Is there any point in 'local press' websites any more?

[DarloRich]

I disagree. It's about maximising profit.

absolutely - but i suspect there is precious little profit in local news

 

[Parjon]

absolutely - but i suspect there is precious little profit in local news

The accounts of the papers suggests there is enormous profit to be had hijacking local news sites and filling it with ad supported clickbait. This in turn suggests there is an appetite for local news, else the platforms wouldn't provide the clicks necessary.

But I think there is a funding question for society. It's daft we pay so much to the BBC through taxation and nothing to secure truly local media. The Local Democracy Reporting Service funded by the BBC just gives yet more cash to the likes of trinity.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Reach news sites are truly abysmal!


Caution! If you value your sanity and are using a mobile device, don't click on the link to Stoke Live or you'll be stuck there forever while the adverts load. Is there nobody within this organisation who actually checks that their sites actually function properly? Surely you can't raise revenue from advertising if none of it ever appears!

NewsQuest publications are just as bad.

 

[Andyh82]

One I read recently was “Government announces big shake up to bank holidays - full list here”

Basically an article detailing this years bank holidays, with the shake up being the extra coronation one

“Snow to blanket the UK this week” - click on it and you find there will be a slight shower in Inverness

“Presenter REPLACED in major shake up” - generally seems to run whenever Naga Munchetty takes a day off from hosting Breakfast

“[Popular programme] AXED in major scheduling shake up and viewers aren’t happy” - turns out to be a pre-planned movement of an episode due to something like the World Cup, with the viewer being someone barely even concerned on Twitter

“Martin Lewis issues URGENT warning” - generally he’s said something completely run of the mill that probably doesn’t apply to most people

 

[Cowley]

Our appalling version of this is Devon Live.

They seem frequently obsessed with certain things, which are:

1) Chagford (a small well to do town on Dartmoor which has a couple of famous people living there).
2) Something about a pupil being sent home from school “in floods of tears” due to wearing a wrong item of uniform.
3) How Devon has recently been voted the best place to live/has the best beaches/whatever in the UK in some poll that nobody has read and was probably taken out of context anyway.
4) Mark Labbett - aka ‘The Beast’ from the quiz show ‘The Chase’, or anything basically related to ‘The Chase’ in general (Mark Labbett has some kind of link to Tiverton and is married to his cousin, or something like that anyway).

 

[AlterEgo]

I get my local news updates from a blogger who lives in the area. It is free to read but I KoFi him £5 a month and it’s far better value than the traditional press.

 

[nr758123]

Taking my local paper, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner (the online version being Yorkshire Live) as my example, they manage to include just about every cliche and every bit of formulaic non-local drivel that others in this thread have described.

The headline deliberately doesn't tell the story.
When you click on it (as intended) you find out it's nothing to do with the local area.

Typical Huddersfield Examiner version. at least once a week there's a "Let's Slag Off A Housing Estate" article. Sometimes it's "Let's Slag Off An Entire Town." Click on the article to find out where. The editor Mr Wayne Ankers, whose name I am not going to make fun of, angrily insists that he doesn't do clickbait.

But do we need newspapers to do this? The village where I live has a very active Facebook group which serves the same purpose - all the local events are posted there

It used to be a standing joke locally that everything in the Examiner had already been on the Marsden facebook page and had been lifted from there. That no longer happens, possibly because almost all the experienced journalists have left and their replacements don't know where Marsden is.

So much is now done remotely, and often without proper editorial oversight things get out of hand more easily.

The Examiner no longer has a base in Huddersfield, unless you count a particular town centre pub which one of their reporters frequents and about which he posts non-stories ad nauseum.

I agree that local online news media is usually dreadful. Worst culprits are within the sweaty mitts of Reach, though it's a dual-edged sword.

Private Eye refer to them as Retch plc. A lot of the content and style of another dreadful Reach newspaper, the Daily Express, finds it's way into the Huddersfield Examiner/Yorkshire Live. Not everything produced by Reach is terrible. The Northern Agenda (online newsletter and podcast) has some decent reporting, none of which finds its way into the Examiner even though a lot of it is relevant to the locality.

There are quite a few upstarts getting going at the moment. One in Liverpool, another in Manchester. I hear they've got the monopoly worried.

