A government investigation into the serious challenges facing the local news sector has been launched and Melksham News has been invited to contribute.
Two of the paper’s team attended the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee (DCMS) hearing in Cardiff last month which was set up to examine what challenges face local news organisations and what support should be put in place in order to maintain their democratic function.
Joe McCann, operations manager at Melksham News, said, “In recent years there have been increasing pressures facing the local news sector including the effects of the pandemic on the reduction of advertising income, significant increases to print costs for print newspapers and increased reliance on social media groups as a source of news at a local level which can undermine the role of local publications.
“Good, reliable local news providers play an important role in holding councils and other decision makers to account, in publicising what is going on locally and in engaging and strengthening the local community.
“People want a trusted source of local news and information that’s produced locally and professionally but it is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller news providers to operate.
“Since the start of the pandemic there has been a significant increase in the number of local newspapers closing so it is important to look at the local news sector as a whole and how the industry can be supported in the current climate.
“Melksham News was delighted to be given the chance to attend the hearing in Cardiff and it was a good opportunity to speak with committee members, made up of a cross-party group of MPs, about the issues facing not only the Melksham News, but also other local news providers, particularly independent ones.”
DCMS Committee Chair Julian Knight MP said “It is clear that the market for local news journalism has shifted considerably over the past two decades. The need to know what is going on in your area is as great as it ever has been, arguably greater, but there is a very real challenge in how to deliver that. Local news organisations increasingly face competition from social media despite moving their own titles online.
“How can we maintain and protect the type of journalism that reports what your council is doing, coverage that is essential to local democracy?
“We’re asking what more needs to be done to make local news journalism sustainable and what form that support should take.”
