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Local newspapers of the future?

By Benjamin Cohen

Updated on 28 April 2009

The traditional role of local newspapers is under threat from local government funded competition, writes Benjamin Cohen.

Liverpool Echo newspaper stand (credit:Reuters)

Traditionally, local newspapers have been supported financially by statutory advertising by local authorities. These range from planning notices to road closures and councils have also tended to promote local services too.

But this does mean that local councils are effectively funding one of the prime critics of their work. It's local newspapers that expose wrong doing by officials, it's local newspapers that point out when building projects over-run.

So over the past few years, more and more local authorities have opened their own newspapers or magazines.

Partly this has been in response to cuts made by local media companies; councils argue that there are no longer the same levels of journalists on the ground reporting on the good work that councils do. But partly, this has been part of a rationalisation and re-allocation of their advertising budgets.

Councils have to place statutory advertising and those that have started their own publications have offset these costs against the bill for starting their own newspaper.

While bodies like the Local Government Association insist that on the whole these publications concentrate on council services, we found numerous examples (particularly within London) where council owned newspapers also carry restaurant and film reviews, TV guides and sports news. All of which are currently found in commercial publications.

On News at Noon we looked at the case of Barking and Dagenham Council who are about to begin their own newspaper. "The News" will be published fortnightly in competition with the Barking and Dagenham Post which is owned by regional media company Archant.

The council have said that they will be diverting the £250,000 that they spend on advertising in the Barking and Dagenham Post to their new newspaper.

In a statement to Channel 4 News the council defended the move and said: "Our new newspaper will be delivered to every home and business and cost £70,000 less to produce and distribute than continuing with the existing 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."

But the new paper will come at a considerable cost. A freedom of information request shows that the new council run newspaper will cost £250,000 just to distribute. It will cost an additional £318,350 to staff the publication bringing a total cost to council tax payers of £568,350. Bear in mind this is considerably more than the cost of simply placing the advertisements in the existing local newspaper.

Enzo Testa, the Managing Director of Archant London told me that the new council newspaper is "going to have a very profound effect on our newspapers. Not only have we lost council advertising revenues but they're also chasing our advertisers too. If we lost that as well, we wouldn't be able to publish our newspapers. They'll shut down. That will have an effect on democracy.

"Who is going to challenge the council if local newspapers don't exist? It's certainly not going to be the council publications will it?"

Their Group Editor Malcolm Starbrook added: "The effect of the council run newspapers is to stifle local democracy. What's happening is that the local authorities that are producing them are more concerned with managing propaganda than informing the electorate of what is going on.

"These are party political news items because they only represent the majority party. They do not take a dissenting voice and steer clear of controversial issues. They are all areas where the council wants to be able to say look at us aren't we doing well?"

The Local Government Association defends the launch of these newspapers and its own research shows that only 15 per cent of councils publish a newspaper at least once a month.

Their spokesman Edward Welsh told Channel 4 News at Noon: "Magazines work best when they're not political, not propaganda. People read them because they have basic information about things like when swimming pools are open, when to get a lift to the shops if you're elderly or when to put out the Christmas tree."

This afternoon, the Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham hosted a behind-closed-doors summit examining the future of local news with representatives of local government and the media industry. I've been told that council funded newspapers was the most contentious subject discussed with a number of MPs highlighting the impact of these publications in their constituency.

Before the summit began, Andy Burnham told Channel 4 News at Noon: "I began my career on local newspaper so I understand and believe in the importance of local newspapers.

"They enhance of democracy at local levels. It's really important that there is an independent voice in every community holding to account the public bodies for the jobs that they do on behalf of local residents; the PCT [NHS Primary Care Trusts], local councils and others. That's why local papers are so important."

I've been told that new guidelines for these sorts of publications are likely to be issued and that they will feed into a much wider Digital Britain report into the future of the media and the internet that will be published after the June local and European elections.

Follow Benjamin Cohen on Twitter www.twitter.com/benjamincohen

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