Local journalism in the digital age: good news or bad news?

Has local news got better or worse in the digital era? Some argue that we’ve never had it so good because there’s so much more media out there. Others point to the closing of local papers and fewer journalistic “boots on the ground” as David Holdsworth, the controller of BBC English Regions puts it.

Holdsworth was talking at a debate held in Bristol to celebrate 60 years of the BBC regional news programme Points West. Holdsworth is upbeat about the BBC’s contribution to local news – partly because the 6.30 regional news programmes on BBC One are the most watched programmes of all TV news.

And Holdsworth argues that while there may be fewer local newspaper reporters, the BBC’s commitment to regional and local news is as strong as ever: 

The Bristol debate was chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby, whose own career as a BBC journalist began in the city on a three month contract at £20 a week.

Dimbleby is relaxed about how social media places the work of professional journalists alongside that of individuals who have no pretensions about sticking to journalistic standards. He is concerned about abuse on social media but when it comes to the bigger picture says “you can’t turn the clock back”:

One well-known online brand, The Canary, is based in Bristol. Its editor, Kerry-Anne Mendoza, describes its output as “campaigning journalism” but says there isn’t as much of a gap as people might think between the stories she puts out and traditional news – even when it comes to public service content: 

For all the optimism of new media, traditional local newspaper journalism has been having a hard time, losing advertising and readers. On the panel was Rachael Sugden, a senior editor at Trinity Mirror, who’s responsible for five local papers including those in Gloucester and Cheltenham that have just stopped printing daily editions and started printing weekly instead.

As part of the debate, a short film was shown in which Richard Sambrook, a former journalist and now academic, argued that local papers are “a shadow the past”. He suggested that with stronger local reporting, the Grenfell Tower fire might have been avoided and more generally, “responsible local journalism and the public interest are losing out.”

Rachael Sugden said she “fundamentally disagreed” with Sambrook and that on her papers, there were still specialist reporters such as court reporters, but that the public may simply not now want to read about some subjects, such as council meetings.

That brought a contribution from the audience, from Jeremy Hilton, the Liberal Democrat leader in Gloucester City Council, which is covered by one of Sugden’s titles. He complained about the gradual disappearance of reporters from council meetings. As a result, he said, stories are not getting reported and instead, press releases are rewritten as stories. The very presence of a reporter at a meeting can make councillors do a better job:

A film about hyperlocal media demonstrated the impressive reach of some new titles. Its presenter, Luke Addis, is the founder of Birmingham Updates, which claims a reach of 26 million people a month. Perhaps more traditional local and regional media output simply doesn’t represent much of its potential audience?

On the debate panel, Julz Davis, station manager at the Bristol community radio station Ujima FM, said that that addressing problems of diversity is key to engaging a wider range of audiences:

Echoing Davis’ concern about audiences, the former national newspaper editor and media commentator Roy Greenslade says there’s a danger that print journalism will eventually be confined to publications for an “upscale, affluent elite”.

Part of the problem, he says, is that the Silicon Valley tech companies are draining the British media of both advertising revenue and audiences. He highlighted a campaign in Press Gazette for “a fairer deal between news publishers and the digital giants”:

Below, you can watch the discussion and the films that were made for it.

Is digital causing a crisis in local journalism?

Is local journalism failing to connect with communities?

Is fake news making it harder to recognise the truth?

How can traditional news brands engage online audiences?

Wherever you are in the UK, you can watch Points West online.