The Manchester Mill. I'm a subscriber.

I used to read huddersfield examiner, then online it became yorkshire live and it is just horrible.

Don't get me started on the Huddersfield Examiner. It's an embarrassment to the town. There have been complaints from the business community about the Examiner's negativity towards the town.

And that's before we go into the content, articles actually used to be reasonable for a local rag but you can get news from as far as the south coast, every other article is yorkshire farm amanda this and some of the articles are just downright wrong.

Ah yes, Amanda From The Farm. Don't forget the Rebel Hairdresser, dodgy (and invariably wrong) predictions of the Exact Time some freak weather will arrive, THAT town centre pub and its whingeing landlord, "inflammatory headline designed to start a manufactured culture war argument", someone on twitter "raging" about something on Strictly, some trashy reality TV programme we wish we had never heard of, "everyone is saying the same thing about", a photo of some police tape, some takeaways with bad hygiene ratings, Piers Morgan, Megham Markle whoever she is, Jeremy Clarkson's Oxfordshire Farm and other similar garbage which I have for the time being managed to forget.

Stuff they didn't think was newsworthy:
- local manufacturing firm creates 100 new jobs
- TransPennine Express makes train travel through Huddersfield a lottery

It's daft we pay so much to the BBC through taxation and nothing to secure truly local media. The Local Democracy Reporting Service funded by the BBC just gives yet more cash to the likes of trinity.

I don't understand why funding for local democracy reporters goes to newspapers who have made a conscious decision to abandon local news reporting. Why not give the funding to organisations who want to do local news reporting rather than to those who don't?

Possibly this turned into a bit of a rant. I'm banned from the Examiner facebook page because I made fun of them once too often.

 

[dakta]

and breathe!

 

[Grecian 1998]

The Bristol Live website is fond of using weather forecasts from the ever-predictable Exacta Weather (the same 'source' the Daily Express seems to use. Britain is supposed to now be in the grip of a brutal polar vortex according to a story on New Years' Day. The Met Office seems to disagree.

Another popular subject is beaches 'near' Bristol in Dorset or Cornwall, just a few hours' drive away. They also seem to like talking about Lynton and Lynmouth, which I suppose is only about 50 miles away as the crow flies, even if there is a gurt big body of water in the way.

I tend to the view that since around 2005 most people have decided they'd rather not buy a local newspaper if they can read it for free online. This has lead to a decline in revenues meaning the quality of journalism has plummeted, and so website are filled with a mix of clickbait nonsense and browser- throttling adverts.

There may be an appetite for local news but if the reader wants it for free, they're likely to get what they pay for.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Newsquest owns a lot of these local papers and post the same stories such as "in the middle of lidl this week" across all their sites.

Alot of their stories are about food safety ratings of food outlets or "top 5 places in xxx for a Sunday roast / afternoon tea... according to tripadvisor "

 

[Andyh82]

One in Yorkshire live today “Sad Phillip Schofield breaks silence on This Morning absence”

Obviously you are lead to believe he’s absent because he’s unwell, or he’s been sacked, or some juicy gossip

In reality he’s posted on instagram that he’s sad to fly home from a little city break he’s undertaking and he’s back on Monday as was always planned. I.e a non story, and certainly nothing to do with Huddersfield or Yorkshire

 

[adc82140]

These days the angry people are mostly in the comments asking why the latest piece of social media derived drivel is "news".

That'll be me in the Bournemouth Echo, a Newsquest rag. As per the OP "popular" is rather over used. I've been banned from the comments section there a number of times for correcting journalistic inaccuracies or downright basic grammar errors. I just re register 10 minutes later.

 

[py_megapixel]

Reach news sites are truly abysmal!

If you think the actual content is bad, I can only advise you to stay well away from the below-the-line comments.

There are two types of comment that people make. The first is the type which reads along the lines of "The Evil Far Leftist Green Agenda Tree-Reading Guardian-Wearing Tofu-Hugging Lycra-Eating Woke Extremists have clearly conspired to put in this new zebra crossing outside the baker's on Church Street {replace with other utterly mundane action by the local council as appropriate}" . The second is the type where someone just says the first opinion that comes into their head, giving no thought to how rational or relevant it is. It really is infuriating.

