As reported by the Newspaper Society: Speaking at the NS AGM last week, Mr Highfield said a pilot scheme between local press and the BBC in Leeds had “proved a challenge” and it was time for the BBC to start looking at local press as a “genuine partner” adding that the BBC wasn’t best placed to reach regional audiences and didn’t need to distribute its own content.
He added: “The BBC purports to support regional press, yet seems to be wishing for its demise by questioning – at what seems like every opportunity – whether local newspapers are already dead."
“Local newspapers and their associated web brands can actually bolster the BBC’s value if they stop viewing us as the competition and work with us to distribute their content. The BBC is one of the country’s most important cultural institutions and the relationship it has with us as a nation is truly astounding. But it’s not the BBC which has a direct relationship with people in Pocklington, Peterborough or Portsmouth. It’s us – the local media operators.
“Put simply, we can provide more reach (and thus more public value) to BBC content through our websites, our papers, our routes to market, but still within a trusted, regulated environment, than they can through their sub-scale bbc.co.uk/leeds (or wherever) sites.”
Mr Highfield said the BBC could allow regional press free access to all its content in the form of “a great big content bucket, properly tagged and indexed” which would be attributed and distributed by regional press. In return, the BBC could take content, which should be properly credited and paid for, from regional press for its regional radio services or national channels.
He added: “The BBC needs to stop trying to be all things to all people, and focus on what they are best at – creating world-class content. They can keep their regional brands – Look North, BBC North West et al, but close their underperforming local websites and work with us, rather than against us, as we become their local media distribution partner and fully utilise our own, highly trafficked, rapidly growing, hyper local sites.”
Speaking about this year’s Making a Difference themed Local Newspaper Week, Mr Highfield said: “The 30 wonderful campaigns that have been nominated, and the 12,000 votes cast in just three days – not all by me! – underlines the important social role the local media still has to play and the incredibly strong relationships that have been forged by our titles in the communities they serve.”
“None of you need telling that our news titles don’t just ‘make a difference’ for one week in May, however. They are changing lives every day of the week and whilst the industry has evolved beyond recognition in recent years, the vital and trusted service our dedicated news teams provide has remained constant.”
