When a member of our building Owners' Corporation committee I arranged for all three local newspapers to be delivered as pick ups in our mail room. In time deliveries all ceased as local newspapers closed down, even the most read Murdoch paper. There were no electronic replacements.
No one in my council area receives any kind of local council news unless they search City of Port Phillip. This is just terrible. In a city with so many rebellious people, not one can write an online reporting of what council is up to, never mind other local matters. Good things happen in our council area too, and these also need to be reported.
I was absolutely flabbergasted when a comment by Yorkshire Pudding led me to discover we have new mayor in City of Port Phillip, another pro business mayor. But I went from being astonished at my lack of knowledge to not being surprised, as how would I know? Unless I actively search out such information, I won't know unless I hear about it on the radio or read it in a daily paper.
This is a very bad state for local democracy.
We just talking about this yesterday. No more Leader newspapers. No more local council newsletters. I really miss my local rag. It was a great way of finding out about local news.
ReplyDeletePrecisely Caro. It was not just the important news, often just some local nice news.
DeleteWhy is there no electronic version? do you know who (whom?) you might contact to find out? Can you sign up for Council Newsletters via email?
ReplyDeleteI sent you an email, hope your gmail still works.
No electronic version because they will have to still pay for reporters, editorial staff and a web person at the least. I may be able to sign to a newsletter but I haven't looked and I should. We do receive a quarterly slick production from council but of course it says what it wants to say. My new email address is in this blog but just add the number 1 before the @ to my old one.
DeleteTrue. We had a local newspaper, which has died. And now we get 'local' news through politicians flyers. Which I read with scepticism.
ReplyDeleteAs well you should EC. Local newspapers were generally not crusaders in media and very beholden to advertisers, but they were better than nothing.
DeleteIt's rather hard to find out news of your area then if not impossible. We can still write a letter to the Editor of our newspaper, I don't though, don't read the newspaper but somehow always seem to know most things happening in our city - what a pity it's dropped by the wayside in your area.
ReplyDeleteThe Examiner, Margaret. That is the type of local news I mean. I've just looked at the paper and I was impressed.
DeleteThis is a problem all over the world. When classified ads went away, local newspapers lost a huge amount of revenue and that began a downward spiral from which they've never recovered.
ReplyDeleteSteve, is there a possible solution?
DeleteI read ABC regional news. Also Mastodon sites feed good local news. Twitter often has videos on various unique news to report too.
ReplyDeleteRoentare, I saw your mention of Mastodon and I am aware of the site but I've not looked at it. Do you receive a free blue tick at Mastodon?
DeleteWe lost all our local papers too…not just a loss for our close area but most of the eastern suburbs as well. Paper walkers (plus Dads who drove and tossed out the car window) all out of a job now
ReplyDeleteCathy, I thought some areas, especially where you live would have kept theirs. They weren't much but it is just terrible. There must be some kind of economical model where local news could be published online at least.
DeleteI am surprised that there isn't a local news website. My local council sends out a magazine every few months about the local community and what's happening. I assume it is paid for from the advertising revenue. If I could be bothered there is plenty of info on the internet about the council and what it is up to.
ReplyDeleteMarie, we receive the same from council quarterly. But it is not critical newspaper reporting. Your council tells you what it wants you to know. You won't hear about controversial council approving of buildings, nor about how much council has spent on some strange project.
DeleteIt's exactly the same over here Andrew. Local newspapers that were once the beating hearts of their communities have been in decline for years and many have disappeared into history. We know about Ukraine and The US mid-term elections but we don't know about local planning applications or forthcoming council elections. And that is where democracy begins.
ReplyDeleteWell put YP. Democracy starts with rubbish and roads.
DeleteOur local hometown newspaper is owned by Jeff Bezos, and even there the reporting model that we trusted in the past, is a thing of the past. (Washington Post.)
ReplyDeleteSuch a well known newspaper around the world, TP. Sad.
DeleteI was thinking the same Andrew. Local news is still in our daily kinda newspaper out here but it's dying judging from all the reporters etc who have abandoned it. Some independents have started up which is a good thing and I do support them with donations. But yeah, democracy is out the door.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
M, this is clearly a world wide problem. What could the solution be? I'd be happy with a small independent paper.
DeleteOur 'local' newspaper no longer exists. It was bought out by Ogden press who buys newspapers, closes the smallest ones down to combine them with the newspapers of nearby larger towns. It's all about profit.
ReplyDeleteDebby, what can be done? They are all private companies and there is nothing to stop them, and I suppose there shouldn't be interference in their business models.
Delete