Sponsored by
The voice of the Peak community - LOCAL NEWSPAPER WEEK
LOCAL is the new national when it comes to politics, the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, said in Buxton on Monday.
A passionate "localiser", the MP for South West Surrey visited the Buxton Advertiser and described local papers as the "voice of the community".
He wants council services to be run by people at the most local level possible: "I think the next big job in British politics is going to be to push services lower down in a serious and meaningful way to local communities because people are passionate about their local communities."
"It's part of human nature to care deeply about things that are going on around you.
"Local newspapers hold local councils to account and they basically stitch together the fabric of local communities.
"If you believe as I do that you should be giving more responsibility to local communities and trusting them to take responsibility for the direction that their communities follow, then you need to have an effective way of holding them to account - and that's where local newspapers are incredibly important."
Mr Hunt is calling for a relaxation of the competition rules which at the moment prevent local newspapers from becoming involved in local radio and television.
In America, towns with populations as low as 12,000 had their own TV stations, and with co-operation from regional and national broadcasters, there was no reason why Buxton and the High Peak could not, in conjunction with newspapers, produce something similar.
But they had to meet the challenge of new technology, especially the internet.
"If local newspapers are kept to the model that says all they can do is print 'news on trees', then they are going to be superseded by technology sooner or later," warned Mr Hunt.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Buxton
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy snow
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: West
