If local papers die, so does democracy
The regional press, worst hit amid the print media’s casualties, must survive for the good of us all
On the face of it, the survival of the local and regional press should be a given. Embedded in their communities, often for more than a century, the “local rag” remains the first port of call for anyone seeking news, information and confirmation of what is happening in their community.
Survey after survey has shown that the local press is the most trusted form of media for the public – not surprising when every local editor knows that, should they get it wrong, they will have to face the irate head teacher, local mayor, chief executive, angry parent or disgruntled activist, while attending the next town fair, public meeting or when out shopping.
Trust, the local journalist learns quickly, is something very tangible and precious when your readers live next door. It is painful and personal to lose. That’s why local newspapers strive to get it right every time – and on the whole succeed.
While still the editor of a large regional daily paper when the Leveson Inquiry report into press standards came out, I lost count of the times readers would end a finger-wagging tirade against journalists in general by adding, “of course, not you guys on the local paper, you’re not like the rest of them”. Very comforting, although doing a disservice to the vast majority of journalists working at a national level.
If any sector of the media, then, was set to survive the howling winds of change undermining the press at present – the explosion of digital news, access to social media, the shifting or evaporation of traditional advertising models, fake news – surely it would be the local paper.
And yet, as the interim report released by the Cairncross Review into the future of the press reveals, it is local publishers who are bearing the brunt of the print media’s decline. Since 2007, some 300 local and regional newspapers have closed. Those that have survived have often had to shed staff to do so, stretching resources to the bare bones.
This is a disaster in the making, and not just for the journalists who toil all hours to produce the papers and populate their websites. With fewer journalists – if any – covering local councils, democracy effectively moves behind closed doors.
The same goes for any concept of open justice. A conversation with most court clerks will quickly reveal that the reporter attending the magistrates’ courts or even crown courts on a regular basis is already very much a thing of the past. Research by the University of the West of England showed that, of 220 cases heard in one week by magistrates’ courts in Bristol, a reporter was present for just three of them. It’s a similar story for coroner’s courts and public meetings.
Lack of coverage of such pillars of provincial life leaves the door wide open to rumour and speculation, made all the more manifest by the increasing use of social media. With no trusted source to turn to how can people assure themselves of what is fake and what is real? As Lord Judge, the former Lord Chief Justice, told a Society of Editors seminar in January, the presence of the press is a necessary part of the administration of justice.
It is not just coverage of the more formal aspects of neighbourhood life that vanish along with the regional paper. Turn the pages of any local paper and you will find all human life there: the community charity success, the school prom photos, the village cricket team’s glory, students’ exam joy, family celebrations, school teacher farewells, local business anniversaries – in short, all the glue that binds communities together.
Ironically, the number of people accessing local news publishers’ websites, where content is free, is huge. Johnston Press delivered about 1.2million unique daily browsers in the six months to December 2017, and the Trinity Mirror Regional Network reached around 4.7million unique daily browsers in the six months to September 2017. Editors realise that they are unlikely to win such readers back to their print offering. The challenge is to make their digital sites pay, or pay more.
If Dame Frances Cairncross can pull that rabbit from the hat, she will not only earn the thanks of thousands of local journalists, she will be upholding democracy in this country.