Tag Archive > south london press

#lno10 - hyper about #hyperlocals

Jase » 26 September 2010 » In lambeth, south london » 5 Comments

I was left in a peculiar position at the London Neighbourhoods Online Unconference, held at the offices of Ofcom on Saturday. On the very same day that the Stockwell Festival was being staged, plus the Lambeth Archives Open Day, here I was, flying the online flag for Sunny Stockwell, just as I enter single digit days ahead of the Great Escape.

The Unconference itself wasn’t so much Talk About Local, but looking ahead to how #hyperlocals can help one other. I have new personal and professional challenges ahead of me. Meeting up with skilled #hyperlocal enthusiasts, and only good could come out of the collaboration and conversation.

The day itself was positioned perfectly as a move away from debate towards dialogue. I still have some reservations about the merits of an Unconference; essentially there is no agenda - you set it yourself.

Around one hundred or so #hyperlocals assembled early on Saturday morning with a stunning view looking upstream along the Thames from Southwark Bridge. The panoramic proved to be the inspiration, and fifteen minutes later, a shared agenda for workshops was put in place.

I chipped in with the slightly mischievous: Local authorities, local media and #hyperlocals: conflict or collaboration?

#lno10

This viewpoint obviously depends on precisely where your own #hyperlocal is positioned. Sitting here in Sunny Stockwell right now, and sadly the outlook is one of conflict.

A local authority back peddling to try and gain control of the local agenda, and a local newspaper that seemingly turns a blind eye to the sock puppeting style of the lead attack dog journo towards local blogs. This was a dialogue that I wanted to share with other London bloggers, to find out if Lambeth is unique in putting in place such high levels of suspicion.

The session itself became slightly confused. It appeared to crossover with a pre-planned Q & A with the very good @foodiesarah, who is responsible for the #hyperlocal network of sites at The Guardian.

The local authority element got mislaid, but instead we shared ideas about the relationship between bloggers and BIG (ish) media. It would have been decent if representation was here from BIG (ish) media, but with @SthLondonPress taking seven days to publish print copy online, and even a year to update a blog, (blimey) then I’m sure our family newspaper friends had better things to be doing.

The question was posed: are #hyperlocals the enemy? A spontaneous YES! resonated around the room. This *isn’t* by choice, but with the complete failure of BIG (ish) media around these parts to collaborate with the passionate informal network of local news junkies on the ground, this is often how it feels.

An excellent point was made in that media and life overlap. This is a proposition that BIG (ish) media can’t handle. The old linear model of reporting is still a one-way conversation, and the very pace of #hyperlocal life simply can’t translate to the painful process of publishing news content either offline, or even online by the BIG boys.

The collaboration element to the session proved to be the most contentious. @foodiesarah urged all #hyperlcoals to invoice, whenever BIG (ish) media lift our stories. It’s a fine principle to uphold, but the reality is that most of us can’t be arsed to file an invoice to a faceless organisation, and then wait around for a month for a poxy payment. You simply get on, do your thing and find new stories.

This theme then developed into a debate about what alternative form of payment could be accepted, if this collaboration could ever work. Most in the room favoured online links as a form of currency.

#hyperlocals do whatever it is that they do, not for the dosh, but for the sharing and collaboration, plus the passion for their own #hyperlocal news patch. We have stories to tell that BIG (ish) media are too lazy to look out for. Ultimately it is about getting these stories heard.

The value of a link is priceless in terms of gaining momentum. If BIG (ish) media is going to persist and keep on lifting our copy, the very least they could do is to link back to the original. This raises your ranking within Google, and ultimately allows those #hyperlocal news stories to find a voice that BIG (ish) media ignore.

The second session that I attended was all about Finding an Editorial Voice and How to Run a Campaign. This developed more into a debate about moderation - which was nice. It was very useful though for a possible project in the pipeline post the Great Escape.

My contribution was that I don’t believe that anyone deliberately decides to find an editorial voice, or even put in place a campaign. Put crudely - you just do it. #hyperlocals react to what they see around them. Any campaign, formal or otherwise, is simply what follows next.

I shared my experience regarding the bonkers 5am licence for Kelly’s just off the Clap’ham Road. I didn’t realise that I was caught up in the middle of a campaign until I started to become the central point for emails between local residents, councillors and the local police.

I made the point that the most valued contribution that #hyperlocals can make towards a campaign is simply getting the story out there. This was always my sole intention with the bonkers 5am licence. What followed is that m’blog somehow became the online space in which offline action was co-ordinated.

