Yesterday's decision by the Guardian Media Group to cut 95 jobs across its Surrey and Berkshire local papers and close two papers altogether should worry everyone concerned about local democracy (and not just me as one of the local MPs affected). So far more than 50 local papers have closed during the current downtrun. They are just the latest in a long line of media industry victims of the recession, but the implications are potentially more far reaching.
Local democracy is a shadow of what it should be in Britain, but for it to flourish local media is essential. How else will local electorates be able to choose their mayors in the cities a future Conservative government hopes will opt for direct elections? In the absence of a proper local TV sector in this country (one of the biggest failings of broadcasting policy) we totally depend on local radio and local newspapers. Both are in crisis. The former are hamstrung by cross ownership regulations set for the pre-internet era, and the latter have been crucified by the loss of classified advertising to websites like eBay.
What needs to happen? The only future for local papers is to be able to offer advertisers the best possible way of reaching locally-defined audiences. That means expanding beyond their traditional print bases to online, radio and TV. That in turn means looking at the media ownership regulations that often make this very hard.
Despite the urgency of the situation, the plight of local papers only got the briefest of mentions in the government's Digital Britain report. How many more will need to close before it sits up and takes note?
