The decline of the local newspaper
A vital bastion of democracy is perilously close to being lost
How serious is the problem?
Hundreds of Britain’s local and regional newspapers have closed in the past two decades. According to the Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport Committee, more than 320 local papers closed down between 2009 and 2019. The Charitable Journalism Project estimates that there are fewer local newspapers in Britain today than at any time since the 18th century. In 2007, 209 out of 380 local authority districts had a daily local paper; by 2019, that number had fallen to 142. Many that have survived have been “rolled up into conglomerates with little true feeling for the communities they serve”, and are now shadows of their former selves, said Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of The Guardian, in Prospect. The last circulation figures for the Birmingham Post, for instance, stood at just 844 per issue.
Does this matter?
Local journalism is crucial to democracy. An authoritative local newspaper was once “the mainstay of debate and accountability”, said
William Hague in The Times: journalists reported in detail on local councils, courts, police matters and other public services, allowing communities to hold those in power to account and, in respect of court reporting, ensuring open justice. If local newspapers don’t have the appetite or resources to hold local and regional bodies to account, the chances are that no one else will either. “Local journalism also helps to facilitate and encourage civic participation, including in elections,” reported the Culture, Media and Sport Committee: turnout is higher in local elections where there is a local paper with a high circulation. Newspapers also help to build “community cohesion and pride of place by signposting local initiatives, businesses, charities and events”.
What has caused this decline?
In a word, the internet. Print circulations of local and regional papers (as of many national titles) have fallen off a cliff in the past two decades, as more and more people have accessed news online. By 2019, average daily print circulation of local papers had fallen to 31% of 2007 figures; weekly print circulation was at 39% of 2007 figures; both have continued to fall since. Obviously, this impacted the first of the two main sources of newspaper revenue: the cover price. Those that have continued printing have faced steep rises in the cost of paper and printing. As a result, papers have had to move rapidly to business models based on advertising – yet at exactly the same time, their ad revenues have also been slashed.
What happened to advertising?
Again, a vast amount of revenue has been lost to the internet. In the late noughties, five years after Facebook’s launch, the UK regional newspaper advertising market was worth £1.5bn; by 2022, that figure had fallen to £505m, following the mass migration of advertising to websites such as Facebook and Google. Of the nearly £14bn spent on digital advertising in the UK in 2019, about 80% was spent on Google and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram). Classified adverts, once a reliable source of revenue, have also migrated online, to competitors such as Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace: Accenture estimates that classified advertising revenue made up more than half the overall loss of newspaper revenue between 2003 and 2018. The loss of both circulation and ad revenue has created a “death spiral”, said Alan Rusbridger: “falling revenues = fewer journalists = worse products = fewer readers = falling revenues = fewer journalists. Rinse and repeat.”
Could the papers have done better?
Many analysts argue that local and regional newspaper groups deserve at least a portion of the blame, despite the undoubtedly challenging conditions. The three largest local news publishers – Newsquest Media Group Limited, Reach Plc and National World – own more than two-thirds of all UK local newspaper titles, but have been accused of cutting staff and prioritising profits over quality. With fewer journalists and editors, critics say that these organisations have resorted to “clickbait” articles or stories with little relevance to the communities they serve, in a bid to increase online advertising revenue. Some trainee journalists are tasked with producing more than ten stories a day; the National Union of Journalists alleges that others must reach targets of up to 500,000 monthly views of their online output to qualify for bonuses.
What about the role of the BBC?
Local news publishers have long complained that well-resourced BBC regional news websites poach their readers and distort competition. Last year, editors at the UK’s five biggest commercial regional news publishers co-signed a piece published in Press Gazette accusing the BBC of “suffocating” their businesses, and of using its “vast monopolistic strength” to promote its content, which is free to read. The BBC contests these claims, and has highlighted its financial support for the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), launched in 2017, which pays for journalists in commercial newsrooms to pursue public interest journalism.
Are there any signs of hope?
Yes. Some larger regional papers, from The Yorkshire Post to The Belfast Telegraph, still have decent, if reduced, paid-for circulations. And in recent years, independent publishers have set up small ventures seeking to serve local markets. The Bristol Cable, a co-operative paper founded in 2014, runs a membership scheme starting at £1 a month. In Manchester, The Mill publishes original reporting on local issues via a subscription website: its 2,800 members pay a fee of £7 a month, and it has launched spinoffs in other cities including Sheffield and Liverpool. But market conditions are very tough. Only 9% of people in the UK pay for online news content, of any kind, compared with 39% in Norway, and 21% in the US.