A chip off the old blog Will Lewis, newly appointed editor of the 'Telegraph', wants to 'follow his readers' into a brave new techno world. But can he take his battered staff with him?

Will he bother to look at the circulation figures? As Will Lewissits, gently rotating no doubt, at the hub, gazing out digitally atthe journalists - the peas in the pods, as he might be tempted tocall them - gathering their energies for the next "touch-point", willhe reflect on days gone by when editors looked at sales figures andwept?

Tomorrow The Daily Telegraph completes its move from Canary Wharfto London SW1. New newsroom, new approach, new services, newphilosophy ... and new editor. Lewis is young (37), ambitious anddigital. Conjure up a stereotypical Daily Telegraph editor and youwould get an upper-class Oxbridge male with an interest in countrypursuits and Conservative politics. Lewis, appointed editor lastweek, is white and male, but apart from that, he ticks none of theusual boxes.

But it's not because he went to a London comprehensive, supportsWest Ham and has no discernible closeness to the Tories that hisappointment marks such a break from the past. Rather it is becausehis vision for the paper diverges so hugely from what has gonebefore. Indeed, colleagues suggest that the Telegraph Group's digitalrevolution is his chief priority, and "editing the paper itself isonly a minor part" of the job.

"Well, that's not true but I've never been shy of my vision," hesays. "In the last 10 months we've been studying other newspapergroups like the New York Times, to see how we can follow our readersinto the new digital world. Technology is at a sweet spot right nowand the digital revolution makes it very simple to get involved."

The final month of John Bryant's acting editorship provided asmall year-on-year decline in the Telegraph's sale, which remainsreasonably steady at 900,000 and not a bad base for a new editorship.

In fact, all but one of the serious newspapers lost sales comparedwith September last year - the exception being The Independent,showing a 1 per cent gain. The Guardian, emerging from the year inwhich readership figures for its new Berliner format were beingcompared with its broadsheet predecessor, was down on the Berlinerlaunch month (hardly surprising). But it has had a year of sellingmore each month than the previous year, so the relaunch can beconsidered a success.

In the Sunday market, it is necessary once again to blush modestlyand say that this newspaper had the best September figures of any, up15.3 per cent year on year, 7.3 per cent month on month. The othernewspaper to change its format, The Observer, increased sales by 4.5per cent year on year. The two "old" broadsheets, The Sunday Timesand The Sunday Telegraph, both lost sales.

If Lewis can take his eyes off the blog to look at the market inwhich he has just become an editor, he will see a depressing picturein most sectors, but least so in the one in which he operates. Thosewho have appointed him agree with his vision of a multi-platformfuture in which the print journalists provide the content for farmore outlets than simply the paper. In this brave new world, theywill be delivering podcasts, vodcasts and blogs, as well as theirnewspaper stories, and contributing to updated editorial online atthe various "touchpoints" - key publication moments - during the day.

Clearly Lewis will be as interested in the digital data as theprint sales. At present, the figures for "total unique users" at theleading newspaper websites - the accepted measure for audience - showThe Daily Telegraph running third at a little under six million. TheTimes has around nine million and The Guardian leads with 12.5million, of which some four million are in the UK. Podcast data isharder to come by, but the Telegraph claims 53,500 downloads in thefirst 12 days of October, while The Guardian claims 140,000 in thefirst week of October.

Lewis's vision has been a long time brewing. He left the FinancialTimes after eight years because he was disenchanted with the way thepaper was handling its own digital future, and then he moved to TheSunday Times as business editor, where his efforts impressed retailentrepreneur Sir Philip Green, who recommended him to Aidan Barclay,the Telegraph Group's chairman. "He's one of the most engagingjournalists I've come across," says one admirer. "He's verygregarious and inclusive and you feel he's telling you secrets in theform of a friendly chat."

Socially egalitarian, Lewis sends his three children to northLondon state schools and plays football at weekends. "He's not somuch a dinner party guy as a pint down the pub and takeaway guy,"says a friend.

But politically, it seems he may not have broken the mould.Although he ran the SDP society at Bristol University, he nowdescribes himself as "an obsessive liberal with a small l" and sharestraditional Telegraph passions about individual privacy and freedomfrom the state.

