“Uneasy relationships” with the local press could prove a factor in the way the BBC develops proposals for ultra-local multi-media news services.

Research by Roger Laughton believes BBC trials showed a perceived lack of local impact, as well as operational and technical issues.

But he concluded that the BBC had “made a case” for increasing its service, and called for enhanced video news to be introduced to the BBC’s existing Where I Live news sites right away.

This is despite a recent offer to pay for content from the regional press, which may suggest resources are at a premium.

And he said daily recorded 7-10 minute bulletins and on-demand news items and features were “unlikely to have a significant impact” on other players in local markets.

His independent study for the BBC followed a nine-month trial of local BBC TV online in the West Midlands, and also drew on experiences in Hull, where the BBC first tested local video bulletins and other developments.

He said: “The public value of local newspapers is recognised by the BBC. The BBC, like other media players, sources stories from local newspapers.

“The BBC has indicated a willingness to examine new forms of partnership with local newspaper groups, and it would make sense to explore these now.”

The Newspaper Society is worried that the BBC would compete unfairly in the way the news is delivered – using “unfair economies of scale at a national level, guaranteed funding, cross-promotional muscle, privileged distribution and strong brand association with TV.”

Prof Laughton’s report continues: “I spoke to representatives of most of the major newspaper groups in preparing this report. All of them oppose BBC local TV, although there are varying levels of concern. In part, their opposition is based on suspicion that the BBC will not be happy to play the complementary role it has drawn up for itself, but will seek to dominate a nascent medium, broadband-delivered content.

“They point to recent instances where the BBC has intervened in local markets – like the launch of a magazine carrying advertising in Kent or online entertainment listings.

“A particular complaint of editors is the feeling that news generated locally by their own reporters will be used by a competitor in the local market. ‘It’s one thing to face tough, fair competition,’ one editor said, ‘It’s another to face an invulnerable rival who uses your own resources against you.’

“In reality, the Newspaper Society also knows BBC local television is a sideshow, a distraction its members do not need.”

Newspaper Society director David Newell said the Society’s view was unchanged and that newspapers were in a strong position.

He said; “The Laughton Report sends out mixed messages. It does not attempt to prejudge the detailed work of OFCOM and the BBC Trust, if the BBC applies to run new services.

“The Newspaper Society’s position has not changed. It would be a wholly unjustified use of licence fee money for the BBC to replicate local news services which are increasingly being developed by the regional press.

“The BBC’s recent offer to pay regional newspapers for content serves to illustrate that the BBC is currently unable to produce the local content it would need for these services, and would have to turn to the main source of content for local news and information.

“At a stage when regional publishers’ local online or TV services are developing, a large-scale BBC roll-out could undermine commercial innovation and distort investment, to the disadvantage of viewers and readers.”

Newspaper people were also sending out mixed messages, according to Prof Laughton: “One of the newspaper executives I met while compiling this report said: ‘When the BBC talks about partnerships, it feels like a threat. I’m not sure they know the meaning of the word.’

“There is a grain of truth here. Partnerships are two-way relationships where a purpose is shared over time. So, for example, a local newspaper group was being described as a ‘partner’ at the time one of its editors was complaining to his local MP about BBC local television.”

Click here for more on this… including the impact on newspapers in the West Midlands and Hull.