Good or bad news: that is the question - 11.08.05
contractjournal.com Newsletter - 11.08.05
Editorial: Bad news: is that what CJ readers want?
Company disputes, sackings and project over-runs... or targets achieved on time, profit records broken or staff promotions. What is it that CJ readers want in their issues? Online news editor Tim Wood looks at arguments from both sides.
According to market research carried out by Contract Journal a couple of years ago, readers wanted to see more bad news.
And some of the comments submitted to www.contractjournal.com recently seem to back this up.
"I would like to see news about the bad side of the industry. For example, naming and shaming individuals and employers that sack own staff, managers who are bullies, companies that are losing money day in day out but proclaiming stories of success just to get the grants from the banks and clients," rants one reader.
The writer goes on: "I want to see the truth about how so many companies that ignore quality and only worried about finishing the job with maximum profits. I want to see news about naming and shaming main contractors destroying subcontractors. I want to see a complaints section with printed examples from people, who are forced to quit their jobs because of bullying at work."
Another outlines exactly what he/she wants to see making the headlines. "I would like more arbitration and law cases. More accident reporting. More news about unfair dismissals. More news about disputes between contractors and designers who don't appreciate the complex process of construction."
Fair comment all round. But is bad news good news for the industry?
One can argue that by highlighting news about the bad side of construction, as well as on-going attempts of improvement, everyone concerned will be aware and may try to make it a better industry for all.
Having good news will also illustrate that the industry is a success and encourage more workers to join up and be part of that.
And surely that is the main issue here - without the workers there will not be any stories to write about - good or bad.