A conflict for councils (From The Northern Echo)

A conflict for councils

3:33pm Monday 24th August 2009

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AT a time when many local newspapers are struggling to survive because of a crash in advertising, there is an increasingly urgent debate to be had about how much taxpayers’ money is spent on public sector publications.

Millions are spent around the country on free council magazines, informing council tax payers – with an inevitable PR gloss – about the activities of local authorities.

Council bosses argue that it is not the job of such magazines to be unbiased or independent – that, they say, is the role of the local newspaper. But the result is that these publicly-funded publications lack credibility.

The Government acknowledges that local newspapers are vital to local democracy, yet council publications are allowed to compete for precious advertising revenue in a shrinking market.

I never like to see public money wasted, but I couldn’t help feeling a warm glow when I read that the county council in Cornwall recently scrapped its free monthly magazine after spending almost £700,000 on it in 11 months and running £250,000 over budget.

The council is now taking a revolutionary approach – going back to taking out adverts in good old local papers.

Council leader Alec Robertson said: “We are taking a very pragmatic view of communications and are keen to make best use of existing outlets that our residents are already familiar with, such as local newspapers – rather than setting up costly new channels of communication.”

It is part of a changing tide. Last week, Birmingham City Council announced that its “Forward” newspaper, which costs £600,000 a year, is facing the axe.

Earlier this month, the newly-elected Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies, announced he was saving £67,000 by scrapping his council’s monthly newspaper.

Meanwhile, in Northamptonshire, plans are afoot for three public sector bodies – the police, the county council, and the primary care trust – to launch a more cost-effective combined quarterly publication.

A particularly interesting comment came from county councillor and police authority member Joan Kirkbride, who said: “I think it’s essential that we do this if we want to get confidence up out there, otherwise, they only read what they see in newspapers, which is not always advantageous.”

The key phrase there, of course, is “not always advantageous”. It might be roughly translated as “sometimes critical”. Perish the thought.

I am not for a moment arguing for local newspapers to be given government subsidies because that would inevitably undermine their editorial integrity.

But I do believe that councils should make smarter commercial use of trusted, independent local newspapers – instead of using public money to compete with those long-established titles.

Government – central or local – can’t have it both ways. It can’t argue that local papers are vital to democracy on one hand, while contributing to their demise with the other.

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