One of the two local newspapers covering Enfield borough will this week publish its last ever issue.
The closure by Tindal Newspapers of the Enfield Gazette & Advertiser, along with sister papers the Haringey Advertiser and Barnet Press, came as a shock to staff, who were only told last Friday and whose jobs will finish this Friday. In all it will lead to 16 redundancies, of which six are editorial posts.- news editor, sports editor, sub-editor, trainee reporter, senior reporter and photographer.
The fact that the entire editorial team for papers covering three large London boroughs was so small explains why the local news content of the Gazette & Advertiser was so thin. However, the only surviving local paper, the Enfield Independent, has even less local news and some weeks has no reporting on Enfield borough at all.
However thin the reporting might be, both newspapers have been valuable because of their letters pages. Undoubtedly, both papers have been receiving many more letters than they have room for. What we don't know is whether or not they have been filtering out letters that contain views that the editors would prefer not to publish. If that is the case, the fact that there is now only one outlet for readers' letters will make it easier for editors to suppress unwanted views.
The loss of local newspapers is not confined to north London. Only a week ago Capital Media Newspapers went into administration, as a consequence of which the Kensington & Chelsea News, Fulham Chronicle, Hammersmith Chronicle and Shepherd’s Bush Chronicle are all expected to close.
In south London the Newsquest group of 11 newspapers and eight websites employs only 12 reporters and four content editors.
The crisis in local journalism was the subject of a parliamentary debate earlier this year. The London Assembly's economic committee is investigating local journalism in the capital and will be reporting later in the year. There is a proposal for the BBC to provide additional reporters for local newspapers, but this has run into criticism from some observers, who consider that this would simply allow the big groups who own almost all local papers to make further savings by sacking existing staff.
The inability of the local press to cover their areas in any depth creates a problem for local democracy, as it makes it difficult for residents to follow and understand the activities of their local councils at a time when many London boroughs are pursuing often controversial "regeneration" schemes - Haringey' "Development Vehicle" is a case in point. Barnet Council are under fire for contracting out a vast range of their services to the private company Capita and in recent months have made drastic cutbacks to their once exemplary library service (also now run by Capita).
(Source: Press Gazette website)
