The decline in local news reporting

atypical_boro said:
But its not independent is my point. They're all towing the line of Reach plc.
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Fair point. Overall I think it's a concern that people don't expect to pay for work though. For example I subscribe to several papers but I know people who don't and who complain n about what they are reading. How are they expected to pay staff etc?
 
buffaloboro said:
Fair point. Overall I think it's a concern that people don't expect to pay for work though. For example I subscribe to several papers but I know people who don't and who complain n about what they are reading. How are they expected to pay staff etc?
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People are paying for the work though, there is very little in this world that is genuinely free. If something is free, you are usually the product which is the case with things like Tesco Clubcard, M&S Sparks and visiting the gazette website. Even FMTTM. The data you provide by visiting and clicking ads provides revenue. No-ones asking for a printed version of the gazette for free, but even if you bought it you will still get ads in it despite having paid up front for the physical version. The digital edition doesnt "cost" anything, but they will still gather data on you while you are on the site and generate income from ads played at you or clicked on.
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
I know this board is particularly critical of what passes for reporting in the Gazette these days, and rightly so. However I think this article in HertsLive (I assume the equivalent of GazetteLive) is as bad as anything Vickers and his gang have come up with.

Talks about celebrities and mentions the likes of Carla Humphrey , Jessica Jensen, Polly Marchant and Samatha Maria (you may have to use Google for all of them - I did). I counted one real "celebrity" in the entire article, Dave Davies from The Kinks.

https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co...-hertfordshire-celebrities-love-visit-3419864
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Celebrities at the Fighting Cocks? Massive Tourist Trap.

and the Abbey restaurant on George St hasnt reopened since lockdown and judging by how bad it was doing I would be very surprised if it does re-open. Terrible article. Surprised it didnt mention the Veer Dhara which dines out (pardon the pun) on the fact that Tom Cruise had the lobster curry there in 2012.
 
Cardiffdaffs said:
Celebrities at the Fighting Cocks? Massive Tourist Trap.

and the Abbey restaurant on George St hasnt reopened since lockdown and judging by how bad it was doing I would be very surprised if it does re-open. Terrible article. Surprised it didnt mention the Veer Dhara which dines out (pardon the pun) on the fact that Tom Cruise had the lobster curry there in 2012.
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Tom Cruise is far too low rent to be competing with some of the real celebrities they mention in that article.

It also doesn't mention the huge celebrities we have up here in North Herts - the likes of Max Branning (spotted at the drive in at Knebworth House), Lucy from Not Going Out (Hitchin's finest) and Jonathan Ross' mam (sadly deceased and another Hitchin resident)
 
FlapJacks said:
They only cover the big stories in my local paper.

View attachment 5911
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See this is exactly the sort of thing local papers should be covering.

Animals with their heads stuck in things.
People angry they couldn't get pies at 4am.
A goat that looks like Jeremy Clarkson.
People with their heads stuck in things.
People with their heads stuck in animals.
Animals with their heads stuck in people.
A man who was mistaken for art Garfunkel even though he looks exactly like Paul Simon. Etc.
 
TheFair86 said:
People are paying for the work though, there is very little in this world that is genuinely free. If something is free, you are usually the product which is the case with things like Tesco Clubcard, M&S Sparks and visiting the gazette website. Even FMTTM. The data you provide by visiting and clicking ads provides revenue. No-ones asking for a printed version of the gazette for free, but even if you bought it you will still get ads in it despite having paid up front for the physical version. The digital edition doesnt "cost" anything, but they will still gather data on you while you are on the site and generate income from ads played at you or clicked on.
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Yes I can see that but I would guess the income stream isn't the same as paid subscription services. Otherwise why would newspapers such as the guardian, New York Times and the times push hard for subscribers as well as the decline in staff numbers?
 
The grammar is appalling , it’s like a sixth former edition . We’re getting stories from Scarborough and Durham , It’s pathetic
 
buffaloboro said:
Yes I can see that but I would guess the income stream isn't the same as paid subscription services. Otherwise why would newspapers such as the guardian, New York Times and the times push hard for subscribers as well as the decline in staff numbers?
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It's not up to the customer to support an unsustainable business model though. They've seen a key part of their market fall away in terms of things moving to Ebay, Rightmove, Monster.com etc. They either adapt or die, and about the best they could come up with was putting boro articles behind a pay-wall.

Guardian, NYT and other publications will naturally push for subscribers of any kind because they're a commercial operation. The guardian even takes donations as well as subscriptions - but they produce proper journalism with investigations, travel, sources etc. The gazette just trawls social media and takes a gazette face photo.
 
Fair point and maybe one could say the broad sheets are on a different level than local newspapers. Still, I think people do want to know what is going on in their local community and a local newspaper can be a force for change.
For example I currently live on Long Island New York I subscribe to the local paper here which is called Newsday. They recently did a massive expose on racism in the housing market. The research and journalism that they did was backed up by a local university to ensure that it was statistically viable work like that is, what I think local newspapers should be doing. whether or not the evening gazette is or did do that before when it had a high circulation I do not know .but if people do not support local newspapers then there is no chance of them producing any quality journalism. Of course that does not have to be investigative journalism it could just be quality work on local issues that impact the people of that area. Personally I think this is important because we are increasingly seeing a marginalised viewpoint on many factors
 
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buffaloboro said:
It's become a self perpetuating decline. Won't get better until they get more money.... Etc we'll be sad when it goes.
Local newspapers have the potential to do alot of good
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It will indeed be sad, despite the fact that it's been poor and declining for many years. A good quality local paper can be a real leader and campaigner and make things happen and be a force for good and for change. Unfortunately the Gazette gave up that role many years ago and is now more like a gossip rag.
 
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It's the same repetitive shoite, with the headline normally 1/2 way down the page. I take it that the on line is meant to mirror the hard copy.
 
A friend of mine, who writes for a paper similar in size to the Gazette say that, in the 20 years or so he's been doing it, his job has changed from getting out and talking to people, to trawling through the internet and recycling what is already out there. Also, in their office, they have a continuous monitor of what is being read online at the time. That's what they are judged upon, and it supports the old line that what interests the public isn't what is in the public interest.

That said, there has always been an element of the pathetically hopeless about local papers. See headlines below.

https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2016/03/0...ming-local-news-headlines-from-across-the-uk/
 
Frozen Horse said:
A friend of mine, who writes for a paper similar in size to the Gazette say that, in the 20 years or so he's been doing it, his job has changed from getting out and talking to people, to trawling through the internet and recycling what is already out there. Also, in their office, they have a continuous monitor of what is being read online at the time. That's what they are judged upon, and it supports the old line that what interests the public isn't what is in the public interest.

That said, there has always been an element of the pathetically hopeless about local papers. See headlines below.

https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2016/03/0...ming-local-news-headlines-from-across-the-uk/
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I’ve been in stitches reading those!
 
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