"I am very stimulated by politics and it's about to get veryinteresting. Our readers believe in less tax and higher-qualityservices, and fundamentally they want to be left to live the way theywant. We're going to be in people's faces about the sort of Britainit's vital to create; the current situation is no longer acceptable."

Office politics, though, could prove far trickier. Morale amongstaff has been destroyed by the inept way management has handled 133redundancies this year - on top of 300 last year. Recent eventsinclude journalists with a lifetime's service being sacked inconference calls, or receiving redundancy notices addressed toothers.

"To describe the old-style Telegraph as a country club was deeplyinsulting," says one journalist. "No one went out for long lunches;we all worked our backsides off, sometimes until 11 at night. It'smore like a country club now as no one cares any more."

"We could have been better at communicating," Lewis admits, "butit was the right thing to do. We wanted people who'd relish the toughtimes ahead." These tough times include training to diversify intoother areas. Lewis says journalists "recognise the media isfragmenting very rapidly and they're up for it".

But one journalist puts it differently: "Somehow we're

all supposed to become all-singing radio and TV journalists withone week's coaching."

Another staffer complains: "It's all very well having fastdelivery systems, but you need something to put on them.

The number of journalists who have been slashed has destroyed ourcontent. Compare how Max Hastings and Charles Moore would hand-pickpeople and nurture them, with how this management would rather sackpeople and bring others in. It's like they're pathologically ill - asthough they hate their own paper."

But Lewis contends: "We've put in place a tough culture here. It'srespectful but challenging."

Standards slip

The first month of fighting in the London freebies war saw a smalladvance by London Lite, the title owned by Associated Newspapers. Thefirst audited figures for successful giving of copies to hurryingpedestrians scored Lite at 359,000 and its News Internationalcompetitor thelondon-paper at 327,000.

Associated's Evening Standard, as many predicted, has lost out inthe "free for all". Not helped by a 25 per cent price rise, it shed11.7 per cent of its sale year on year, to record 289,000 forSeptember. Ominous.

Peter Cole is professor of journalism at the University ofSheffield

A chip off the old blog Will Lewis, newly appointed editor of the 'Telegraph', wants to 'follow his readers' into a brave new techno world. But can he take his battered staff with him?

Will he bother to look at the circulation figures? As Will Lewissits, gently rotating no doubt, at the hub, gazing out digitally atthe journalists - the peas in the pods, as he might be tempted tocall them - gathering their energies for the next "touch-point", willhe reflect on days gone by when editors looked at sales figures andwept?

Tomorrow The Daily Telegraph completes its move from Canary Wharfto London SW1. New newsroom, new approach, new services, newphilosophy ... and new editor. Lewis is young (37), ambitious anddigital. Conjure up a stereotypical Daily Telegraph editor and youwould get an upper-class Oxbridge male with an interest in countrypursuits and Conservative politics. Lewis, appointed editor lastweek, is white and male, but apart from that, he ticks none of theusual boxes.

But it's not because he went to a London comprehensive, supportsWest Ham and has no discernible closeness to the Tories that hisappointment marks such a break from the past. Rather it is becausehis vision for the paper diverges so hugely from what has gonebefore. Indeed, colleagues suggest that the Telegraph Group's digitalrevolution is his chief priority, and "editing the paper itself isonly a minor part" of the job.

"Well, that's not true but I've never been shy of my vision," hesays. "In the last 10 months we've been studying other newspapergroups like the New York Times, to see how we can follow our readersinto the new digital world. Technology is at a sweet spot right nowand the digital revolution makes it very simple to get involved."

The final month of John Bryant's acting editorship provided asmall year-on-year decline in the Telegraph's sale, which remainsreasonably steady at 900,000 and not a bad base for a new editorship.

In fact, all but one of the serious newspapers lost sales comparedwith September last year - the exception being The Independent,showing a 1 per cent gain. The Guardian, emerging from the year inwhich readership figures for its new Berliner format were beingcompared with its broadsheet predecessor, was down on the Berlinerlaunch month (hardly surprising). But it has had a year of sellingmore each month than the previous year, so the relaunch can beconsidered a success.