Making Connections and Linking London was a session led by mattfromlondon and @Londonist. Having demoed Londonist during the lunch break, Matt was interested in hearing how the Londonist network can engage the many London #hyperlocals.

I personally veer away from any collective form of blogging. I feel uncomfortable with the “we think…” editorial style. *I* think, which is all part of the process for me in offering one opinion on a #hyperlocal news patch.

I suggested to Matt that Ken Vs Boris will be key for @Londonist. I came up with the idea of actively recruiting a Ken flag waver and a Boris flag waver. This isn’t going to be an objective contest in which to report from the #hyperlcal hustings. Opinions matter out there. The collective “we” will be weakened compared to the singular “I.”

The final session I attended sounded intriguing: How Does #bigsociety Fit into #hyperlocal?

#lno10

My observation was that #bigsociety, its #lambethcoop little brother and #hyperlocal, all share the common theme of having no dosh. The point was made that politicians don’t seem to recognise that #hyperlocals get things fixed, *without* any initial co-operation from politicians. In my micro patch and blogging about Palfrey Place, or the bonkers 5am licence has led to real action on the ground.

I offered up the point that you should see the story through to the conclusion. It may be a pain to keep on going back over old ground, but online context (and links) are everything. It has led me to understand the complete process that is still rumbling around the botched @LambethLabour email hack, not to mention the continued Streatham Hub strife. Sadly I won’t be around for the next decade to see the Streatham saga through to an end game.

Safer Neighbourhood Panels were mentioned as an example of how #bigsociety and #lambethcoop are doomed to fail. At best, a dozen people turn up at a SNP each month. This is a meeting that truly empowers the local community - you get to set the targets for your local police for each quarter.

If such apathy takes place at such a key decision making process, then you can see how I fail to get excited about #lambethcoop and the empty rhetoric of Power to the People. We elect (and pay) politicians to make these decisions for us.

And that was just about yer lot. An incredibly demanding day, but an excess of ideas and enthusiasm for me to take away for the next challenge. The Many Voices model worked rather well, and led to some genuine collaboration.

But in a day of shared conversations, co-operation and planning, it was perhaps apt that a singular tweet, tagged with the #lno10 hashtag, probably summed up best the London Neighbourhoods Online Unconference:

“If you want to get something done set up network, slow it down, set up an organisation.”

Many thanks to Networked Neighbourhoods for organising such a worthwhile event. Let’s build upon this optimism.

#lno10

#lno10

#lno10

#lno10
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Pulp Fiction

Jase » 07 June 2010 » In lambeth, south london » No Comments

In a speech that could have been written with our friends @SthLondonPress being used as the primary case study, no surprises to hear the ex-editor of Trinity Mirror’s Birmingham Post declaring:

“The regional press doesn’t get the modern interweb.”

Or something similar.

I share the same sentiments as Marc Reeves, who ahead of his keynote speech to the West Midlands’ CBI later this week, states:

“Don’t feel sorry for it [the regional press]“

It should be a marriage made in heaven - a dedicated team of #hyperlocal journos operating in a #hyperlocal news patch, coming together to work with the local community and helping to share information and resources online.

Instead we are stuck here in South London with the same dated, dinosaur model of top down publishing. Copy appears online as an after thought, with the self-inflated assumption that users readers will respect the restrictions of the old school press day.

The South London Press has been highly successful in recent years in breaking some truly significant local news stories. Staff clearly understand the regional press publishing model, as well at the local news patch inside out. The ability of the publication to provide decent news copy is not under question.

Sadly this hasn’t been transferred over to the modern interweb. Imagine how truly community focussed this approach could be online. Contacts could be made using social media tools, copy sourced, leading to genuine collaboration between users and staff.

It is a conversation that is just waiting to happen, and one that would benefit the local area immensely. Hiding away behind anonymous blog comments doesn’t help to aid the co-operation, or the sharing of local partnerships.

Reeves continues:

“…the regional newspaper industry in particular was structurally incapable of adopting the entrepreneurial approach that is the only option available when almost every aspect of your business model is rendered obsolete.”

I wouldn’t be quite as harsh as this here in South London. I believe that there is an entrepreneurial approach locally. For whatever reason, it doesn’t include the modern interweb.

For a change to happen, it has to come from the people at grass roots who actually know the news process, the news patch, and one would hope, even the modern interweb. You can’t rely upon the structured linear hierarchy of old style newspaper executives to make the changes. You just do it.

