Complaining about new rules on [curtailing] press freedom, the Midweek Herald takes out a whole page ad to defend it.

A quote from the ad:

““For generations the Midweek Herald and other newspapers have fulfilled a crucial role by challenging injustice, safe in the knowledge that if we are right then no amount of money, influence or power can stop us telling the truth”

Can anyone recall the last time that the Midweek Herald stood up for injustice? When was the last time a local Archant newspaper used the Freedom of Information Act to reveal an injustice or bending of facts?

The Archant Group, of which the Midweek Herald is part, gets 90% of EDDC’s advertising budget. Advertising is how newspapers make their money and everyone is naturally wary of biting hands that feed them.

However, usually it is the two other local newspapers, that get very little EDDC revenue (“View from” titles and “Express and Echo”) that break controversial news or make a stand on injustices – or name the names of powerful people getting up to no good.

ALL local newspapers these days are somewhat guilty of passing off press releases from regular contributors as news. It is usually quite clear to see when this happens, as only the slightest bit of tweaking is done to them and you can put the local newspapers side by side and see that the same hand wrote 90% of the words. Or sometimes they are not even tweaked at all and the same identical prose is used.

That isn’t all bad – news about local clubs, societies, churches etc is welcome.

But if an organisation employs people whose job title includes the word “journalist” then we expect the news BEHIND the headlines, which is often very, very different to the “news” in a press release.

Any organisation that employs a “Communications Manager” or a “Press Officer” does so to micro-manage the information leaving that organisation and avoid negative press – that’s their job.

A good journalist might need to sup with the devil but does not have to give free publicity to the devil’s favourite drink.