I've done a feature for the latest edition of The Journalist, which you can read here, about the local press and local council press offices.
It takes a look at how cut backs by regional publishers and an exodus of talented journalists into council communications have changed the balance between the press and local government.
One of the best quotes was from an editor who said: "We used to have four reporters covering councils. Now we have just one - and the rest work for them."
The article also touches on the growth of "newspaper-style" publications being launched by councils, as in a story I did yesterday for Press Gazette about Barking & Dagenham Council, which could undermine the local press and deprive them of advertising.
To some extent I can see the arguments of councils who claim falling circulations of newspapers, the growth of the web and the fact that journalists no longer cover their meetings means they have to come up with new ways of communicating with the public.
It's just I don't believe they are ever going to be editorially independent.
One editor of a council paper told me: “Some council papers are trying to ape the look and feel of a local paper, but what we do is propaganda. When I report the council’s budget proposals I look for positive stories and don’t mention the £6 million worth of cuts. If I reported that I would be sacked. I don’t tell lies, but I always look for positive stories.”
It takes a look at how cut backs by regional publishers and an exodus of talented journalists into council communications have changed the balance between the press and local government.
One of the best quotes was from an editor who said: "We used to have four reporters covering councils. Now we have just one - and the rest work for them."
The article also touches on the growth of "newspaper-style" publications being launched by councils, as in a story I did yesterday for Press Gazette about Barking & Dagenham Council, which could undermine the local press and deprive them of advertising.
To some extent I can see the arguments of councils who claim falling circulations of newspapers, the growth of the web and the fact that journalists no longer cover their meetings means they have to come up with new ways of communicating with the public.
It's just I don't believe they are ever going to be editorially independent.
One editor of a council paper told me: “Some council papers are trying to ape the look and feel of a local paper, but what we do is propaganda. When I report the council’s budget proposals I look for positive stories and don’t mention the £6 million worth of cuts. If I reported that I would be sacked. I don’t tell lies, but I always look for positive stories.”
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