Why local matters

Local.

Matters.

Local matters.

It’s all the same to me really. It’s my staple diet.

I’ve been carrying around a notebook since I was 18 years old. In fact, when I was 12, I bought a GP-branded reporter’s notebook with a green cover from my local shop. It’s been my stock-in-trade for more than 35 years. And it still gives me a buzz.

I’ve worked with dozens of reporters over that time. Except some of them have never really shown themselves to be reporters. They haven’t demonstrated the attitude you need, what I would call the ‘hunger’ for the story – and the desire to maintain that hunger for years.

Some of them absolutely have. The best – Herbert Winterflood and Richard Digard are just two senior examples – were as hungry for a story on the day they retired as they were at their peak. ‘Winty’ even diverted on his way home on the afternoon that he retired, having been alerted to a drugs bust in a local pub.

They were hooked on stories. They craved the best stories, of course, the front-page exclusives, even in a less-crowded media market, but all stories.

The ‘what’s going on over there?’ stories. The ‘what’s happened to those trees / those buildings?’ stories. Picking up on the throwaway line, almost hidden, in a politician’s speech.

The desire to look at the proposed remede for parish rates, and to ask the question of what £100,000 is going to be spent on next year.

The enthusiasm which sees us give up weekends to stand on touchlines, notebook in hand, bringing you the match reports of the games that matter.

The courage it sometimes takes to approach a person in an awkward situation. To know what to do, and how to conduct yourself at a bad accident, while still producing the story that people will want to know about.

Stories big and small. Important and apparently minor.

When I was a young lad training in the newsroom at Braye Road we had a few lines to define ‘What is news?’

‘Something that somebody, somewhere, wants suppressed’ was quite a good one.

But personally I always liked: ‘Everything that happens is news to someone.’

It’s why local matters.

And why we want you join us on the next stage of our journey.

Today, as well as us sporting a new look for the newspaper, we launch a sleek and smart new rebrand of ‘The Press’, and a long-awaited new website, better than ever before. I really hope you like the changes, and we’d welcome your feedback – newsroom@guernseypress.com.

In print, online, and on social – if it’s local, and it matters, we’ll be there for you.