Why print is more important than ever for this title
Print isn’t dead — it’s more important than ever.
That’s not a commonly-heard view, but it’s one strongly held by the editor of a community newspaper in Leeds.
In May, South Leeds Life marked its 10th anniversary. The publication started with 12, full colour tabloid pages, and now boasts a pagination double that — and prints 6,000 copies a month, distributed through around 200 pick up points, such as libraries, schools, shops, mosques and community centres.
Editor Jeremy Morton said: “Many people aren’t online and if they are, they may not necessarily find South Leeds Life. There is a big digital deficit, so this is a good way of putting local community news and information in front of people.
“We also went into print because we thought it would be an easier way of getting advertising, as people aren’t interested in advertising on the website.
“People say they love print. Local organisations offered to support us financially as a result, and readers can pay a pound a week to support us. They value the website, but not in the same way.
“At the start of the week I’m always worried about how I’m going to fill it all, but by the end I almost always have too much. People still love seeing their name in the paper. People Tweet out photos of their cuttings in the paper, but don’t say anything about the fact that the article went online the week before.
“In the past funding to print the papers has come from direct appeals to readers for financial, saying ‘we’ve got enough for the next issue but we may not have for future ones’. “Without doing that, the paper wouldn’t still exist, and the website would have gone by the wayside too.
“Community organisations tell us they can network better and understand what other organisations are doing thanks to what we do. This is why they sponsor us.”
Jeremy’s view echoes that of Ross Hawkes, who looked his long-established hyperlocal news site, Lichfield Live, into print with the Lichfield Independent earlier this year.
An initial four-edition run proved successful, so the paper has continued.
At the time, Ross said: “We’ve always been told Lichfield and Burntwood needed a newspaper, but we still weren’t sure whether that would be the reality when the first papers were taken out to different locations.
“But the response has been fantastic and has far exceeded our initial hopes with many locations seeing their supply of newspapers picked up in double quick time.
“Our small team of volunteers has now distributed all of our 5,000 copies to the different locations and we’re so grateful to all of the collection points who have allowed people to pick up a paper from their premises.”
