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Regional press news - this story published 09 June 2009

Council-run papers 'fill communications void'

by HoldtheFrontPage Staff

A local council PR boss has accused publishers such as Trinity Mirror of creating a "communications void" by under investment in local journalism.

Simon Jones, head of communications with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, made the claim in response to a damning editorial which appeared in a media magazine.

Media Week editor Steve Barrett recently accused the council of selectively reporting news about itself in its own newspaper H&F News.

He also said council-run publications, like H&F News, were contributing to papers cutting resources and could damage his own local title, the Trinity Mirror-owned Hammersmith and Fulham Chronicle.

In response to the piece, Mr Jones told HTFP: "Councils like Hammersmith and Fulham are publishing our own newspapers precisely because of the long-term under-investment in local journalism from companies like Trinity Mirror Southern.

"The fact is that Trinity closed the Hammersmith office in 2001 – seven years before we launched a fortnightly newspaper.

"We are not the reason why so few people read traditional local papers in our borough but we do have a duty to respond to the problem by filling the communication void.

"Readers like H&F News because it is local, relevant and produced by people who know the area inside out.

"Despite the best efforts of some very good journalists, Trinity cannot begin to serve the local community here in any way that is meaningful precisely because their reporters are pulled in so many different directions."

A Trinity Mirror spokesperson said: "Industry calculations have indicated that council newspapers like the H&F News are not independently commercially viable and are therefore being published at a direct cost to local council tax payers.

"This means that commercial publishers are facing direct competition from newspapers financed by public funds.

"No-one can believe that the reporting of local events, particularly of local authority or council affairs, will be impartial or independent in these mini Pravdas under the control of local council directors of communications."

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Observer (09/06/2009 08:20)
Well done, Simon. Pointing out the problems with the local media as those of who work there know them. And the 'Industry calculations' the Trinity Mirror spokesperson mentions. Are these the same ones that see a company making over £300m profit a year cutting jobs?

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Rob Bobbins (09/06/2009 08:23)
One wonders whether Simon would have taken such an attitude if, when he was editor of the Chronicle, Reading Borough Council had launched its own free newspaper into the marketplace? Doubt it. In his defence, the Hammersmith and Fulham Chronicle has, in recent years, been a bit of an oddity - starved of investment, selling next to no copies and edited from miles off-patch. But this is part of a much larger issue - other areas such as East London already had perfectly respectable local papers when a council-run newspaper funded by the public suddenly appeared on the scene. Simon, the issue is not about the impact on one small-circulation weekly, it's about the impact this is having on other titles across the country when authorities follow H&F's footsteps. In most cases it will be for no reason other than they don't like the types of stories the 'real' papers are writing.

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JP Grind (09/06/2009 09:22)
I actually think under-investment from regional newspaper bosses is a blessing for councils. Reporters are just too stretched in offices - shed of staff and resources - to properly investigate them and bring them to task. Instead it's a source of relief to management that a steady stream of emailed council press released can help fill up the papersa and save costs of getting more staff in. Getting out to council meetings frequently is just to tricky to justify hours out the office with no staff left in the office to man the phones. Blow investigative journalism, let's keep the profits rolling for the do-littles!

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Tapper (09/06/2009 09:44)
I think you've nailed it JP Grind. The fact is there IS a communications void and it's been created out of greed. Otherwise the regionals would have enough journalists doing the job to come up with the real stories rather than bleating about being being played and beaten at their own game

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Ardle Dardle (09/06/2009 10:56)
Good to see Simon Jones continuing to effervesce as the ultimate poacher-turned-gamekeeper. But what is he on about this time? Even the most generous description would struggle to define the pro-council bilge spilling forth from his headquarters as ''serving the community in a meaningful way''. In fairness Si does allude to a ''communications void" perhaps in recongition that his council freesheet is not in fact an exercise in journalism. He is also right to suggest local journalism is staggering towards the abyss in areas such as Hammersmith. But I have faith that even in their death throes local papers will do more to meaningfully "serve the community" than a lifetimes' subscription to the council rag. There's good in you still Simon, I can sense it. Turn away from the Dark Side.

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John Hedges (09/06/2009 11:00)
Why is it that commercial publication managers take a public service to task for telling taxpayers of what they're doing when the commercial sector would otherwise criticise 'secretive red tape bureaucrats' for not doing precisely that? Granted, council news is not going to wash its dirty linen but, if there is any, there's a way the local media can boost its profile and hold the local authority to account – as it should do.

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Charlotte Peters Rock (09/06/2009 11:41)
When Local Authorities publish their own newspaper, this will not reflect at all acurately the problems which exist because of their own maladministration, but it will be a great way to cover them up - and silence the opposition. A little Stalinist Revisionism can soon turn the public mind into channels along which it is told to run. We are already in the position where so-called 'local' newspapers are mostly run by large conglomerates such as your own Johnston Press. That effectively silences free speech and does not serve the public need. What is now needed is a few brave individual editors, who will open genuinely unattached, news-seeking local publications, which will be a voice for the people of the area. Where are they?

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JP Grind (09/06/2009 13:15)
Talk of impartiality and indpendence with "mini Pravdas under the control of local council directors of communications" reminds me of the jumped up ad rep-turned managing director forbidding us from reporting on newspaper job losses alongside other job cuts in the area. Keep it local eh?!

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Colin (09/06/2009 18:23)
I've read some nonsense before but saying that the council set up a newspaper to fill the void of "quality journalism" in the area is laughable. Interestingly, he seems to have avoided mentioning why they don't cover critical stories about the council. Oh yes, that's right, it's because it's a propaganda tool for the local council. Therefore it's PR, not journalism.

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Garblegarble (10/06/2009 18:33)
Simon, I have nothing against you but you obviously have no soul. Garble

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