Ever since the BBC first mooted plans to move into ultra-local video news five years ago, regional newspapers have been ultra sensitive about the corporation's local news plans.
Like the BBC, local newspapers have to move quickly onto as many media-delivery platforms as possible if they are going to survive. And they see any move from the BBC into more local services as potentially smothering their own video news plans.
So on the whole local press journalists, and journalists from the commercial sector in general, have welcomed BBC Director General Mark Thompson's strategic review.
Local radio news will be beefed up says Thompson, but the BBC will become no more local than it already is.
Similarly, journalists elsewhere in the commercial sector will welcome news that the BBC is to keep its website news output "generalist", rather than going too deeply into the niches that more specialist publishers can exploit.
The danger, of course, is that the areas that the BBC leaves to grow fallow instead become barren.
In 2008, in the wake of huge opposition from the regional press, the local video news plan was scrapped by the BBC Trust.
Then came the recession and, far from regional newspapers ramping up their own video news efforts, there has been a retreat from multimedia over the last year as a reduced number of staff have struggled to get the core print products out.
There is a danger that the BBC will become the only game in town. That's not only bad for the commercial sector, but bad for a BBC which already faces the criticism of being complacent.
So that's why, in my view, the most important part of Thompson's review for journalists was his promise to transform BBC Online into "a window on the web" with an external link on every page and at least double the current rate of "click-throughs" to external sites.
Arguably, this doesn't go anywhere near far enough.
Blogging-influenced story techniques are transforming online journalism, making it far more transparent by providing links through to sources wherever possible and enabling journalists to tip their virtual hat to competitors when they have something useful to add.
The BBC should be peppering its online content with external links and leading the way when it comes to completely transparent online news.
Thompson has said that BBC Online will have 50% fewer sections or "top level directories" by 2012, and 25% less funding.
But I don't think anyone believes that it won't continue to be the pre-eminent UK news operation online.
Thompson has said that making the best journalism in the world is the BBC's number-one content priority, so that has to also mean creating the best news website in the world.
Through more linking out, it can also be a shop window for the best of UK journalism outside the BBC.
Dominic Ponsford is the Editor of Press Gazette.
