It has been attributed mainly to the change in lifestyle that has occurred over the past couple of geneartions as well as the consolidation of ownership which has taken the papers out of the hands of local people.
Thios morning's Sunday Herald takes a look at the industry in Scotland(HT-Martin Stabe)
It carries an interview with Johnson's Press's departing cheif Tim Bowdler who discusses the remarks of the head of the BBC trust,Sir Michael Lyons who
indicated that the Beeb believes that there may be a gap in the market for better local news, where local publishers have long argued that the introduction of a licence fee funded competitor is unfair.
According to Bowdler
The things that interest people have undoubtedly evolved. News is still quite high on agenda but it does not have quite the same focus. Fifteen years ago local papers broke news; that now happens online and papers are more a place for community debate. There is not such a heavy focus on court reporting or covering every council meeting."
More worring thouygh is some of the comments from other locals in Scotland
some journalists argue the news content of the papers has long been eroded by new technology and changing working practicessays the article as well as
journalists on his title are now expected to do more production work and to upload stories onto the web, activities which have damaged the overall quality of the papers: "It's the quantity of local stories that has changedfut, much of it down to lack of time and lack of contact. We try to plan our way round the lack of actual news stories. Story counts are way down, headlines and pictures are much bigger and type sizes are continually being edged up
No comments:
Post a Comment