The acting director-general of the BBC has spoken of his hope for a better relationship between the broadcaster and the regional press, with more collaboration between the two.

Speaking at the Newspaper Society’s annual lunch, Mark Byford told an audience of regional newspaper publishers, editors and their guests that the BBC and regional newspapers had more in common than was sometimes thought, and more could be done to exploit this to the benefit of both.

Mark (left) said: “We’re not, of course, direct rivals in the way that the BBC competes with local commercial radio and the ITV regional centres. Even so, we all want to be first to the big story.

“Nothing wrong with that – it’s natural and competition and choice is a good thing for our audiences and your readers.

“But let’s also recognise that we are also very often on the same side. We’re all passionate advocates for the value and importance of local communities for the celebration of identity, diversity and a sense of place.”

He said that with this in mind he was interested in exploring opportunities for the BBC and local newspapers to work as partners.

And he gave examples of where this had already happened, such as BBC Spotlight’s annual Local Champions in the South West with the Western Morning News, BBC Radio Nottingham’s similar initiative with the Nottingham Evening Post and The Big Read competition which ran with several newspaper groups in the South East.

He said: “These are great ideas but also just a fraction of what could be possible.”

He also spoke of the BBC’s plans for its Where I Live websites, which are currently the subject of a review by Philip Graf.

And acknowleging the concerns of the regional press, he said the goal was to complement – rather than conflict with – other media, offering different services such as Video Nation, which gave people the chance to make their own video diaries and reports.

He said: “Creating more of these opportunities for people to generate their own content, particularly video content, is where our distinctiveness can lie.”

Also speaking, at the Society’s Annual General Meeting on the same day, was Press Complaints Commission director Tim Toulmin, who talked about of the significance of the regional press in the work of the Commission, and Graham Smith, the deputy information commissioner, who covered the impending implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

And talking about what impact the act would have on journalists, Graham said that publication schemes should provide an improved source of official information from local public bodies.

He said: “They are unlikely themselves to be a major source of topical news stories on a day to day basis, but may well provide leads for investigative journalists working on a piece over a longer period of time.

“Likewise with specific requests for information. A 20-working-day deadline for a response is hardly the sort of timescale which your newsdesks tend to work to, but for planned features or in-depth investigations the new legal framework for handling requests for information should be a useful tool for journalists.”

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