This has been the approach that allows budding young journos such as @ToddNash to be hired by the Express and Star, with an open remit to get the community involved online, and do it however he sees fit. @ToddNash’s enthusiasm and knowledge of the modern interweb will reap benefits to the West Midlands as a whole.

A similar South London Press online apathy is also replicated over in Croydon. @sdownes has made reference to the speech by Reeves in relation to the Croydon Advertiser. It is a theme that has been analysed previously by @sdownes, highlighting how a bland #hyperlocal approach to advertising has led to anything but #hyperlocal news stories.

Thankfully @SthLondonPress sticks to the well-defined local map. But with boroughs covering Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham, this footprint is simply too large to make sense locally online.

And so overlooking the red herring of the sex ads - which remain at best justification for the continuation of Lambeth Life, at worst a vile intrusion within the local community – and overlooking the online presence of @SthLondonPress as merely a means for regurgitating old news copy, and even overlooking the local personality squabbles that no one is really interested in (guilty as charged for being caught up in this,) I like to think that there is still hope for #hyperlocal news being provided by a traditional publishing house here in South London.

I don’t quite buy Reeves’ assertion that:

“Forward thinking, online-minded, digitally enabled newspaper groups are trying to fight with several limbs tied behind their backs.”

It needn’t be such a structural approach to making the online model work. Once again - just do it. See where the ride takes you. Hopefully you will be taking the local community along with you as well.

As ever, I welcome feedback, and hopefully co-operation and progression. Anonymous comments don’t really add much to the debate.

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That’s Life!

Jase » 28 April 2010 » In lambeth, south london » No Comments

And so the final ever edition of Lambeth Life has rolled off the printing presses and been delivered to the good people of the borough - all for 5p per issue, as the masthead is ever keen to point out.

Ah, but will issue #92 really be a fond farewell for everyone’s favourite local information news sheet? Can Lambeth Life limp along to reach centurion status?

That all depends on the electorate, and whether @LambethLabour retains control of @lambeth_council (and Lambeth Life,) or whether @LambethLibDems are running the Town Hall on May 7th and implementing their manifesto policy of pulping the council publication.

[Still waiting for clarification as to exactly where the LibDems would place the local authority statutory ads an alternative to Lambeth Life. One would imagine that our friends at @SthLondonPress are also wondering the same.]

But anyway - Lambeth Life, the last hurrah. Does the flag waving newspaper for all that is brilliant in the borough, keep up the pretence for (possibly) one final fling?

You betcha.

First off - are we out of purdah? I only ask because the politically persuasive headline of Primary Places For All is the lead in the latest edition of Lambeth Life:

“Lambeth schools are performing well, which makes them a popular choice for parents all over London.”

Nodding my head in agreement at the fine work that teachers, support staff and of course the kids are putting in at Lambeth schools (with a little help from @LambethLabour), but hang on - “a popular choice for parents *all* over London?

Um, shouldn’t Lambeth schools be for Lambeth kids? @LambethLabour has been quick to make political capital out of the building (and privatisation) of new schools in the borough.

Are we really building these new schools just so that some pushy parent across the *shhh* LibDem Southwark border can parachute Little Johnny into a decent Lambeth school?

And so the purdah friendly headline of: Primary Places For All is actually Primary Places For All of London - Not Just Lambeth.

It’s fine to boast about your rather good record in education, just be prepared for the consequences, should you shout about it a little *too* enthusiastically ahead of the election. It could come back to bite you on the backside when Lambeth kids can’t get a place in a Lambeth school ahead of the next local election.

Moving on…

Cash Counsellors is the headline in the panel on p2. Nope, it doesn’t refer to the Cash Councillors and the £40k a year that the career politicians in the @lambeth_council cabinet are trousering, but:

“A new service to help people get to grips with money is being offered in the borough.”

Immediately below is the Election Ward Finder. @janeinlondon / East Hampshire, of my local Oval / E Hants parish, may find some use for the:

“…new tool that makes it easier to find the polling station you need to cast your vote.”

Lambeth Life

The Lambeth Picture displays a rather decent photograph of some kids enjoying Windrush Square. The summer weather has really brightened up Brixton. Windrush Square *might* just become a central point for the community in which to meet.

The photo features a kid on a BMX riding through the water fountains - the cheeky scamp! Best stick to yer BMX, young lady. Skateboards are strictly out of bounds at Windrush Square, with local coppers coming down heavy on South London Yoof.

