Keeping it local

WHEN it comes to the nation's favourite people, journalists do not figure highly. Nurses and teachers are rightly at the top of the list, but we hacks rate somewhere way beneath plague rats and estate agents.

This shows how sensible the general public can be. After all, what are we paid for? To pry into other's affairs, shout out barely educated opinions, and generally not mind our own business in the proper English manner.

And then there is the question of trust. Newspapers have been known to elaborate. You know, be economical with the truth. Give the story a spin.

Oh, okay, lie.

Dishonest muck-rakers, the lot of us. Only it's not quite like that.

Yes, certain of my Fleet Street brethren have sometimes shown a casual attitude to the truth. But the worst tabloid excesses appear to be behind us.

Chequebook journalism is still very much here, admittedly. In the aftermath of the Selby train crash I was in a York pub and saw one reporter, a nice guy in fact, suddenly offer £500 to a fellow drinker - just for the address of a rail employee.

But this style of journalism is some way removed from that practised at the Brighton Evening Argus, the Dundee Courier, the Hull Daily Mail, the Newark Advertiser, the Ryedale Gazette and Herald and, yes, the Evening Press, York.

These are papers written by local people for local people, without the aid of chequebooks - and with a respect for the truth. That is not because we are more saintly than national correspondents. But they breeze in and out as a big story breaks and fades. We are always here, an enduring part of the community.

Such permanence makes local journalists more aware of the power of print. If we twist someone's words they won't speak to us again: and, more than likely, we will bump into them in Coney Street the next day.

Equally, if we do something right, it can make a difference to the whole community. This work is celebrated during Local Newspaper Week, organised by the Newspaper Society and running until Sunday. We are particularly delighted this year to print in our letters column below a message from the Queen praising the efforts of the regional press.

The Evening Press is proud to be a campaigning newspaper, striving to take up the causes of our readers.

And, if needs be, we take the cause to the top. Tony Blair must be sick of the sight of us; a thought to make me smile.

Mr Blair was first ambushed by dripping Evening Press chief reporter Mike Laycock during his visit to flood-hit York. Mike gave him cuttings from our campaign to Save Ryedale From Flooding to show that we had long been lobbying for better flood defences for the region.

The PM returned to York last April, to announce that Britain was open for business despite foot and mouth disease. He was again presented with an edition of our paper which detailed the growing toll on business of the outbreak.

When the Prime Minister doesn't come to us, we go to him. We delivered our special No To Son Of Star Wars edition to both Mr Blair and President George Bush in London during an Anglo-American summit.

The US ambassador replied promptly, arguing his country's case for a missile defence system which will rely on the use of North Yorkshire air bases. We are still waiting to hear from Mr Blair. Perhaps he is embarrassed to admit that he is prepared to make this county an international terrorist and military target for the sake of the "special relationship".

Despite this snub, we have written to him again this month. We are urging the Prime Minister to intervene to help Ian Stillman, stuck in an Indian jail for what Fair Trials Abroad called the worst miscarriage of justice it had ever seen.

Mr Stillman, who is profoundly deaf and disabled, was denied sight or sound of the case against him when he was tried on drugs possession charges. He is serving a ten-year sentence, and his health is failing.

With the support of his parents, who live in York, we launched a Free Ian Stillman campaign, and have helped to gather a petition of 5,000 signatures calling for his immediate release.

We also made an international intervention on behalf of York air enthusiast Andy Jenkins, bizarrely convicted by a Greek court of espionage.

But much of our campaigning is far closer to home. When North Yorkshire motorists faced daily gridlock on the A64 due to the road's upgrade, we started our Get York Moving crusade. The Highways Agency subsequently did its bit to ameliorate the worst of the jams, even lifting the roadworks before Christmas.

Also on the roads, we are again running Arrive Alive. This aims to make all road-users more aware of the death toll of motorcyclists in North Yorkshire, in the hope of cutting the carnage. Again, the police are backing us.

The Evening Press has a strong record on health issues, and this continues. Our current campaign is to buy a new state-of-the-art St John's Ambulance. And last year we joined with the parents of Jamie Bucknell, the 14-year-old York boy who died of a heart defect, to raise money for 12 portable heart monitors.

Perhaps our most high profile recent success story concerns another institution that, like the Evening Press, is at the heart of the community.

When directors of York City announced their plan to sell the club, and close it if a buyer could not be found quickly, people were shocked.

Our Save York City campaign gave a focal point to the fight to save the club, and was crucial to its ultimate survival. We hope now to be able to report City's league renaissance.

All these campaigns demonstrate this local newspaper's commitment to its community in Local Newspaper Week. As well as providing a comprehensive news, sport and feature service, we want to be our readers' champion.

We realise that this is not enough to catapult journalists above nurses in the most-loved league. But do you think you could lift us a notch above the plague rat?

Ten facts about the regional press

1 There are around 1,300 regional and local newspapers in the UK (Source: The Newspaper Society).

2 84.4 per cent of British adults read a regional newspaper, making it the most widely-read medium in the country. (BMRB/TCI 2001).

3 Almost 41 per cent of adults who read a regional newspaper do not read a national daily. (BMRB/TCI 2001).

4 The most popular newspaper topic is local news, scoring 41 per cent (TGI 2001).

5 On average people spend 32 minutes reading a paid-for regional newspaper (JICREG Dec 2001).

6 Some 4,167 local newspapers are sold in the UK every minute.

7 More than 42 million regional newspapers are sold, and 30 million distributed free, every week. (Source: ABC/VFD/Independent audits).

8 UK people spend more than £769 million each year on buying local papers.

9 Almost half (48 per cent) of paid-for newspapers increased sales in the second half of 2001. (Source: Newspaper Society/Audit Bureau of Circulations).

10 One in five adults wouldn't be without their local newspaper. (Source: Consumer's Choice IV 2000).

Updated: 11:35 Wednesday, June 26, 2002