Interesting would be a polite way of describing what once was budget time at my former local media outlet. A more accurate word would be ferocious.

Facing off against the publishers of the time was intimidating to say the least.

Everything was questioned; costs in place for years were arbitrarily challenged: “What’s this $25 for some weekly gardening column? Who cares about pansies?” would be typical of the challenge thrown across the table, where department heads, such as the editor-in-chief or ad director, would wonder why they hadn’t just remained a police reporter or a lower-rung salesman all those years ago.

It was brutal, but it ensured those spending the money knew where every penny was going and could fight tooth and nail in favour of such expenditures in the year ahead. Failure to do so meant some things would be deemed surplus to requirements.

This was, in its crudest........

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