One thing we will all agree about is that local newspapers used to matter. Older readers can probably remember when the Newcastle Chronicle used to produce several editions on one day. Now we are lucky to get a daily local newspaper – many have gone weekly or have disappeared altogether. Prices have gone up. The age of the freesheets has gone, since much advertising on which they relied has moved online. They were not exactly known for fearless investigative reporting, but they did give widespread coverage to community events and activities. If you were starting up a voluntary group, for example, you could give its meetings widespread publicity.
Now we have the internet, and anyone can send what they wish anywhere. Some local papers have gone online. Does it matter that the printed sheets I can remember are rapidly going out of business?
I think it does, and in this article, I shall try and set out why.
Reliance on the internet often divides
I have been involved with community organisations most of my life. I was a councillor and also an NHS Board member. Both were activities where I wanted to communicate with the public and also get feedback from them. You may ask, why can’t I do this online, and communicate that way? In my experience online communications do not reach a wide range of people in the same way that newspapers did. You will tend to go onto websites with which you are sympathetic and are also feel free to write whatever you want on them. People usually go to sites they know and trust, so often do not encounter news about things with which they have no connection. The internet also makes debate very one sided. You do not engage with people with whom you disagree. You may “have a go” at them, sometimes simply with a humorous or sarcastic remark. But I do not see much effort to understand or engage with other points of view. Much of the debate I have seen online is rather like a football match. You cheer your side, and jeer at the others. The reliance on the internet for news has made society more divided and polarised.
Regulations covering what appears online are not very clear, and such as there are, can often be avoided. Newspapers are covered by strict libel laws, and people tend to take them more seriously.
Control
The majority of local newspapers are controlled by two large conglomerates, Reach and Newsquest. Reach is the largest and owns several well known national titles such as the Daily Mirror, Daily and Sunday Express, The Star, and prominent local titles such as Manchester Evening News and the Liverpool Echo and, of course, the Newcastle Chronicle and Journal, and Teesside Gazette. Newsquest is not so big, concentrating or local papers rather than national titles. It has 165 newspaper brands and 40 magazine brands. It reaches, according to its own statistics,28 million readers online and 6.5 million in print.
Both of these organisations are profit making, and as far as I can see make little effort to control the political opinions of their titles. Although at a local level their focus and campaigns is usually on banging the drum for the region. You might find a mention of dualling the A1 for example. Both syndicate a considerable amount of material at local level, usually lifestyle articles, some of which are of quite high quality.
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Local contributors
Many local newspapers offer space to local contributors, although they are usually not very keen on paying them. Full disclosure, you may know I write a column for the Newcastle Journal, but I don’t get paid!
Community issues
I do not feel there is a problem of undue bias or censorship in the local press. What does concern me as one who has spent most of his life involved in local government, the NHS and community affairs generally, is that big community issues no longer reach a wide audience in the way they once did. Major local government or NHS issues need to reach a wide audience if there is to be proper debate about them, and at the moment I do not think this happens.
“Get your picture in the paper in a little cloth cap”
Websites only reach those who choose to look at them and often do not have professional reporters but print mainly what people choose to tell them. Conspiratory theorists can spread ideas which simply are not true. I can remember when most important council meetings were attended by newspaper reporters and items were fed out into the public domain. It did lead to some councillors showing off, particularly at election time, but that is probably a small price to pay for greater public engagement. I am old enough to remember when Lord Hailsham visited the North East, donned a cloth cap, and gave a speech in the open air. This led to the song in “Close the Coalhouse Door’ “Get your picture in the paper in a little cloth cap”.
There have been attempts to revive reporting of local government, but high costs have led to a declining circulation of local papers, and less professional reporters to provide objective news.
Encouraging signs
There are some signs of hope on the horizon. The Bylines Network provides a platform for news which does not get reported elsewhere. Unfortunately, it is only online, which means it may miss some groups. But perhaps the most encouraging thing I have seen recently are developments in Enfield, on the Northern outskirts of London. (I have relatives there.) The Enfield Dispatch produces both a paper and online newspaper which does give wide coverage to local government issues. The print edition is monthly, but the website is active all the time. It is at present hosting a debate about development in the borough. Councillors are having to justify their policies to the public. It is published by Social Spider CiC which is a non-profit community interest company that assists community newspapers. There is hope that it will encourage effective interest in local government and real participation in it. Let us hope local electors will cease to regard it with indifference and stop using local government elections as simply a public opinion poll on national governments.
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