From motors to murders and the mundane: why local journalism matters
When people ask me why I bang on about the need for local journalism, I don’t start with a lecture about democracy.
I start with a Ford, then a murder.
Yep, my very first “story” as a wannabe journalist?
A brand-new Ford on sale at the local garage.
Press release. Via fax. With a grainy photo.
(I’m still not sure who was more excited, me or the garage owner.)
My second story?
A murder investigation…
Same newsroom. Same town. Same editor – Don Hale, who also happened to be my old football coach.
Talk about a baptism of fire. One minute you’re writing about cars, the next you’re peering at crime scenes in a Bakewell cemetery with a “psychic” and seeing just how high the stakes can be when you’ve got a notebook and a press badge.
That’s the reality of local journalism.
It’s mundane one moment, life-changing the next.
It’s what gives you the skills, the contacts, and the instincts to hold power to account – or to spot when something isn’t right.
And it’s why what’s happening now should worry all of us.
Jobs are being cut. University journalism courses are being underfunded or scrapped. Politicians and parties on both sides of the pond are boycotting or blacklisting outlets they don’t like.
Here in Nottingham, it’s stark.
Reform UK councillors at Nottinghamshire County Council have effectively banned the Nottingham Post and Local Democracy Reporters from access unless there’s an emergency.
Press lists, invites, interviews – all off limits. Opposition parties, journalists, and campaigners are calling it a “massive attack on local democracy.”
When you pull up the drawbridge like that, it’s not just a spat between politicians and reporters. It’s a blow to the people who rely on those reporters to tell them what’s happening in their own communities.
Local papers, radio stations and online sites are already running on fumes. Removing access makes the job almost impossible. And without that coverage, who’s left to catch the dodgy deals, the flawed policies, the miscarriages of justice?
Don Hale’s dogged campaign on the Stephen Downing case – which eventually overturned a murder conviction and changed the law – started in a small Derbyshire newsroom – The Matlock Mercury.
That’s the power of local journalism when it’s allowed to do its job.
Lose that, and you lose a lot more than a few column inches.
What you can do
- Support your local paper, station or site – subscribe, share their stories, tip them off.
- If you’re in business or PR, treat local journalists as allies in scrutiny, not obstacles.
- And if you’re a politician? Remember the word “public” in public service.