More serious matters are addressed under the headline of: Fire Safety Measures Stepped Up:

“Thousands of homes in Lambeth will be fitted with fire alarms this year as part of an ongoing initiative to improve safety.”

This is a move that can’t come soon enough, especially so considering the rather damning report that found that the council has only two fire certificates for the 112 housing blocks that come under the council stock.

Over to p5. and: Herne Hill Junction Almost Complete.

“A new junction designed to improve safety and cut down on tailbacks is now live [um, sort of...] Work has been going on at the Herne Hill junction opposite the entrance to Brockwell Park for almost a year.”

I prefer the LibDem analysis of:

“Whenever they [@LambethLabour] spot a green space in the borough, they seem to want to build on it. They talk openly these days about the new, exciting and improved Herne Hill Road Junction, formerly known as Brockwell Park.”

Ouch.

Herne Hill

Speaking of building upon green spaces, it is fitting that (possibly) the final edition of Lambeth Life has a Star Letter that licks the arse of Tesco and the compromise of a deal that allows the supermarket chain to build upon Streatham Common in return for an increased store space:

Lambeth Life

“Whilst I agree that it is far from ideal to have a temporary structure on the Common, am I the only one who thinks the overall Hub is a great opportunity for Streatham South?”

…asks Arabella McNeill of SW16.

Not at all. When / if the Hub is finally opened, I am sure it will be ace. It’s just the compromise deal to situate the continuity of ice provision, not to mention the temporary swimming pool and gym, on one of the last great green and treasured pieces of land in the borough that is so bruising.

Brilliant Brockwell is the headline for a second letter, with Keith Hindell agreeing that green space in Lambeth should be celebrated:

“In the fifty years of living in Dulwich I have never seen Brockwell Park look better. Everywhere the turf seems in good condition, for the dozen different sports being played informally, as well as sitting around for a picnic.”

Spot on. Brockwell Park is as brilliant as it is beautiful. The same goes for Vauxhall Park, Larkhall Park, Kennington Park and Clap’ham Common. The parks and public spaces in Lambeth are another success story in the borough over the past four years. Please let’s keep them green, rather than pimping them out as the pay off deal with giant supermarket chains.

Lambeth Life

How to Mend a Puncture on p15. is another great feature, with the friendly folk from Apex in Clap’ham giving a thirteen-point picture guide on how to do the dirty. I always seem to fall down around point number three. A decent and most useful use of local authority newspaper space.

Likewise for Wheels Start Rolling Again, the rather heart warming story on the back page of Lambeth Life, telling of how the Wheels for Wellbeing charity is back in business:

“A charity that lets people with disabilities enjoy cycling is back on track again, after an arson attack forced it to close last year. Wheels for Wellbeing began its Brockwell Park based cycle scheme last year, but was forced into an untimely closure when fire destroyed its base and all of its specially adapted bike.”

But will there be a similar happy ending for Lambeth Life? That is for the good people of Lambeth decide next week. Sure - there are more important issues to base your vote on, such as housing, education and the “financial tsunami” that is about to hit Lambeth PCT.

But a vote for @LambethLabour is also a vote for a return of the grinning politicians each fortnight, telling you exactly why they are worth £40k a year for a cabinet post.

A vote for @LambethLibDems is a vote for… well, I’m not entirely sure when it comes to Lambeth Life. The ‘information news sheet’ may be pulped, but what it will be replaced with is my concern.

That’s Life!

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The Journo, the Cllr & the Police Caution

Jase » 12 March 2010 » In lambeth, south london » 1 Comment

For all the political posturing within Lambeth ahead of the local elections, sometimes a story comes along that puts all the micro level real politik jostling into perspective.

The South London Press chief journalist responsible for covering the Lambeth patch has been arrested in connection with a common assault of a Lambeth Council cabinet member. Greg Truscott admitted the assault and received a police caution.

A mere caution for this level of offence seems incredibly lenient. Witness statements supporting the attack made this difficult for the solicitor representing Truscott to advise anything other than a confession. With no previous convictions, a caution was as far as the police could take the case.

There is no mention of any internal disciplinary punishment for an offence that is clearly a conflict of work interest. @SthLondonPress has finally caught up with the modern interweb and has created a twitter account. The conversation is all one way – requests for clarification have been ignored.

The implication for @SthLondonPress is one of absolute accountability. As we approach the local elections, any credibility on reporting @lambeth_council matters has now completely disappeared.

