SO you think life on a local paper is just about flower shows and lost dogs?
On some days you may be right – especially as regional titles are increasingly turning to ‘community’ news in an attempt to boost flagging sales.
But any aspiring journalist who turns their nose up at their local paper is not giving the ranks of hugely talented staff working in the regions their due.
The pay can undoubtedly be dire and the prestige of working for a national may outshine anything that a local paper can offer – but don’t let that make you lose sight of the outstanding contribution to journalism made by regional employees.
There's a great big piece extolling the values of the regional media in this week's Press Gazette which reports that it's still far and away the first place people turn for their local news.
The PG piece is such a refreshing change. More often, it seems to me, today's media commentators would have us believe the dogged hack unearthing corruption at the Town Hall is a dying breed, about to be wiped off the face of the earth by new media entrepreneurs and ‘citizen journalists’.
But local papers are still busy campaigning and speaking up for people’s concerns – where their national counterparts are busy chasing z-listers or recycling their nearest rival’s ‘exclusive’ from the day before.
In fact that ‘exclusive’ will probably have come from a local paper in the first place.
Scott Coomber, a news sub, says: “I'm sure there are plenty of people on nationals who look down their noses at local reporters – and some are crap, but you can’t dismiss them all.
“As many of our stories come from the regionals I don't think this elitism is deserved.”
Jane Mackenzie, a former Wolverhampton Express & Star trainee, more recently found exposing skulduggery in high places for the esteemed readers of Private Eye, says there’s no doubt her days as a junior reporter helped shape her thirst for a good tale.
She says: “I still have huge respect for good local and regional journalism.
“Whether you’re going through an 800 word agenda for a council meeting or standing in a muddy field interviewing the owner of the winning goat at the country fair, I can imagine no better way to be part of a local community”
You may choose to look at a local paper as possibly the best training ground there is.
Where else are you going to hone your ‘news sense’ so well? Or learn how to turn in perfect copy bang on deadline? Where else can you find out how to satisfy the professional needs of the most demanding of news editors?
There won’t be many ex regional people working for nationals whose copy comes back with queries about spellings on names, addresses, ages and relationships. We’d die of shame if an editor raised any significant query and couldn’t hold our head up in public for at least a week if they criticised a freelance pitch.
Okay so a strong writer from any background should be able to ‘deliver’ – why then are commissioning editors’ inboxes full of such drivel from would-be contributors?
One thing’s for sure – the nonsense that makes editors’ hearts sink isn’t coming from anyone who’s ever had to placate a baying evening paper news editor arguing over the spelling of a road name.
Michael Cross, now a respected freelance, started out on the Surrey Daily Advertiser – which he describes as a ‘classic evening paper serving a county town.’
“It covered everything: murders, school plays, council meetings, all court cases, a former hangman who wanted the death penalty brought back - but by firing squads, the Earl of Onslow's and cows causing havoc on the M3. That was in my first week.”
You may think Michael is exaggerating. He’s not.
I’ll never forget a weekend duty I worked at the Wolverhampton Express & Star. Stories covered included, in the space of 48 hours, a murder, a fatal bus crash, a gas explosion and a huge drugs haul – all tales that needed backing up with door knocks and interviews – not to mention several more minor incidents – fires, robberies and muggings. And the news editor still wanted a piece on a charity cricket match.
Michael also remembers his days in regional journalism fondly.
He says: “ What stayed with me was the buzz, and the absolute professionalism. Tolerance for mis-spelt names, or intros over 30 words, was zero. Our chief reporter, Robin Elias, went on to edit News at Ten.
There’s also an added ‘buzz’ that comes with working on a regional – that you can get to the big news first.
Michael explains: “If a newspaper's job is to report the news - straight and first - an evening is the place to do it.
“Most news happens in the morning: the agenda setting political revelations on Today, police revelations of night-before incidents, government press conferences the big overnights from the US or same-day disasters from the Middle East and Asia.”
For some, it would seem that working for national media is where anyone worth his or her salt should aim.
Scott Coomber agrees.
He says: “I think working on the nationals is something everyone should aim to do for a period of their career. Whether you choose to stick with nationals is something else. “But working at the top level - and there is no denying that is what it is - can only improve you as a journalist. Ultimately, many people are either not up to it or would rather be a big fish in a small pond. Personally, I wouldn't leave the nationals for the world.”
If your ambitions do lie in the capital and you are wondering whether it’s worth ‘bothering’ with a spell on a regional, perhaps one of Michael Cross’s observations about a certain national broadsheet may sway you: “Most of the people who actually run the place are ex regionals,” he says.
hurray for the local press! I have a regular column that appears in all the Surrey Herald weekly paid-for papers. I've been writing for them for almost 18 months now and it has opened many doors for me and gets my name around locally. I can never understand why people dismiss the local press - I just wished I'd approached mine earlier in my career. blatant self promotion - the paper has recently gone online and so my weekly columns are now also on their website: http://icstaines.icnetwork.co.uk/surreyheraldandnews/columnists/
Posted by: kelly rose bradford | May 12, 2007 at 01:12 PM
I agree that the local press must be the best place for a journalist to start their career. I wish I could have afforded to start out as a trainee in the local press.
But with a pile of student debt,I couldn't.
I'm probably not alone, as few entry-level reporters are 16-year-olds still living with their parents any more.
Local papers may be the best place to start, but their owners are shooting themselves in the foot with their derisory salaries which is making journalism's
traditional career path increasingly difficult for young journalists.
12K is the starting salary and the *average* wage in regional papers is £17,500. How are they ever going to hang on to people at those rates?
Posted by: Realist | May 12, 2007 at 04:37 PM