Mark Croucher

Hi all,

As you may know, John Harvey is retiring as editor of Independence News, which will now be produced by the press office.

Anyone who fancies themselves as an author/star journalist (unpaid) and who wants to submit an article should do so for the next issue by the 30th May at the very latest.

Please submit by e-mail to myself at press@ukip.org. Subjects should be pertinent to UKIP, the EU or British politics generally, and I would ask that you remember the purpose of Independence News! A maximum article length of 400 words for the next issue will be enforced by drastic and merciless sub-editing!

Best regards & happy writing!

Mark Croucher

Roger Gough

Mark, If you can't trawl these annals and find acres of print-worthy epistles, you're not the Press man I thought you were likely to become.

Intbel

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We are all free to choose - every step of the way - no exceptions.

Biscuitman

To be honest Mark, and this is in no way a critisism of the previous editor, I don't know what the purpose of I.N. is.

Like all company in-house journals, (never read a good one of these yet), it seems to serve the purpose of keeping non-active members informed on events around the country but surves little purpose for those of us who are more involved.

More to the point, now that you've taken the helm, what would YOU like it to be?

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IF THE EU WAS THE ANSWER, IT MUST HAVE BEEN A STUPID QUESTION!

Mark Croucher

Good question. To a certain extent, I'm happy to be guided by members wants and needs, but I would hope to include more in the way of 'how to' articles, broader party information, campaign and strategy help for branches, and even, dare I say it, the odd article from Europhiles now and then on a sort of 'know thine enemy' basis.

The final shape of the inevitably late next issue is yet to be decided, primarily because I have rather too many irons in the fire at the moment, but it will be unlike previous issues. Largely, the first under my stewardship will be guided by what material is to hand, but by the second, you will see a distinct change in approach, including a complete image re-vamp.

As a post-script, yes, I could pull stuff from this site and re-work it, but it lacks focus as journalism. To any who are sharpening their pencils, I would say decide on a single argument, and amplify it within the 500 words; too many articles are ruined by trying to say everything all at once! Take a look at the press releases section on the website, and try to write articles which follow a press release format almost; concise and 'on-topic' (I hope!). It has not escaped my notice that this is an excellent training ground for branch press officers, not least once they've seen me with my sub-editors hat on decimating their prose!

BTW, I should mention that I would be happy to discuss articles with any who wish to write them, and a set of writers guidelines will be available ahead of the issue after this one. My contact details remain as always press@ukip.org or 0207-222-9365 (office, not there 'til Tuesday now) or 07960-584161 mobile. If you call my mobile, please, please, please remember that I have a young family so blinding ideas about content which strike you at closing time on Saturday night may not be met with due consideration if you call me instantly to discuss them!

Rgds

Mark

Intbel

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We are all free to choose - every step of the way - no exceptions.

UKIP MAN

And if your articles are more than 400 words you know where to send them

www.ukipman.co.uk

Anthony Butcher

I have a 20 page document you can include if you want

Intbel

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We are all free to choose - every step of the way - no exceptions.