In the community

The hyperlocal American newspaper and website Bluffton Today has invented some neat slogans to sum up what it is trying to do in South Carolina. My favourite is "a community in conversation with itself".

Its publisher, Tim Anderson, told Northcliffe editors at their conference last May that, "the road to recovery runs through the neighbourhood". The Bluffton concept, which was launched three years ago, declares boldly that it is a "grand experiment in citizen journalism". Apart from the slogans, it has also been a resounding success with 98% penetration and healthy profits.

It is not just in Bluffton that ‘community’ is the key word for local newspaper publishers. Do a Google search on the words community + newspapers and you will see what I mean.

Newspapers may be fighting for readers’ attention against Sky, the BBC, Amazon, eBay, You Tube, Facebook, Bebo, Heat magazine et al but we have something these players will never have. We are local. We belong to the communities we serve. We live and run our businesses on the patch. Nobody else does that.

Johnston Press is local. "The local newspaper is going to be absolutely at the centre of the local community and is going to remain a vital part of the local media mix", says its chief executive Tim Bowdler.

Northcliffe’s slogan, adopted by all its regional papers, is "At the heart of all things local."

Trinity Mirror’s corporate responsibility document begins with this: "Community engagement is a core element of our local businesses, with campaigns, appeals and a wide range of other local activities forming part of the everyday activities of our titles."

Grand words … but is there any real substance to the ubiquitous slogan "serving the community"? Do local newspapers really make the most of this unique position?

To many, the word ‘community’ conjures up some past idyll where the local newspaper was a high-profile, high circulation, respected title read by everyone. The only route for local businesses to reach their customers was via the columns of the paper.

Out of sight, out of mind?

The reality today is very different. Some of the initial damage was done when newspapers moved out of the town centres and into the business parks. Once our readers could no longer pop in with their handwritten birth announcement or peer through the front office window at this week’s selection of photographs, we became just a little marginalised.

Newspapers have also reduced the number of reporters over the last twenty years. Many journalists are now deskbound in out-of-town offices, working for newsdesks who are under pressure to feed the beast. Often these reporters are young careerists, just passing through, with little local knowledge and no network of contacts.

And as some newspapers have withdrawn from their communities, their communities have in turn withdrawn from them. Take the East London Advertiser as an example. Once it sat at the heart of a community that found itself the target of the Luftwaffe’s bombs. It was a community that showed the indomitable spirit of the English working classes and their ability to survive.

Changing communities

Today, editor Malcolm Starbrook has to try to sell a traditional newspaper in a community that is 40% Bangladeshi, is home to Britain's fastest growing Somali population and has the highest Muslim population density of any area in Britain.

In schools, one in seven children are of white origin, the borough has the highest unemployment rate in the UK, more millionaires per square mile than anywhere else in Britain and more than half of the people who live there are under 30. The area has seven local Bangladeshi newspapers, two television stations and the council runs its own, good quality newspaper, delivered free to 76,000 homes. The Advertiser needs to seek ways to sell to a very diverse community, often with no tradition of reading a local newspaper. Now there’s a challenge.

Where there are traditional communities, the sales have fared much better. The circulation of the Channel Islands’ two daily papers has bucked the trend of the last ten years, as have most local Irish newspapers. It is no coincidence that in these places, there are still centralised, thriving communities.

So, can our newspapers do more than merely pay lip service to their localness? Here are my ten tips to help them capitalise on their most precious asset.

1. Dedicate time reacquainting yourself with the community and what makes it tick. Just who is your community, not just the dwindling band of loyal readers but more importantly the "maybe" readers? What interests the incomers, the youngsters, the commuters, the time pressed, the immigrant population? Do your research – you might be surprised by the results.

2. Fill the void of leadership. There may be a lack of interest in local politics, council meetings may have no public attendances, voting in local elections my be greeted by stunning apathy … but that doesn’t mean there aren’t burning issues in every town. Take a lead. In the US, some newspapers have trained their staff in conflict resolution in order to moderate discussions among feuding community members. This might be a step too far for most editors, but running a poll and organising meetings to discover the key issues, finding solutions, taking a stance, cajoling the politicians into action and getting off the fence, are all things newspapers can do. The Guernsey Press, for example, was recently instrumental in bringing about the resignation of the Government’s chief minister and all ten members of the ruling policy committee. Put yourself at the centre of the decision making process.

3. Take a lead in the local economy. Newspapers take their money from local businesses – and it is in their interests to put something back. Support commercial initiatives, sit on the development boards, set up and lead a task force that identifies ways of supporting the area and its economy.

4. Don’t just pay lip service to being a campaigning newspaper … get things done. Sunday Life raised the money to send baby James Hynes for a life-saving operation in Stuttgart. The Cambridge Evening News protected free bus travel for the elderly and disabled. But not all campaigns have to be big-hitters. Organise "pride of" campaigns on issues like litter and behaviour; use your influence to get the flooded community centre sorted out or to find a football strip for the kids team that can’t afford it.

5. Organise events. The Northern Echo’s Local Heroes Awards are a triumph. 700 people, including Steve McLaren, turn up to pay tribute to "unsung heroes" and "leading lights". The Leicester Mercury Sports Awards are a hugely prestigious event. I once organised a Battle of the Bands competition for my paper – 104 entries and five concerts that were all sell-outs.

6. Become the sounding board for everyone. Make your website a two-way street. Encourage comment on everything. Ask for reviews, match reports, pictures, generate a debate, provide chatrooms, offer tribute pages for those who have died and give literally everyone the opportunity to have a say.

7. Get people through your doors again. If you are out of town, look at ways to get people to visit you – photographic exhibitions, a museum, internet café, seminars, school visits and training courses.

8. Get the reporters out. One of the advantages of the new wave of video journalism is that reporters touting cameras are on the streets again. Journalism is what happens out there – not in the comfort of the office. Recycled material from handouts and emails is not what persuades people to get out on a wet Wednesday to buy the paper.

9. Appoint reporters from the community, those who understand it, and have a ready-made network of contacts. Recruit older people who understand the importance of schooling, parenting, nostalgia and the culture. Train them and work hard to retain them. Raise the status of the reporters in the organisation.

10. Tell people you are there. I run a youth football team. I go to tournaments where there are hundreds of kids and their families and I see no evidence that the local paper is there – or that the games will be covered. The boys get their results, and look at the league table, on the FA’s full-time website, not the paper’s. My son plays in three cricket leagues. I never see evidence at matches that any of the local papers are interested. Newspapers need to tell people they are there and what they offer … effective bill posters, branding in the places where people go, the sides of buses, the clubs, the pubs and schools. Raise the profile. Convince people that you have something worth buying the paper, or visiting the website, for.

Being local should give newspapers a critical advantage in the increasingly difficult battle for an audience. But they have to work at it. Simply sticking "at the heart of the community" under the titlepiece and then putting deskbound reporters in a remote business park, is to squander a fantastic opportunity. Newspapers need to work harder than ever to raise their profile, get things done, organise events, take a lead, be central to the area’s economic fabric, get their reporters out there and put themselves at the centre of diverse communities. It will take resources, imagination, time and determination … but, as Bluffton Today proves, the reward might be a far more secure future for the local newspaper.