4/01/2009

When local news isn't local

Apparently there was no real news in the Eastern region today, not if BBC East and Anglia News is to be believed.

Instead of featuring real local news, ITV Anglia and BBC East decided that wasting nearly 15 minutes on the marches and protesters in London was local news simply because ;

1) Barack Obama landed at Stansted airport.

2) Some people from East Anglia work in London.

Presumably then because some people from the East of England also go on holiday to Spain, we will have local news live from Spain when they next have a general election ?

Local news makes itself irrelevant by aping reports that are already being covered on national news. In simple terms the protests in London are not local news to anyone except those living in the London region. If Anglia or BBC East are bored with local news then it shows them up to be poor journalists.

7 comments:

NORFOLK COAST said...

They're not bored with local news. They just don't have the people to cover it any more.

Much of the Norfolk Coast is no no-man's land as far as broadcast news is concerned, caught between the edges of the Yorkshire and Anglia regions.

http://tinyurl.com/cv4lys

Oranjepan said...

I found an interesting piece of new news which was happily ignored by all and sundry.
http://bythemuddybanksofthethames.blogspot.com/2009/04/seera-submits-to-snr.html

The same hasn't happened to your regional assembly - so much for consistency in the efforts to 'streamline'. It's nothing to do with clamping down on dissent, honest!

Nich Starling said...

But they had the local reporters to send to London ? This does not equate with the supposed shortage of reporters.

NORFOLK COAST said...

Presumably they drafted staff in from the provinces to beef up numbers in London.

LibCync said...

You should try living in Hertfordshire. All the local news is London news everyday!

Quentin said...

It's down to cutbacks Nick. Here in the SW they have closed down local news offices and now one office covers vast areas.If they do go out on location the sports reporter and weatherman goes with them and reports their 'piece' at the same place.

NORFOLK COAST said...

We turn on the telly and get news from Yorkshire. Which is, um, 122.6 miles from where we live.

"Aye oop, and ere's t'news.... Three folk were injured today when a whippet jacknifed in 'Uddersfield..."

It's not just the telly. The papers are cutting back as well, titles closing, less offices, fewer hacks on the ground in local communities, less news covered.

The whole news industry's in meltdown.

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