My local paper is the Trinity Mirror-owned Hammersmith & Fulham Gazette, a weekly paper that costs 60p, operates out of Hounslow and covers the Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham Council areas of West London with localised editions. H&F News is operated by Hammersmith & Fulham Council and delivered free to an ABC-audited 75,500 people every fortnight, dubbed "The local paper for Hammersmith residents".
The latest edition of the council paper has six pages of display ads, a property supplement and cover wrap, plus three pages of public notices and planning applications relating to Hammersmith & Fulham Council. It is the only ABC-audited council-run paper in London.
The Trinity Mirror paper, part of the Ealing & Acton Gazette series, has an ABC of 10,784, just over 2,000 of which are in Hammersmith and Fulham. It has eight pages of display ads, three classified, three jobs, an Ealing edition property supplement and 1.5 pages of public notices - all from Ealing Council, none from Hammersmith & Fulham. Unlike the council product, it has a note about journalists conforming to the Press Complaints Commission code on its flannel panel.
The splash in the Trinity Mirror paper outlines concerns about a dangerous road in Shepherd's Bush where two children have been knocked down recently, prompting a petition to Hammersmith & Fulham Council. There is no mention of this in the council paper, which has a puff piece about the council extending after-school care across the borough on its front page, one of many plugs for council initiatives throughout the paper.
Council-run competitors are a factor forcing local papers to cut resources to make their products viable commercially, which has a knock-on effect on quality and coverage. The council product feels more "local" because its resources are concentrated on Hammersmith and Fulham, not spread thinly across two large boroughs. But I doubt you'll ever see a story in it criticising the way the area is run. If it eventually puts the Gazette out of business, it will be a sad day for local democracy - and a sad day for the future of local newspapers.
Steve Barrett is editor of Media Week, steve.barrett@haymarket.com
www.mediaweek.co.uk/stevebarrettblog