Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Local newspapers "just aren't worth saving"
George Monbiot argues that "the vacuity and cowardice of the local papers has been exacerbated by consolidation, profit-seeking, the collapse of advertising revenues and a decline in readership. But even if they weren't subject to these pressures, they would still do more harm than good. Local papers defend the powerful because the powerful own and fund them."
Read the whole article here
Sorry if this reads like an A level media studies exam question- I resisted the temptation to write 'Discuss' after the quote- but Monbiot touches on some of the discussions we have had previously on this topic.
Read the whole article here
Sorry if this reads like an A level media studies exam question- I resisted the temptation to write 'Discuss' after the quote- but Monbiot touches on some of the discussions we have had previously on this topic.
Tags for Forum Posts: local newspapers, newspapers
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Well it's all very good for good old George to be "brave" but to most journalists it's a job and they have a boss, who has a boss etc. George is from money. I didn't get the impression that he was blaming the journalists but he has in other places.
I like this fakesteve blog post that Clay Shirkey picked up on yesterday too.
As for the Haringey Pravda, I do remember that I used to wince at some of the really nasty coverage the local papers gave the council so sympathised when they came out with the nice glossy HP. About time for it to go now though eh?
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Thanks Liz: I saw this a little earlier. It's an opinion piece intended to be provocative: I think Mr Monbiot is overly influenced by the limitations of the Cambrian News.
The national press and the electronic media are by and large not interested in local issues. Because some parts of the local press may be less than perfect is not a reason to wish the demise of the whole lot. There are local papers that just retail council press releases and often this is down to small resources.
But for the local press as a whole, we would have to rely only on Council Press Office-produced information and behind every press release they issue, is the desire to preserve, protect and embellish the interests of the local authority.
I cannot comment on the merits of George Monbiot's Cambrian News or much about other local newspapers. However, North London’s Ham & High has at least to be an honourable exception to the picture Mr Monbiot paints of local papers. Their editorials are of a national broadsheet quality.
I am particularly grateful for the H&H's steadfast coverage of an important local issue, and that was the attempt by Haringey Council to sell Alexandra Palace to a property developer. How much might otherwise have been swept under the carpet?
Before my following this subject, like most, I took press freedom for granted but I now see how precious it is and also the kind of world we might live in if we were wholly dependent on the local authority for information. And that’s how they would want it. The local council, using taxpayers’ money, publishes the nakedly propagandists Haringey People magazine.
Many sneer at The Sun. But if I had to have a sole source of news, I reckon I'd have a less distorted view of the world from their pages than if I relied regularly on HP for information.
Long may a free press live and prosper, including a local press!
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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As all the news & opinion that's fit to print originates on HOL, isn't it time we had a HarringayOffLine paper - free in every sense - to reach those corners OnLine doesn't quite get to? There must be an openminded Russian oligarch or two around the Ladder who'd fancy funding The Harringay People with no strings attached.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Actually not as hard as you think Eddie. There are a growing number of print-yer-blog services springing up - but someone still has to set it out, print it and distribute it. I'm not sure it's easy to find that sort available spare time round here.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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As a follow up to this, George has been deluged with recommendations for local papers (that wasn't Clive bigging up the Ham and High by any chance?) including London papers the Camden New Journal, the Waltham Forest Guardian and the H&H. Read all about it here
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Nobody is claiming there are no excellent local journalists; nor even some good local papers.
Just as I'm certain there are some brilliant farriers around.
This YouTube video shows the QRS company in Buffalo N.Y. who until now, have been making and seem to be successfully marketing piano rolls. I especially enjoyed their comment that while: "the invention of radio in the 1920s gave them quite a scare, business is recovering nicely.".
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Guilty, but not the only one! Liz: who guards the guarders of the Guardian?! One can acknowledge the importance of a free press in the abstract. But when you see on a particular local issues that one knows about, how councils attempt to portray things, contrasted with unfettered comment, you begin to realise just how important the fourth estate is to a functioning democracy.
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Has anyone got round to calling the blogosphere the fifth estate yet?
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Permalink Reply by David Barry on
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I thought I saw a posting - a recent one, seeking to start a topic discussing the future of the local press, but to be quite honest I cannot remember whether it was here or on opinion8 - as both use ning my visual memory is an unreliable guide on this point -anyway I did a search to try and find it and came up with this five year old topic.
I wonder whether any of the participants in this brief discussion, who no doubt will be alerted by me adding this comment have had any further thoughts about this, or would be interested in updating it?
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Permalink Reply by Neville Collins on
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A decent local newspaper is DESPERATELY needed, particularly in Wood Green and Tottenham. A proper and independent analysis of the council's regeneration policies would get people to find out what they are actually doing with taxpayers' (our) money. Since the Journal's switch to online only, the alternatives here have been dire. The Haringey Independent has only a few pages devoted to local news, and the Haringey Advertiser...all of it is confined to both the front and back pages.
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