Local Press
When I did an interview with a council worker a couple of years ago I asked him about an issue that had popped up in the local newspaper. "That’s just the local rag," he said dismissively.
But according to Bob Carr’s former Chief of Staff Bruce Hawker, research shows that not only do people prefer to read their local rag, but people also read their local papers more carefully than the big city metros. Scott Richardson reports.
Hawker writes in a report for his PR firm that people are more interested in things that impact us directly and immediately. While we might be shocked at the horrors of Iraq he says, we know that we probably care a lot more about the funding cuts to the school down the road: the one we used to go to, the one our kids now go to. Just as importantly, we feel we can do a lot more to save the local school than quell violence on the other side of the world.
“The local media has unprecedented influence and power,” Hawker says.
The Manly Daily is the local paper where I live and to my knowledge is the only daily local paper in Sydney. Indeed, for many people on the Northern Beaches it is the only paper they read. It meant that at the last state election the paper found itself at the centre of a PR battle as two local Independent MPs and two Liberal candidates fought hard for every photo and every story.
The editor of the Manly Daily Kathy Lipari told the Sydney Morning Herald “we take an even-handed approach and I have had the same complaints from all sides of local politics that their press releases and photos don't receive the run that they think they deserve.”
There is no doubting the role the Manly Daily played in getting local issues such as the fight to save Mona Vale hospital and the awful transport situation to the forefront of the election debate in the area.
Not all local news need be in print form of course. Newly created website Village Voice, developed by FPC Community Media Group aims to provide news and local information for people living in the greater Sydney area. While maintaining regular journalists, the site also encourages citizen journalism: allowing locals to write their own stories and post up notices about local events.
So local rags, whether it be jingoistic newspapers or websites promoting ‘citizen journalism’ are here to stay. They have an importance role to play in making the issues and concerns of people heard by those in power and in getting something done about it.
But according to Bob Carr’s former Chief of Staff Bruce Hawker, research shows that not only do people prefer to read their local rag, but people also read their local papers more carefully than the big city metros. Scott Richardson reports.
Hawker writes in a report for his PR firm that people are more interested in things that impact us directly and immediately. While we might be shocked at the horrors of Iraq he says, we know that we probably care a lot more about the funding cuts to the school down the road: the one we used to go to, the one our kids now go to. Just as importantly, we feel we can do a lot more to save the local school than quell violence on the other side of the world.
“The local media has unprecedented influence and power,” Hawker says.
The Manly Daily is the local paper where I live and to my knowledge is the only daily local paper in Sydney. Indeed, for many people on the Northern Beaches it is the only paper they read. It meant that at the last state election the paper found itself at the centre of a PR battle as two local Independent MPs and two Liberal candidates fought hard for every photo and every story.
The editor of the Manly Daily Kathy Lipari told the Sydney Morning Herald “we take an even-handed approach and I have had the same complaints from all sides of local politics that their press releases and photos don't receive the run that they think they deserve.”
There is no doubting the role the Manly Daily played in getting local issues such as the fight to save Mona Vale hospital and the awful transport situation to the forefront of the election debate in the area.
Not all local news need be in print form of course. Newly created website Village Voice, developed by FPC Community Media Group aims to provide news and local information for people living in the greater Sydney area. While maintaining regular journalists, the site also encourages citizen journalism: allowing locals to write their own stories and post up notices about local events.
So local rags, whether it be jingoistic newspapers or websites promoting ‘citizen journalism’ are here to stay. They have an importance role to play in making the issues and concerns of people heard by those in power and in getting something done about it.
posted by Scott Richardson at 9:44 am
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