Thursday 21 May 2015

The struggling local press

I was searching for an outlet for an article that I am trying to write on a local issue.

Only to be confronted with precious few outlets for such articles and a writing team on some of these papers that clearly consists of about three people.

Now, I know what that feels like to a degree having worked for a student news team of three, but that was only producing a paper about once every four weeks - my memory of these facts is now hazy.

It was an intimate experience and one which served to make me some friends who I admire to this day large numbers of who work in the media and publishing in some capacity.

It wasn't the best way of serving a community though really.

Journalism is best when you can get out to see people and that isn't always going to be possible if there aren't many of you and you rarely take on freelancers.

If this isn't a pitch for a job I don't know what is, but I'm actually trying to draw your attention to a wider problem hard working journalists with integrity who are being asked to do more and more for less, something worth remembering when Andy Coulson's name is being splashed all over the place.

It's unsurprising one of the unions for those media workers was out on strike recently.

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