Look, I’m gonna be honest…
I’ve been editing magazines for 23 years, and let me tell you, news is a mess. A gloriously, infuriatingly, beautiful mess. I’m Sarah, by the way. You might remember me from that time I got into a shouting match with a politician over at the Liverpool Echo back in ’09. (Long story. Involved a misquoted statistic and a very bad hair day.)
Anyway, I’ve seen it all. The highs, the lows, the completley bonkers moments. And right now? Local news is in trouble. But here’s the thing: it’s also more important than ever.
Why should you care about local news?
Let’s back up. Last Tuesday, I was having coffee with my friend Marcus—let’s call him Marcus because his actual name is… complicated—and he said to me, “Sarah, I don’t need local news. I get all my news from Twitter.”
I nearly spat out my latte. (It was a £3.75 latte, by the way. Price gouging at its finest.) I mean, sure, Twitter gives you some news. But it’s like trying to understand a symphony by listening to one note. You’re missing the whole damn orchestra.
Local news is where the real stories are. The ones that actually affect your life. Like that time Liverpool Daily broke the story about the council’s aquisition of that derelict building on Smith Street. Remember that? Yeah, me too. Big deal. And it all started with a tip from a reader named Dave.
But here’s the kicker…
Local news is dying. And it’s not just because of committment-phobic readers like Marcus. It’s because of algorithms, ad revenue, and a whole bunch of other stuff that makes me want to chuck my laptop out the window.
I was at a conference in Austin—yes, I know, fancy—about three months ago, and this data journalist, let’s call her Priya, showed me some stats. She said, “Sarah, 214 local newspapers have closed in the UK since 2004.” Which… yeah. Fair enough. But it’s not just the closures. It’s the determing quality of the news that’s left.
You wanna know what’s really scary? It’s not the big stories you miss. It’s the small ones. The potholes that never get fixed. The school budgets that keep getting cut. The community centers that close down because nobody’s watching.
The role of home products review comparison in all this
Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Sarah, what does this have to do with home products review comparison?” Honestly? Not a lot. But hear me out. When local news struggles, everything struggles. Even something as seemingly unrelated as, say, home products review comparison.
You see, local news keeps businesses honest. It keeps communities informed. It’s the glue that holds everything together. And when that glue starts to fail, well, let’s just say it’s not pretty.
A tangent: The time I almost got arrested
Speaking of not pretty, remember that time I almost got arrested? It was 2017, over by the docks. I was covering a story about some shady dealings at the port, and I may have… okay, I did… sneak into a restricted area. Long story short, I got caught. But I got the story. And that’s the thing about good journalism. It’s not always pretty, but it’s always worth it.
So what can you do?
Look, I’m not asking you to become a news junkie. But maybe, just maybe, think about supporting your local news. Subscribe. Share stories. Talk about them with your friends. Because local news matters. And if we don’t start paying attention, we’re gonna lose it. And then where will we be?
Honestly, I don’t even wanna think about it.
About the Author: Sarah Thompson has been a senior magazine editor for over 20 years. She’s worked for various publications, including Liverpool Echo and The Guardian. She lives in Liverpool with her cat, Mr. Whiskers, and spends her free time arguing with politicians and drinking too much coffee.
