Mirror journalist joins Telegraph's political team

The Press Gazette is reporting that Rosa Prince, a political journalist at The Mirror for the last ten years, is to replace Brendan Carlin as a political reporter for The Telegraph.  Brendan Carlin is leaving for the Mail on Sunday.

The Telegraph's recently-appointed political editor Andrew Porter said: "I am delighted Rosa is joining The Daily Telegraph’s political team. She has an excellent track record and will add a new dimension to the team."  'What new dimension?' will be a question on the minds of many Tories who have worried about The Telegraph's friendliness towards Labour in recent times.  ConservativeHome has been worried about The Telegraph's editorial direction for some time (see here, here and here).  Earlier this week Guido also voiced his concerns at goings-on at what he dubbed 'The Daily Labourgraph'.

Comments

[Andrew Woodman]

Q. What kind of business builds up it's a base of customers and then trys its best to sell them things them don't want.

A. One heading towards failure.

[Mr Angry]

Seemingly the Telegraph has decided to adopt the now abndoned Cameroonie strategy of trying to turn into NuLb. You'd have thought that since they must by now have noticed that the Conservatives have realised that that doesn't work they too would have returned to conservatism too. I won't be buying it anymore.

[TimC]

Andrew, on that logic then surely we (if conservative) should all read The Times or the Sun, since Murdoch will decide who to support based on his own commercial gain. If conservatives read his papers and he wants to sell more he'll tell them what they want to hear.

This thought is also born from the fact that both of these papers seem to be becoming more pro-tory ideas, if not more pro-tory...

[HF]

This is what Stephen Glover revealed a couple of days ago in the Independent. "its new political editor, Andrew Porter, is a friend of Mr Brown's spin doctor, Damian McBride, and that Will Lewis, the Telegraph's editor, stood and clapped Mr Brown at the Labour Party conference."

So why be surprised if a person applauding Brown appoints a Labour journalist.

Also Porter comes from the Labour supporting poltical team on the Sun.

Will Lewis came from the Labour supporting Times stable.

All quite logical. Now what is this site going to do about it? How about a Special page devoted to highlighting all Labour supporting articles in the Telegraph and Mail?

If Heffer is such a principled man that Cameron is too left for him, how does he hold his head up sharing space with these Labour luvvies?

[TC]

To be fair Rosa is a good political journalist and I am sure she will be an asset to the changing Telegraph team.

[Matt Wright]

Lot of people now saying ditch the Telegraph. I started to buy it less frequently a few months ago and barely get it now. If what is said is true I won't be buying it at all now,

Matt

[John Leonard]

The Telegraph does seem to have gone over to the dark side so it's no surprise that it recruits from a 3rd rate comic.

The answer is simple - stop buying it and stop reading it's nonsense online. Heffer is bad enough but reading the recent drivel from these new recruits is pointless.

The Telegraph is finished......

[Baskerville]

Wow, that's as ridiculous as suggesting a High Tory like Quentin Davies would defect to Labour... oops.

[Gordon's Missing Bottle]

I gave up on the Telegraph when it was taken over by Heffer's foam-mouthed rantings, and I certainly have no interest reading it as it seeks to become "The Daily Yellowgraph".

As Guido says, ConservativeHome is increasingly becoming the house journal for Conservatives:

- It's more fair-minded; nobody could say it's in the party's pocket, but it's focused on constructive centre-right commentary.
- It's increasingly more informative, especially with great new features like the Parliament blog.
- It's more entertaining -- I love Matt and Alex, but the Wrong Man blog is often as funny.
- It's increasingly more influential -- as we saw over the weekend with BottleGate.

[Spencer Wisdom]

I've always thought political journalists were rather like barristers- they are paid to put a case. They don't have to actually believe it. I would imagine the Telegraph is taking her on because she has good contacts and writes well etc (although I have to say I'm afraid I've never heard of her).
I don't think the Telegraph is becoming friendlier to Labour. Since the conference I would have said they were firmly back on side. I do wish they would drop that dreadful North American type face in their title and revert to the old Gothic.

