The News, and who decides what we should know in the world?

[Cowley]

There’s something I’ve noticed in recent years with news coverage that highlights a difference (to me) in how news stories are followed-up compared with news from years ago.

I can’t quite put my finger on it but a trend these days seems to heavily cover a news story in a very short space of time, but with very little follow-up (or none) some weeks later. Some recent (non-COVID) news stories worthy of follow-up end up disappearing without trace.

That’s an interesting observation and something I’ve noticed a few times too. Not sure why it is though.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

There’s something I’ve noticed in recent years with news coverage that highlights a difference (to me) in how news stories are followed-up compared with news from years ago.

I can’t quite put my finger on it but a trend these days seems to heavily cover a news story in a very short space of time, but with very little follow-up (or none) some weeks later. Some recent (non-COVID) news stories worthy of follow-up end up disappearing without trace.

That’s an interesting observation and something I’ve noticed a few times too. Not sure why it is though.

I would agree with this point entirely.

You would think that, as a means of keeping your readers buying in future, that following up on stories would be a good (and relatively easy) way of doing so. Bring them in with the headline story and by reading in that issue updates on other previous stories, the reader knows that that is the place to go to for future updates on the current headline story. Such things ought to be the bread and butter for local journalism. Once you have the contacts from the initial story, it just needs a prompt in your calendar to call and check on progress. You can even recap the previous story to pad out the update article.

But, as suggested, I think many local papers no longer see it as their job to provide comprehensive coverage of local news, nor to have any understanding / long term interest in issues.

My local paper, or at least it's website (a Reach operation) basically seems to be very thinly disguised advertorial, but without stating it as such. Add to that trawls of Facebook for local people moaning about anything and then write that up as copy, in a click-baity way, to attract the venom of the below-the-line public commentators. Then report that venom itself as 'news'. eg What our readers said about X,Y,Z.