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World


This can throw up some juxtapositions, with the opening section, Carousel, as likely to report on the trauma and heartache of a teenager in Gaza as the problems Italians have in finding somewhere to swim during heatwaves. “It’s a reflection of the world that we live in,” he says. Roughly 35 years after Kelly waved goodbye to regional


journalism, he continues to enjoy the challenge of confronting political change and producing a forthright weekly magazine. At a recent get-together with former colleagues from the


Liverpool Echo, a few were slightly envious that staff at The New World still work to a flat plan. But what about younger people venturing into journalism?


How can they ensure they succeed? In future, he says, successful journalists will be those who think with greatest clarity. “In the old days, we were taught to go out and report. It was quite a factual job. That will be overtaken by other forms of content, such as AI.” This also means reflecting on where journalism can add most value. “If you think that the future of journalism is the Mail Online, then you’re in trouble,” says Kelly. “It’s something that AI is going to spit out.”


Duo talk news reporting


It is probably the highlight of Matt Kelly’s week. Every Tuesday and Thursday, after that week’s edition has been put to bed, he sits down with Matthew D’Ancona to record The Two Matts podcast. Essentially, the podcast


consists of two blokes having a chat, in this case about the news and how it is being reported in the media. Like many podcasts, it


seems to involve minimum preparation (with readers’ letters stimulating much of the conversation) but also serves up large doses of conviviality and the occasional argument. Kelly says he enjoys


exploring “the mind and


intellect” of D’Ancona, one of The New World’s editors at large and formerly of both The Telegraph and The Guardian. “He helps me to decide what I should be angry about,” says Kelly. Kelly accepts it is virtually


impossible to work in journalism in the 21st century without venturing into podcasts. About 35,000 people download The Two


Matts each week, a similar number to The New World’s readership. Assuming they do not


already have the same audience, could the podcast attract subscribers to the magazine? Kelly believes it provides


valuable publicity while giving people an insight into why journalists produce stories and headlines in the way they do. “It’s a much more human


environment than text and images,” he says. “The more of people’s


attention we win over, then the stronger our relationship is with them and therefore, one hopes, the better our retention rates will be.”


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