You may refer to it – with a variable mix of disdain and affection – as ‘the local rag’, but don’t call it a throwaway. Without community newspapers our local democracy is in peril.

Last week I spoke at the Community Newspapers Association conference and some of their publications, like media everywhere, are facing tough times. I expected as much, and admire the tenacity of these committed publishers and their staff who serve areas as varied as metropolitan suburbs and the hinterland of tiny rural towns.

There are about 78 community newspapers represented by the association and, leaving aside duplications, a further 52 (mostly owned by Stuff, or NZME) are part of the News Publishers Association. There has been some attrition but Community Newspapers Association president David MacKenzie says that start-ups have balanced out the casualties and membership has been stable for the past five years.

Their frequencies vary from five-days-a-week to monthly, the size from tabloid to quarter fold or less, and circulation from thousands to hundreds. Quality varies, too. Sometimes that reflects the experience of staff, but more often nowadays it is a reluctant reaction to making ends meet. 

An example of the latter is such a lack of resources that a publication is reduced to reproducing council media releases rather than sending a reporter to cover local body activities.

During the conference that led me into conversations with community publishers and editors about their relationships with local authorities. What I heard was disturbing.

Many of our community newspapers continue to devote their resources to holding councils and their elected representatives to account. The Community Newspaper of the Year in last week’s Voyager Awards, Warkworth’s Mahurangi Matters, was commended for doing just that. Some publications, however, are in a battle of wits with local authority communications staff. Continue reading “The ‘local rag’ is a vital part of democracy at community level” →