Ordinarily the closure of a long-standing, well-respected business that has served the community for 150 years would be front page news in these papers. The journalists would conjure up their most emotive language to blast the bosses that made the decision and there’d be vox pops from some of the employees about how badly it’s being handled and how let down they feel after years of loyal service.
Yet when the decision makers are the bean counters at the Trinity Mirror Group and the employees are the journalists at these papers, the opportunity for scrutiny of the decision and a campaign to keep the Mid-Somerset Newspapers in Mid-Somerset is pretty limited. Those who write these papers every week have bills to pay and careers to build. With a proprietor focused on cutting costs, making a nuisance of yourself isn’t that wise.
So we need to make some noise for them. The Wells Journal, Shepton Mallet Journal, Central Somerset Gazette and Cheddar Valley Gazette are an important part of the communities they report on. They can’t always get a photographer to your jumble sale, they won’t always print your letter or press release and they certainly don’t always write the things that I’d like them to about me, but they are genuinely local newspapers brought to us by people who care about our towns and villages.
The Mirror Group will say that the papers are still there, they’re just being pieced together elsewhere. They’ll say the journalists needn’t be in the office in Yeovil, they can be out and about in their patches. Perhaps, but I’m sceptical. And what’s more, if it were the Daily Mirror reporting on a decision like this from a big multi-national business or the Government, they’d be sceptical too.