Former Comet editor Nick Gill, who held the role from 2017 to 2020, explains how much journalism has changed in the past 10 years.
I’ll never forget the metal spike that greeted my arrival at the Comet.
Piercing countless printed-off emails which had been ‘dealt with’, it sat proudly on the desk of my first news editor in a nod to journalism’s past.
Traditionally the spike was used to discard stories which had made it on to paper, but were not deemed good enough for print.
In 2010, when I joined the Comet as a newly-qualified reporter in my home town of Stevenage, it lived on thanks to the late John Adams.
John was among the team behind its first edition 50 years ago – although he was always quick to point out that it had actually been called The Sun for two weeks before the national title of the same name threatened legal action.
So the Comet it was and thankfully still is, and I am grateful for that.
Looking back the use of the spike was terribly wasteful, but so much has changed even since 2010.
At that time reporters were still getting used to putting their own stories on the Comet’s website rather than by a dedicated web team, and the use of social media to both find and share news was very much in its infancy.
It seems hard to believe, but the Facebook timeline did not yet exist and emojis weren’t common place on mobile phones (insert ‘shocked face’ emoji here).
Fast forward a decade and social media is at the very centre of journalism – for good and for bad.
What has not changed is the passion those at the Comet have for the title and the community they serve.
Becoming the editor in 2017 was a proud moment for me, but I took the greatest pride seeing reporter after reporter dedicate their time and energy to doing the best job they could – and always with the readers in mind.
We didn’t always get things right, but any suggestion that truth and integrity isn’t at the very heart of what the Comet stands for is misguided.
In a world where we can find misinformation at every turn, local journalism is more important than ever.
So, as the Comet marks 50 years, I wish to thank my former colleagues for all that they do.
As for the future, I can only hope it will be here in 50 years’ time – and that it never gets spiked.
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