Not sure I've ever seen anything approaching a constructive conversation there, though I must admit I don't see much as I do try to avoid them.

 

[Furrball]

Any other stereotypically hackneyed newspaper clichéd phrases out there?

Some possible examples...

"Breaking news..."

"Eyewitnesses said..."

"Last ditch efforts..."

"Shrouded in secrecy..."

"Tongues wagging..."

"Hotly contested..."

"Sparked debate..."

"Stinging rebuke..."

Must be any number of others...

Within Reach media,

Exact time

Is one of the recent annoying ones

 

[Speed43125]

Any other stereotypically hackneyed newspaper clichéd phrases out there?

Some possible examples...

"Breaking news..."

"Eyewitnesses said..."

"Last ditch efforts..."

"Shrouded in secrecy..."

"Tongues wagging..."

"Hotly contested..."

"Sparked debate..."

"Stinging rebuke..."

Must be any number of others...

"Shoppers/Drivers/Commuters/Parents/Local Mum/Residents/day-trippers left fuming after..."

"Much beloved/hated [insert town name] landmark to be ...."

"Police race to ...."

"Hefty fine"

In the case of Scottish papers - Falkirk Herald and nowadays Daily Record - putting the word 'Scots' in front of anything and anyone to emphasise it being local - the use of Britons elsewhere is similarly random and not a phrase I'd see used in any other publication or context.

So in short, as others have well said, the journalism is cheap, shallow and reflects the tiny revenue possibility that has led to the consolidation of so many local papers.

 

[Lloyds siding]

Boffins

Yes, my local paper (in the days when it had paper versions a well as on site) referred to me in two separate articles as a boffin!
It folded last year....I'll get my hat....

 

[Richardr]

The accounts of the papers suggests there is enormous profit to be had hijacking local news sites and filling it with ad supported clickbait.

What? Last year Reach, which owns the Mirror, Express, and Star in addition to the largest amount of local papers / websites, had a profit of just £2.9m on revenue of £615.8m. The previous year they made a loss of £26.7m. Hardly enormous profits.

 

[py_megapixel]

Any other stereotypically hackneyed newspaper clichéd phrases out there?
Some possible examples...
"Breaking news..."
"Eyewitnesses said..."
"Last ditch efforts..."
"Shrouded in secrecy..."
"Tongues wagging..."
"Hotly contested..."
"Sparked debate..."
"Stinging rebuke..."
Must be any number of others...

"Shoppers/Drivers/Commuters/Parents/Local Mum/Residents/day-trippers left fuming after..."
"Much beloved/hated [insert town name] landmark to be ...."
"Police race to ...."
"Hefty fine"

[Town] [demographic] slams "[baffling/ludicrous/ridiculous]" decision by [council/large company/pub/restaurant]

The complete list of [shop] branches closing in [year] - including [X] in [county]

Local [demographic] is raving about £[price] [product] from [supermarket] - but get them fast!

 

[Thirteen]

I honestly don't get why tabloids use capital letters for every second or third word of a headline.

 

[py_megapixel]

I honestly don't get why tabloids use capital letters for every second or third word of a headline.

That would make quite a good headline! (By which I mean one which is a faithful representation of a typical local news headline, which I appreciate is a bad definition of "good")

"Forum user SLAMS needless use of CAPITALISATION in headlines - as it happened"

 

[Dai Corner]

Who's been in court this week?

Every food outlet in [city] with a zero hygiene rating

Readers' cutest baby/pet photos

Police called to [somewhere] - all we know so far (which is what the police tweeted an hour or two ago)

Oh, there was some actual journalism the other day; a review of the breakfast in the pub opposite the newspaper offices.

 

[bunty0657]

Reach PLC has a lot to answer for in the destruction of local journalism, but given that a good part of the work performance assessment of its "journalists" is allegedly based on the number of page clicks that they generate, it's hardly a surprise. I don't know a single person who takes the local Reach title around here seriously. Among the people I have heard it mentioned by, it's regarded as a laughable collection of clickbait, falsehoods and irrelevant garbage. A recent trick in the endless desperation to generate clicks was to effectively copy and paste the local weather forecast from the BBC. I don't think a single one proved to be correct.

