions and talks of disagreements, corruption and unreasonableness 02.00 Machine rooms 06.50 Competition between newspapers in London 07.30 Rupert Murdoch 09.00 New Years day when the Guardian was the only newspaper to produce
10.31 Times when money went into brown envelopes and management didn't know how it was divvied up 11.30 False names. Wages uncollected 15.35 Getting a paper out on time became difficult 16.00 Problems around production of newspapers in the late 1970s 17.20 Everything by the time of the Times suspension was a mess 17.55 The Times stoppage did the Guardian a good turn
Disc 3: Track 1 00.05 Sympathy with union leaders some of whom had their health destroyed 05.22 The NUJ came to the fore early in the 1970s 05.22 Idea of a four-day week 06.30 Decline in number of journalists 07.30 Alastair Hetherington. Deeply puritan
10.00 The Guardian starting the four-day week, c1974 13.30 NUJ gaining political strength 14.36 NUJ insisting that journalists serve their apprenticeship in the regions 17.35 Many journalists at the newspaper were graduates 18.00 Dumbing down of union agenda 19.28 Problems with the NUJ flat-rate increases 19.55 Arrival of the Independent
20.18 NUJ negotiations 29.00 Dispute procedures dependent on how corporate you are
33.00 Misunderstandings in negotiations
44.36 Where does the power lie? The commercial leaders, the Board, the Trust? Discusses the pros and cons
Track 2 02.45 Elected to stand for parliament for the Conservatives - failed to win seat
|
Access Status | Open |
Access Conditions | Access to recording via GNM Digital Repository |
Format | Electronic record |
CD recording |
Printed document |
Minidisc recording |
Copyright | Guardian News & Media Ltd and Jim Markwick |
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