Press Release
23rd May 2001
Full Text of Duncan McNeil's Speech on Local Newspaper Week
(Scottish Parliament, Wednesday 23rd May 2001)
We will hear, I am sure, a lot in the next half hour or so about the role that many different local newspapers play in communities throughout Scotland and about the contribution they make to civic life.
My own local paper, The Greenock Telegraph is as much a fixture of local life as the Town Hall or the River Clyde.
In fact, I should perhaps, Presiding Officer, before going any further, declare an interest in this. I am a former employee of the Telegraph, delivering, as I did, the paper between the years of 1963 and 1965. (Little did I know then that the skills I learned doing battle with furious dogs and lethal garden gates, just to reach a rusty letterbox would stand me in good stead for my future career.)
One of the features which sets local newspapers apart from their national counterparts is that their stories have a direct impact on the lives of their readers. A million miles away from a national paper, as GK Chesterton put it, "saying ‘Lord Jones Dead’ to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive."
Rather, local papers act as a focal point for community life chronicling hatches; dispatches; matches in the church or on the football field; academic achievements; court reports and other public events.
Local Newspapers also provide a level of scrutiny for local elected representatives which broadcast and other national media simply cannot provide. And however much we may rant and rage about how they cover a particular story, we know in our heart of hearts that it is good for democracy and for the political process.
Local papers also help people who have left the area - or indeed the country - to keep in touch. To return to the Telegraph, a short column I write every week about goings on in this place has my email address at the bottom. I am amazed by the number of emails I receive from ex-Greenockians working for IBM in Raleigh, or for an engineering firm in Canada, or in the construction industry in Italy who have read the paper and are seeking my opinions, or asking me to make representations on their behalf.
And let’s not forget the campaigning role these papers have. They have the resources and local knowledge to run campaigns which bring matters of local concern to the attention of the wider public.
Local papers have another crucial role: They are also a window on their community, giving us a unique opportunity to present all that is positive within our area to a wider audience.
This is assisted by STV’s Lunchtime Scotland Today and BBC Scotland’s Newsdrive, both of whom review the local papers on a daily basis. I welcome this and, in the interests of including as much of Scotland as possible, would like to see it widened to include the weekly titles.
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So what about The Telegraph itself?
Launched on 18th March 1857 at a price of 2d, the Greenock Telegraph was originally published every Wednesday and Saturday. Two years later, the paper became thrice weekly and the price was halved to a penny.
Then, in 1863, the paper became Britain’s first halfpenny daily newspaper. This caused others, such as the South Shields Gazette, Glasgow Evening Citizen, London Echo, Belfast Telegraph and the Paisley Express to follow suit - doing a great deal to bring cheap, reliable newspapers to the British people.
For 144 years, the Greenock Telegraph has reported, with its unique local angle, many historic events: Emigration from Scotland to the New World; both World Wars - especially Greenock’s Blitz; the dark days when the yards closed; not to mention countless General and Local Elections.
Indeed, looking through the archives, I found a public notice which may interest today’s politicians. It was from the 1946 General Election, inviting members of the public to book their tickets at 1/-6 a time to come and hear Ernest Bevin at a political meeting in Cappielow Park. In the event that the meeting was oversubscribed, however, people were not to worry as arrangements had been made for an overflow meeting to be addressed by the local candidate, Hector McNeil.
But it’s when you read the more everyday stories that you get a real insight into how life in your own community was all those years ago.
Reading the court report pages from those days, for example, I was surprised to see how many people were imprisoned for their beliefs. They believed that the night watchman was sleeping; they believed the woman’s husband was on night shift....
Keeping pace with changes in technology, the paper is today printed daily, in colour. And the figures show that, despite the challenges posed by television, radio and the Internet, Inverclyde people still turn to the Tele for their night's news.
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The display board sitting in the lobby of our office block says something to the effect that an effective Parliament relies on an informed people.
Local newspapers are the primary source of news on how we, as local or list members, are representing them. So if this is to be a truly accessible, inclusive Parliament, we must ensure that local newspapers are fully involved.
ENDS
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