[Scotty]

I am opting more and more for the Times in the newsagents and on line these days. Andrew Porter and now Rosa Prince...

Tim, I did my mourning for the demise of the Torygraph a couple of years ago. Had Cameron tried to woo the likes of Heffer and Daley over the period of his leadership he would have failed because of their personal dislike. And IMHO more importantly, he would never have managed the re branding of the party that was so desperately needed, and is now bringing us a real chance to be heard on a whole range of issues.

[kingbongo]

The Telegraph's political stance is nonsensical but much worse than that is the fact it's just not a very good paper any more. I stick to the Times during the week and then (ignoring the leftie political rubbish) the Guardian at the weekend.

I think the Telegraph is in big big trouble and I don't see how this appointment of someone trained at the feet of Kevin Maguire - the most deluded journalist on the planet is going to help

[simon from edinburgh]

What next. I am sick to the back teeth of The Daily Brownograph. Whose's next Kevin Maguire as editor?

[david Glass]

i too have become concerned with the telegraph and its recent political coverage to the extent that i will review my subscription

[Hannibal]

Mr Angry - they are ANTI-Cameroon not immitating him!

I too will, with great reluctance, shift over to The Times if this keeps up.

Is Jonathan Isaby still in place?

[Malcolm Dunn]

Not really sure what this means in reality.When I worked for the Mail there were one or two journalists who most certainly were not Tories. You would not have guessed that from their copy though.
A left wing Telegraph would soon go out of business.

[David]

The Telegraph has long gone; Andrew Peirce only gets excited when the Tories are in difficulty.

[David Lonsdale]

Some of the senior editorial staff at the Telegraph seem to follow the Clarke/Gummer line. I am thinking in particular of Matthew D'Ancona, whose wife is active within the Labour Party. He seems to be following Bercow, who married a Labour girl.

[Londoner]

There are two examples of poor journalism in the Telegraph's Pre-budget special pages today. First, in the main headline they say "Darling Bribes 12m couples..." saying in the first sentence that 12m couples "will benefit" from the inheritance tax change. Their summary on the same page also has "Capital gains slashed to 18%". With an increased take of several hundred million pounds - some "slash". They should read this blog (or employ William Norton as a budget day consultant) to avoid this lax analysis.

Second, Simon Heffer's article includes this howling error: "Without question, the reforms of inheritance tax and capital gains tax will go down well with the vital middle-England constituency that all political parties desperately need to woo." Only if they are deceived by the superficiality of many of the Telegraph reports! Mr Heffer should steer clear of finance, on which he is clearly easily deceived, and concentrate on something on which he has expertise. Although the central point of his article, that the Tories have regained the initiative in the battle of ideas, may be right, I am slighly struggling to understand where that expertise might be.

One somewhat doubts that a long standing Mirror jounrnalist is going to meet that gap. Times-wards anyone?

[Good Old Tory MCP]

Matthew D'Ancona's wife is a special adviser. Big deal. Do Tories now think men and women who sleep together are incapable of independent thought?

And, any clues as to what Rosa Prince's real politics are? Clearly not only do you lot think women cannot have a different view from their husbands, they also cannot have different views from their employers.

[Mountjoy]

Yes, but I think after Gordon Brown's recent humiliation and decline in the opinion polls, and the revival of the Conservative Party, the Telegraph will be more friendly towards the Conservatives.

I suggest that if the Telegraph, Mail etc had been cheerleading the Tories and saying "we don't need tax cuts", we would never have had the Inheritance Tax and Stamp Duty pledges, and Labour would be well ahead.

The criticism has done the Conservative Party well!

[donald Collier]

Another step in the "long march through the institutions" or just commercial folly. Either way its of my list of reading!

Socialists should be reviled or ignored not rewarded for the damage they do to peoples lives!!!

[michael read]

Latest issue of Private Eye offers an explanation of what is going on. Apparently Brown thought the Telegraph lobby crew were unhelpful and demanded changes.

