Long break, new idea

There have been so many acts of self-sabotage performed by the local newspaper industry, none of them being attributable to the BBC's great big foot, that I cannot begin to think about cataloging them.

So, before I start again, take a look at a piece by Richard Addis, from his Shakeup Media blog. Some of the ideas seem to correspond with thoughts expressed on my magazine-oriented blog (Magblog), notably: "Create one single national website for local news."

Jon Slattery gets with it!

I have every respect for Jon Slattery, a veteran reporter of the media scene, but a recent blog post seems to indicate that he has been inhabiting a different planet for a while.

Where, he asks, is the money to come from to run a good local news website? He notes there is not enough advertising revenue to support such an operation, which is why newspapers are such a good idea.

Err, Jon ...

No more local news from local newspapers

Well, David Cameron's speech warning the BBC to keep its "big foot" out of local news looks more perceptive by the day as local newspapers continue to shed jobs and close down wholesale without appearing to offer anything by way of replacement, online or not.

The latest development is:

Eleven Newsquest newspapers to close

leading the NUJ to accuse the publisher of abandoning communities altogether.

In addition, Trinity Mirror in Wales are about to announce swingeing cuts, including getting rid of all but one training officer and possibly a raft of subs.

Daily Mail HQ comes up with brilliant new online idea

No news yet of the local newspaper online initiatives that bbclocal would have stomped on, but perhaps this brilliantly innovative idea from DMGT HQ is a straw in the wind:

Online shopping pages!

Now that's something the BBC would really have got into, don't you think?

Yesterday I met someone very closely connected to one of the BBC Trust members who was pivotal in the decision not to allow the local video journalism scheme to go ahead. I am now slightly more convinced that the decision was based on a concern that the scheme did not offer value for money (but still not entirely convinced that there wasn't an element of leaning-on somewhere in the process).

This, however, simply reinforces the idea that the Trust members did not give full weight to the long term requirement for local news provision and the BBC's vital role in that.

More great news to convince David Cameron that the Newspaper Society's members really do have local media's best interests at heart:

Newsquest make their Scottish journalists re-apply for their jobs
A good Roy Greenslade blog post on the matter
Alex Salmond gets involved in the issue

Trinity Mirror, Telegraph, cut jobs to improve the quality of journalism

I cannot believe how much material local newspapers are providing for this blog.

In the interests of countering the BBC's plans for local news services with really good content of its own, Trinity Mirror is cutting lots of jobs at local papers.

And the nationals don't want to be left out either, with the Telegraph leading the way.

The Newspaper Society, The BBC Trust, the Government and David Cameron all put the future of local journalism in peril

To a lecture by Rick Waghorn, the entrepreneur-reporter behind Myfootballwriter.com.

Rick's talk helped to crystallise the reason for my irritation/annoyance at the BBC Local-Newspaper Society faceoff that the BBC Trust and Ofcom combined (not conspired, of course) to kill.

The fact is, both sides have missed a massive opportunity to shape the future of local journalism. Rick referred to Jeff Jarvis's concept of the Link Economy, which essentially states that you should stick to doing what you do best and forge links with those who do other things better. That is, both metaphorical and literal links – business alliances and urls.

Why did none of the bodies mentioned above perceive the enormous value that could be generated by linking local newspaper reporters writing about their beats and BBC videographers providing good quality footage?

Why haven't the newspaper groups thought about this swap or barter economy, working with the BBC rather than always kicking it?

Why hasn't Ofcom or the Department of Culture, Media & Sport?

Why hasn't the BBC Trust?

It would be too easy to say that government and quangos are in thrall to the newspaper groups and that the BBC Trust and newspaper boards are comprised of short-sighted has-beens, so I won't say that.

But it's difficult to think of a more convincing reason.

NOT THE BBC'S GREAT BIG FOOT – AGAIN
Just how are the newspaper groups that make up the Newspaper Society going to fund and staff the wonderful new online initiatives they have up their sleeves? By making cuts like these:

Newsquest cuts lots of jobs
CN group cuts lots of jobs
Guardian media blogger thinks it's all rather a shame
Another MP with short-sight and a desire to placate the local paper