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Regional press news - this story published 29 April 2009

Newspaper's exposé highlighted on Channel 4

by holdthefrontpage staff

An East London weekly has been highlighted on Channel 4 News as part of a report on the importance of independent local newspapers.

Last week's Barking and Dagenham Post carried an investigation by reporter Karen Moss which uncovered a shocking level of fraud at Barking and Dagenham Council.

The Archant-owned title's scoop is particularly relevant as the council is set to launch its own fortnightly paper called The News at the end of May.

Karen joined broadcaster Ben Cohen to discuss her exposé in a report which was shown on the channel's bulletin yesterday.

Her detailed dossier on the council uncovered the results of a report by internal auditors which revealed a catalogue of dishonesty among some council staff.

She revealed that council workers, who have since been sacked or resigned, fraudulently claimed benefits and expenses, held down other full-time jobs or swindled tens of thousands of pounds out of the council.

Karen's story was highlighted by Channel 4 as an example of how the local press works for the public and makes council processes accessible and transparent.

Post editor Barry Kirk said: "I have to say I am very disappointed that Barking and Dagenham Council have jumped on the 'let's make newspapers' bandwagon.

"Combined with the recession this type of action is having a devastating effect on the newspaper industry.

"We see these publications, with all the implications of public money and resources, as unfair competition.

"It's certainly not a level playing field and it does not take that much imagination to see how useful this newspaper is going to be for those with a political message."

Karen with Channel 4 media and technology correspondent Ben Cohen

The council's chief executive Rob Whiteman had previously written to the paper, saying: "Our new newspaper will be delivered to every home and business and cost £70,000 less to produce and distribute than continuing with our three publications and placing advertisements in local newspapers.

"As well as giving better value for money to the council, it will be free for residents and businesses which helps during these difficult times."

The Post claims its own research reveals a different story. Using the Freedom of Information Act, the paper learned the council would be spending the entire former £250,000 advertising budget on printing and distribution.

The Post said the council would also spend almost £320,000 on wages and expenses for eight staff while the paper would carry no crime or court stories but merely update people on events and council decisions.

The Channel 4 report can be seen on its website.

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steve (29/04/2009 15:11)
Only three people are known to have read one of these council newpapers. One has since died, another went mad and the third has forgotten all about it. The average cornflake packet is better reading than the council mumbo jumbo full of jargon and meaningless phrases. No competition in my view -just a waste of paper.

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Dan (29/04/2009 17:01)
I work in a Council press office. Our Council newspaper is necessary - it's the only way to get the message over to residents about the decisions being made by the Council and what we are doing. Our local press make it necessary. We don't expect them to reproduce press releases, but we do expect a bit of balance and accuracy when reporting council matters. All we get from our local press is sensationalist, uninformed and factually incorrect tripe. So you can't blame us for wanting to inform the public in a reasonable manner about what we do.

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JJ (29/04/2009 17:17)
No bias of course Dan with the council stories eh? Will you report the not-so-positive stories too? Will you be investigating the council? Or is it all roses? :-)

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Ed (29/04/2009 20:27)
Dan, keep kidding yourself mate, but you won't kid the readers - you don't have any. I suggest delivering them straight into people's recycling bins - should help you hit those waste targets.

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MarionHaste (29/04/2009 20:31)
That's the truth of it Dan, Craft your words all you like, but do us all a favour and cut out the middle men by sticking it in recyc.

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SNR1 (30/04/2009 09:45)
I think these local council "newspapers" do a valuable job.... They fit perfectly in the cat litter tray for a start! I do note we only ever get them through our door just before or after our local council has increased council tax or cut a local service for no good reason. But, if any council 'papers in the Midlands want to hire me as a freelance writer, I'll be as hypocritical as they want me to be for the King's shilling, in these tough times!!! After all, I have to pay my extortionate council tax somehow, to help pay for the propoganda sheets they churn out, eh?

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Dan (30/04/2009 16:51)
Sneer all you like, but the standard of our local press really is pathetically awful. Some of the garbage they print is laughable. Maybe if newspapers concentrated on producing quality content more people would buy them, and we would have a vibrant local newspaper industry in this country instead of the twitching corpse it has become. I take no pleasure in the current situation, I was a local hack for many years.

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David (30/04/2009 17:18)
I work in a council press office and we produce a magazine for our residents three times a year. Our local Archant news media journalists are a credit to their profession. They give us a very, very hard time when we get things wrong (as they should), and give us overwhelmingly fair and balanced coverage. They are a vital and essential part of our community, the lynchpin of local democracy and accountability. Recently the Archant group considered 54 editorial staff redundancies. I joined a day of action called by the NUJ chapel, signed the Downing Street website petition, and saw how thousands of local people across our local community, including local council leaders and staff, MPs and many others, backed the journalists' campaign to save these vital editorial jobs. After years of floating around in no union, I too joined the NUJ...and by the way, those redundancies were reduced from 54 to 34, and since the day of action, we have heard nothing more of any job cuts.

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