At least the local paper will have some form of excuse for its policy of not sending its chief Lambeth reporter to local council meetings. The paper fails its readership, the politicians get an easy ride and the local electorate loses out on any objective reporting.

Meanwhile, @streathamnews has picked up on the policy of the flagship local paper being funded by carrying ads for prostitutes. Tit for tat journalism benefits no one. The solution is for @SthLondonPress to finally come clean and stop being funded by the exploitation of women.

It would be one less stick for its opponents to beat the paper with and @streathamnews could go back to reporting proper political stories. It would also remove the justification by @lambeth_council for publishing Lambeth Life as the only means of printing statutory ads in a borough wide paper that is not funded by prostitution.

Common assaults and two pages of ‘adult service’ ads twice a week - why does Sir Ray Tindle still believe that he is publishing a family newspaper?

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Sex Trade and the South London Press

Jase » 16 February 2010 » In lambeth, south london » 23 Comments

A series of tweets exchanged with the good @CllrMarkBennett led me to believe that I have been giving the South London Press something of an easy ride of late. It’s a rum state of local political affairs when a council cabinet member is calling for the flagship paper to offer a more critical analysis of Lambeth politics.

The failure last week of @streathamnews to identify the difference between council press releases and hard news copy is insignificant when compared to the SLP’s poor presentation of the local news agenda, both online and offline.

It took five days for the SLP to report online about the major local meeting to decide on the future of the Streatham Hub. The location of the meeting was a mere 0.6 miles away from the Leigham Court HQ of the SLP. Clarification would be appreciated over the issue of SLP representation at the meeting.

But it’s not the sloppy reporting of the SLP that leads me to believe that the publication is probably best put out of its misery. The proud old masthead is being put to shame as the South London Press has now become nothing but a means for local prostitutes (and their pimps) to advertise their trade.

Two pages of ‘adult leisure’ adverts are carried in both the Tuesday and Friday print editions. You don’t need a scented handkerchief over your nose to understand what type of leisure is being offered:

Pandora’s Hot Box - massage and escorts

Relaxing Tooting Broadway Massage - luxury flat, discrete and classy [sic]

or even Dulwich Dolly’s - mature at it’s best.

SLP, 16/02/10

The defence from the SLP in being funded by the exploitation of women is that at least it is supporting the local economy. The print edition for 16th February carries prostitute ads for Suki in Streatham, right on the doorstep of the SLP’s Leigham Court HQ - which must make the SLP the pimp for poor Suki of Streatham.

It is widely accepted that the availability of online advertising is the reason why local newspapers such as the SLP are haemorrhaging both readers and revenue. Why then is the SLP happy to carry prostitute ads in print, but not online?

It’s fine for readers to physically make that phone call in response to a SLP prostitute ad, but to provide a direct online link to the sex trade is maybe seen as being culpable in the continuation of the exploitation of women.

Or maybe I’m just reading too much into the situation - the SLP online is poor; if it takes five days for a hard news story to appear on the website, then it’s no wonder few businesses, legit or otherwise, care to take out online ads.

Don’t even go behind the paywall - no one else does. I wonder if the prostitute ads actually appear for the punters that pay for the privilege of looking deep into the seedy bowles of the SLP online, page for page?

@langrabbie offers further analysis by stating:

SLP deliberately don’t have “real time” website publishing so people who might be in stories have to buy dead tree copy.”

This tells you all you need to know about the SLP: it just doesn’t get the modern interweb. Looking further up the dead tree hierarchy, and you get a sense of just how the SLP has managed to fail the local people in South London so poorly in recent years.

If you want to understand the real reason why the SLP is so poor at providing the electorate in South London with a deserved online analysis of the news agenda, then look no further than dear old Sir Ray Tindle.

The 83 year-old founder and chairman of Tindle Newspapers, Streatham born and bred, may understand the newspaper industry but he fails miserably when it comes to the modern interweb:

We have never followed trends“, such as “moving to the tabloid format“, [Tindle Newspapers] only embraces the internet in destinations where he knows there is an appetite for it.

The young people don’t buy papers, they read their mother’s paper. They then get married and then they want a flat, then they want a house, then they want a pram and a car. There’s no need to convert the paper into a jazzy thing.”

There’s also no need to convert the proud name of the South London Press into a jazz mag, Mr Tindle. And if by admission your target audience is “mothers,” then cripes - where the hell does the ‘adult leisure’ advertising fit into all of this?