While I had previously had a chuckle at just how bad it had become, more recently Reach have taken to publishing outrage stories about asylum seekers being put up in local hotels and how the local area takes more than some others. It is clearly done in a bid to rile to local knuckle-draggers and pander to their inherent sense of victimhood by generating clicks and engagement. At the same time, it is potentially stoking dislike and hate of asylum seekers. It is utterly irresponsible behaviour, and for that reason I now refuse to have anything to do with Reach PLC's publications or its web presence. I hope a reckoning comes at some point in the future, that Reach is held accountable for its actions and that eventually it and its execrable excuse for journalism disappears once and for all.

 

[DelayRepay]

Our local paper occasionally does a 'live feed' when there's traffic or rail disruption.

This consists of copying and pasting a few tweets from either the highways agency/council/police or the TOC, depending on the nature of the disruption.

Sometimes they'll also copy and paste a few tweets from people caught up in the disruption.

No actual journalism at all and completely pointless...

NB: Years ago I tweeted a picture of a broken TVM to Thameslink asking if they could fix it. The local paper tweeted me back asking if they could use my picture. I never saw the story but I imagine I was described as an angry commuter who'd been left stranded (I wasn't, and I hadn't!)

 

[birchesgreen]

If Twitter did collapse it would be fascinating to see what would happen to the local media.

 

[Cowley]

4) Mark Labbett - aka ‘The Beast’ from the quiz show ‘The Chase’, or anything basically related to ‘The Chase’ in general (Mark Labbett has some kind of link to Tiverton and is married to his cousin, or something like that anyway).

Yes! Literally the next day!

The Chase star Mark Labbett's diet was a 'nutrition overhaul'

Mark Labbett has explained how he lost an incredible 10 stone

www.devonlive.com

 

[BenS123]

That'll be me in the Bournemouth Echo, a Newsquest rag. As per the OP "popular" is rather over used. I've been banned from the comments section there a number of times for correcting journalistic inaccuracies or downright basic grammar errors. I just re register 10 minutes later.

The Bournemouth Echo is sadly my local rag, and to be honest every day they set a new low, last November they referred to Southbourne as Southampton in a headline, to change it hours later:

"It’s a thriving, exciting and full high street at the minute."

COMMUNITY spirit is keeping Southbourne going through difficult times, according to its traders.

www.bournemouthecho.co.uk

"Why independent traders in Southbourne are thriving"​

Meanwhile, the URL says "southampton". Curiously the comments are off on that article, wonder why?

Unsurprisingly, the paper is owned by NewsQuest.

 

[adc82140]

The Bournemouth Echo is sadly my local rag, and to be honest every day they set a new low, last November they referred to Southbourne as Southampton in a headline, to change it hours later:

"It’s a thriving, exciting and full high street at the minute."

COMMUNITY spirit is keeping Southbourne going through difficult times, according to its traders.

www.bournemouthecho.co.uk

Meanwhile, the URL says "southampton". Curiously the comments are off on that article, wonder why?

Unsurprisingly, the paper is owned by NewsQuest.

The comments were closed on that article because they universally and brutally took the mickey out of the Echo. I was one of them, got banned for that.

 

[Kite159]

One of the best "bad" local news articles was something like "Popular Local Pub set to close" when the pub in question was in one of the Southampton suburbs and was closing for a week for a refit. On the Andover advertiser website a few years back.

Also has a habit of throwing up stories copied & pasted from the Basingstoke local paper, like "road set to close for 2 weeks", when it's a minor road in a residential area

 

[birchesgreen]

Well if people no longer want to pay for journalism this is what you get. Some years ago a really good local weekly paper was launched in the West Midlands but closed down after a few months due to low sales. Just have to stick to whatever mutant form the Meaning Evil has turned into.

 

[Dai Corner]

Well if people no longer want to pay for journalism this is what you get. Some years ago a really good local weekly paper was launched in the West Midlands but closed down after a few months due to low sales. Just have to stick to whatever mutant form the Meaning Evil has turned into.

Newsquest, at least, do offer the opportunity to pay a subscription for an almost ad-free website.