Local newspapers continue to matter in digital age

This week marks Journalism Matters week in the United Kingdom, an initiative designed to highlight the important role of local newspapers in democratic society.

Mike Sheridan, writing for the Powys County Times, explains how local newspapers continue to matter in the digital age, which has been the hardest age for the news industry.

The internet has blown apart the traditional revenue model of newspapers, and in an era where most people get their news online, print titles have had to find new ways of supporting journalism while the advertising revenues which papers once relied on to fund their newsrooms have increasingly been hoovered up by the new media platforms over at Google and Facebook.

Although the industry is changing and local journalism may be beleaguered, reporters’ steadfast commitment to good, honest reporting will march on.

A Facebook algorithm cannot ask a politician an awkward question about a policy that has negatively affected their constituents, a Google adword cannot listen to someone’s story, research their point of view and produce a case for resolving their injustice.