@lambeth_council actually has some high morals (steady) over the seedy advertising that the SLP accepts. The council has recently put in place a prostitution strategy [pdf] to try and remove the sex trade from the borough.

Streatham has traditionally been the centre of the sex trade in Lambeth. The council took the decision to withdraw all advertising from the SLP, as a statement that such a seedy way of funding the newspaper will no longer be tolerated at the Town Hall:

I’m glad Lambeth withdrew advertising,” said Councillor Mark Bennett, the Cabinet Member for Community Safety. “It’s wrong to support a paper that profits from exploitation and sex-trafficking.”

It’s also wrong to support a paper that has become exceptionally poor in reporting local news online.

I have personally tried to address the failure of the South London Press, offering my online support to help transform the website into a genuine campaigning proposition. The tools are out there to deliver hard news copy that doesn’t take five days to turn around.

In return I received a thanks but no thanks from Hannah Walker, the Editor-in-Chief at the SLP. Fair enough. I was pricing myself probably north of the peanuts the SLP pays it’s journos.

Hannah is probably too busy anyway with her high profile responsibilities, sitting on the Editor’s Code of Practice Committee at the spineless Press Complaints Commission.

Oh the irony of the Leader of Lambeth Council submitting a complaint to the PCC about reporting in his local patch, only for the Editor in Chief of the paper also sitting on Code of Practice Committee of the PCC.

@cllrstevereed

I wonder if Hannah and her high-powered professionals ever discuss the funding of the SLP by prostitute adverts during their PCC board meetings?

Such a damning criticism of the South London Press isn’t meant to belittle the work carried out by the jobbing journos on the ground. This is a tough news patch to cover, with stories that often leave a high emotional impact upon staff.

As my minor run in with the SLP last year proved, the professional training that journos receive at the SLP is far from the norm of conceived industry practises.

As if being paid peanuts out of the prostitution money pot isn’t bad enough, SLP journos are then expected to supervise work experience kids that clearly aren’t suited to the job.

[Worth repeating a point of order: I wrote a weekly sports column for the SLP for four years. I was sporadically paid for a period of around a year, and then the payments dried up. I calculated that I trousered approximately £160 for around four hundred hours work in total. You can see why I went back to the autonomy of blogging.]

It’s a wonder that the paper actually appears twice a week (or even once a week online) such are the demands placed on the poorly paid staff. Perhaps this is why crucial council meetings aren’t attended?

I can’t say I really blame the jobbing journos, although attendance at Cabinet once a month would spoon feed the SLP with enough copy to fill it’s first five pages per week alone.

Hey hoe - I suppose that is what the cut and pasting of agency copy is here for, as the front page splash for this Tuesday so clearly demonstrates.

SLP, 16/02/10

Ah yes, about that cut and pasting of agency copy to fill a sorry excuse for a front page:

“A porn dealer who turned to drug smuggling after the internet ruined his magazine business…”

Overlooking the warped irony of the reporting by the SLP of a publishing business being ruined by the internet, there really is hypocrisy of the highest order taking place here.

Ever quick to demonise pornography and drugs, the SLP clearly has no issue in taking the filthy wonga from this very same industry to finance it’s own operation.

Ah, just another #hyperlocal young (ish) upstart, wanting to lay the online boot into BIG (ish) local media, comes the cry from my critics. Yes, and no. I truly believe that the next three months in Lambeth are crucial to the long term regeneration of our area.

The electorate had the choice on May 6th to make political decisions that will have a direct consequence on the “financial tsunamiaffecting Lambeth PCT, the opening up of education to the private sector, and yes, leisure and the whole Streatham Hub farce.

For the flagship local newspaper to simply transcribe @audioboo recordings for its news copy (as seems to possibly be the case,) is a betrayal of the relationship between reporter and reader.

BIG (ish) media ‘aint for me, both as a content producer and consumer. I couldn’t work with the restrictions placed upon reporting, not to mention the painfully slow turn around of content as the daily news cycle becomes a weekly rehash online. Being paid out of the money gained from the exploitation of women in the sex industry would sit uncomfortably with me as well.

Which all leads to the conclusion:

What the hell is the point of the South London Press?

As long as (i) it is being continued to be funded by the exploitation of women in South London and (ii) major news stories are ignored online, then the South London Press can no longer be considered as a proper newspaper.

Come back @streathamnews, all is forgiven.

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