In the Sunday market, it is necessary once again to blush modestlyand say that this newspaper had the best September figures of any, up15.3 per cent year on year, 7.3 per cent month on month. The othernewspaper to change its format, The Observer, increased sales by 4.5per cent year on year. The two "old" broadsheets, The Sunday Timesand The Sunday Telegraph, both lost sales.

If Lewis can take his eyes off the blog to look at the market inwhich he has just become an editor, he will see a depressing picturein most sectors, but least so in the one in which he operates. Thosewho have appointed him agree with his vision of a multi-platformfuture in which the print journalists provide the content for farmore outlets than simply the paper. In this brave new world, theywill be delivering podcasts, vodcasts and blogs, as well as theirnewspaper stories, and contributing to updated editorial online atthe various "touchpoints" - key publication moments - during the day.

Clearly Lewis will be as interested in the digital data as theprint sales. At present, the figures for "total unique users" at theleading newspaper websites - the accepted measure for audience - showThe Daily Telegraph running third at a little under six million. TheTimes has around nine million and The Guardian leads with 12.5million, of which some four million are in the UK. Podcast data isharder to come by, but the Telegraph claims 53,500 downloads in thefirst 12 days of October, while The Guardian claims 140,000 in thefirst week of October.

Lewis's vision has been a long time brewing. He left the FinancialTimes after eight years because he was disenchanted with the way thepaper was handling its own digital future, and then he moved to TheSunday Times as business editor, where his efforts impressed retailentrepreneur Sir Philip Green, who recommended him to Aidan Barclay,the Telegraph Group's chairman. "He's one of the most engagingjournalists I've come across," says one admirer. "He's verygregarious and inclusive and you feel he's telling you secrets in theform of a friendly chat."

Socially egalitarian, Lewis sends his three children to northLondon state schools and plays football at weekends. "He's not somuch a dinner party guy as a pint down the pub and takeaway guy,"says a friend.

But politically, it seems he may not have broken the mould.Although he ran the SDP society at Bristol University, he nowdescribes himself as "an obsessive liberal with a small l" and sharestraditional Telegraph passions about individual privacy and freedomfrom the state.

"I am very stimulated by politics and it's about to get veryinteresting. Our readers believe in less tax and higher-qualityservices, and fundamentally they want to be left to live the way theywant. We're going to be in people's faces about the sort of Britainit's vital to create; the current situation is no longer acceptable."

Office politics, though, could prove far trickier. Morale amongstaff has been destroyed by the inept way management has handled 133redundancies this year - on top of 300 last year. Recent eventsinclude journalists with a lifetime's service being sacked inconference calls, or receiving redundancy notices addressed toothers.

"To describe the old-style Telegraph as a country club was deeplyinsulting," says one journalist. "No one went out for long lunches;we all worked our backsides off, sometimes until 11 at night. It'smore like a country club now as no one cares any more."

"We could have been better at communicating," Lewis admits, "butit was the right thing to do. We wanted people who'd relish the toughtimes ahead." These tough times include training to diversify intoother areas. Lewis says journalists "recognise the media isfragmenting very rapidly and they're up for it".

But one journalist puts it differently: "Somehow we're

all supposed to become all-singing radio and TV journalists withone week's coaching."

Another staffer complains: "It's all very well having fastdelivery systems, but you need something to put on them.

The number of journalists who have been slashed has destroyed ourcontent. Compare how Max Hastings and Charles Moore would hand-pickpeople and nurture them, with how this management would rather sackpeople and bring others in. It's like they're pathologically ill - asthough they hate their own paper."

But Lewis contends: "We've put in place a tough culture here. It'srespectful but challenging."

Standards slip

The first month of fighting in the London freebies war saw a smalladvance by London Lite, the title owned by Associated Newspapers. Thefirst audited figures for successful giving of copies to hurryingpedestrians scored Lite at 359,000 and its News Internationalcompetitor thelondon-paper at 327,000.

Associated's Evening Standard, as many predicted, has lost out inthe "free for all". Not helped by a 25 per cent price rise, it shed11.7 per cent of its sale year on year, to record 289,000 forSeptember. Ominous.

Peter Cole is professor of journalism at the University ofSheffield