[Northernhousewife]

Despite the lack of a decent Tory paper, I am bemused when Tories suggest buying the Times. Having closely followed all the newspapers commemtary up to Brown Trouser Day, no paper regurgitated the Labour spun version more. I remember reading completely different accounts of internal polls and insider gossip. The Independent [now don't rush to judge] and the Times were a particular contrast. The Times: all gung ho, polls are great, they are toast, election is on etc.etc. The Independent: the polls are bad, losing their nerve, it is all off etc. The Times was so wrong when you look back it was embarrassing. The Independent headline today is great.
My local shop has recently seen a rise in sales for the Independent following a few consistantly bad headlines for Brown;it had sold out at 7:55am yesterday.
Maybe we should arrange a more organised approach to the D.T.?
We are a large market which currently has nowhere satisfactory to go. The D.T thinks it can mess us about.

[Happy Tory]

I think, post conference, now that people and press can see more clearly the balance in our agenda, we should keep an open mind about how the different papers will report on us. There may be a genuine shift, and we should be open to that.

[DB]

I found it interesting that the ubiquitous Kevin Maguire actually offered some criticism of Brown on today's post-PMQ analysis on the Daily Politics. I'm guessing he's pissed off that all his work as The Bottler's unofficial cheerleader came to nought when Andrew Marr was given the scoop once again last weekend.

[NigelC]

I decided to stop my subscription some time ago

[David Sergeant]

There is the danger of not taking the long view. I suggest equating the Telegraph with another "establishment" media organisation - the BBC. Both types of organisations tend to employ inadequate people and such people tend to be lazy, cowardly and prone to panic.

It's been like this a long time. At the recent two byelections the Telegraph kept referring to them as disasters for the Tories when they were no such thing. But, around 2002 there were byelections in three safe Labour seats where Labour got returned with very small majorities, the Telegraph headline? "Labour win all round the country". Obviously Labour spin just repeated without any thought. The world doesn't change much.

[Griswold]

DT is becoming Torylite. But it remains the best all round daily record. Times is redundant. The Independent has the best sketch writer in Simon Carr - the new M Parris. DT should try to lure D Lawson as columnist. His Indie columns are brilliant. James Lawton is head and shoulders best sport columnist. Why Indie retains J Hari is a mystery. Lightweight and hissy.

[Duncan]

Am I alone in being a Conservative activist who actually is not that bothered whether he reads a newspaper where 100% of the journalists are card-carrying Tories? What I want out of a newspaper is a quality read with a variety of stories with a degree of originality and free thought. I would draw the line at buying a genuinely Left-wing paper like the Guardian on a regular basis but if there are a few Labour supporters at the Telegraph, why should this mean it is any less of a newspaper?

[john]

The Telegraph had an article today by somebody called Mary Riddell.(Related to NuLabour stooge Peter Riddell of The Times?)
It was so pro-Brown, anti-Cameron, I had to check I wasn't reading the daily Mirror.

To be positive: I detect a distict shift in the media towards the Tories of late. Yes, even in The Guardian. And PM and Newsnight could have been Tory political party broadcasts.
Happy days.

[Londoner]

No, Duncan at 20:42, you are not alone. I joined the chorus of disapproval earlier on this thread because its journalism is going downhill, not because of the political colour of the journalists or even that of the columnists. But the combination of the Heffer poison and tabloidesque columns, and the news selection and accuracy of analysis is just not what it was a few years ago.

I am interested in what has been said about the recent faulty analysis of the Times compared with the Indy. Maybe I'll try the latter instead but my impression is that their sheer lack of resources tends to lead to thin news pages and often weak columnists. Their quirky and opinion driven front pages would I am sure more often annoy me than engage me, even despite their often green agenda of which I approve.

Someone should draw the Telegraph's management's attention to this thread. A product where a material proportion of their core customers are only hanging in there because all the competitors are equally unsatisfactory needs to look to its standards. If only Charles Moore could get on and finish his Mrs T biog and be re-appointed as editor - but I accept that that won't happen.