Why Local Newspapers Should Webcast Their Local Government Meetings

Philip Stone February 29, 2008

There are rising complaints from local governments in the US that as newspapers cut back their editorial staffs a great deal of municipal affairs coverage no longer makes it into print. Well, if there aren’t the journalists to write about council, cabinet, and committee meetings then why not webcast them live?

Local cable access has been around for sometime in the US and Europe so in some communities it is possible to watch local government meetings from the comfort of one’s living room, but as newspapers are thinking of ways to get people to access their web site for local news then what could be more local for a newspaper than webcasting local government meetings? Democracy in action, and it brings people to the newspaper web site for long visits.

There’s an interesting experiment along that line going on in Bristol in the UK. The city council obtained a €100,000 (£75,000, $200,000) grant from the European Union to webcast its meetings on its own web site. But in what is thought to be a first in the UK, the regional Bristol Evening Post has teamed up with the council and also shows those same meetings on the newspaper’s web site.. Archives are available and search can be done by subject.

A visit to either the council’s site or the newspaper’s site has the same language promoting the webcasts and advises the reader of the option of seeing the webcast on the other’s site.

The newspaper approached the council with the idea and the council basically said, “Why not?”

Kevin Blackadder, the Evening Post’s assistant editor, explained, “We approached the city council as we felt it would add something to our existing in-paper coverage and add a new feature to our website. The aim is to encourage interest in the council’s activities.” Around 200 people are thought to have watched the first webcast. “We expect interest to grow,” said Mike Norton, Evening Post editor.

None of this is the same as having a reporter prowling through the hallways and asking the awkward questions that officials wish weren’t asked, but at least it’s a way of getting public events in front of the community.

City officials in many communities are complaining that the local media just aren’t covering local government like they used to. In Mountain View, California, for instance, home to Google and the recipient of Google’s gift of a free WiFi network, the city manager has told the weekly Mountain View Voice the consolidation of the daily newspaper media in the Bay Area has cut down local newspaper coverage of what is happening in city government.

He said that two daily newspapers used to cover the city – The San Jose Mercury News, the Palo Alto Daily News, plus The Voice. Dean Singleton’s MediaNews bought the Mercury-News and the Daily News, and Duggan notes, “We seemed to get a lot more calls from the Daily a few years ago. He said the Mercury News used to have a dedicated reporter on the beat –“we don’t at this point to my knowledge.”

And coverage of Mountain View is a perfect example of how MediaNews is consolidating reporting between all of its Bay Area publications to prevent repetition. It obviously saves money if just one reporter covers for many newspapers (think news agency) but it also means an end to competitive journalistic local government reporting, and, that’s not good for the public. The money people will tell you that’s life these days.

What’s happens now is that the Mercury News and The Daily now share their stories, with each newspaper notifying the other each day which stories it is working on to ensure no duplication.

“If you look closely at the last year or so, you’ll see MediaNews newspapers haven’t scooped  each other on a story yet. I’m concerned because in some cities, there is just one reporter covering a beat. That’s not enough,” Duggan explained.

Refreshing to hear a government official wanting more newspaper scrutiny of his city’s activities.

“What it means for us is we just need to work harder to communicate with the public through our newsletter and the Web site,” Duggan said. Webcasting council meetings could be a good start.

If daily newspapers aren’t willing to cover local communities as they once did then it’s a natural editorial niche for the weekly, such as The Voice, to claim. Perhaps a sign of the times is the announcement by the weekly Sawyer County Record in Wisconsin that it has bought a video camera and plans to start this month giving its online readership a video view of what is happening in their local government.

The newspaper said on its website, “Under the protections afforded the press and citizens at large by the open meetings laws in Wisconsin, the Record will have the ability to record video segments of county, city and school board meetings and any other public events. We won’t be broadcasting entire meetings but will provide video news reports highlighting important meeting details. When news happens you can expect to see the coverage both online and in the newspaper at length.”

It’s not live webcasting, but it’s a start, and it should draw people to the web site.