By Remy Raitt

Community papers remain the best source of hyper-local news and should promote civic participation and socio-economic rights and enhance community relations. Mandy King, the editor and publisher of Media24 community titles DistrictMail and the Helderberg Gazette says community papers are extremely important as they serve the market in ways that sold and free sheet papers do not.

Local is lekker

“They serve markets that are often forgotten by mainstream media who often have a national or international focus,” King says. “Our papers give readers an idea of what’s happening in their little 'dorpie' or area. These people want to know about the stars and dark horses in their communities and they have a right to know.”

Editor of Grocott’s Mail, South Africa’s oldest independent newspaper, Sue Maclennan, agrees, saying that community newspapers have the power to change the reader’s daily experience. “Community papers could and should possess a continuity function, connecting people with ideas.”

Possession of power

“Our role is to tell people what is happening directly around them,” says Maclennan. “At a community level there is so much opportunity for readers to influence what is happening around them. We give people the information they need to be proactive at different levels.”

Maclennan quotes the common saying “give news that you can use”. She says once readers are equipped with the knowledge and insights the paper can provide, they have the opportunity to improve their communities.

Real-life reporting

King says that community newspapers “are a mirror image of what’s going on in that area”. And because editorial staff are generally members of the community themselves they have unprecedented insight and ability to cover stories that matter.

Maclennan further stresses that hyper-local news should serve the function of informing the local public what’s happening directly around them.

Reflecting diversity

And because South Africa is such a multi-cultural country, community papers must strive to serve every member of that area. King says this can be tricky. “In relation to demographics, it’s the newspaper’s responsibility to produce content that strikes a balance. It’s an uphill battle to achieve this kind of fair coverage.”

In an effort to produce balanced and inclusive news Maclennan says Grocott’s Mail has plans to physically branch out into the community so that readers are able to approach them.

Digital connections

Maclennan says that as their paper moves further into the digital sphere, so does their interactions with the Grahamstown community. “The role of the community has developed in the digital space at Grocott’s. We are talking to readers and engaging far more. It provides instant responses and gives us a much better sense of who’s interested in the kinds of issues we are focusing on.”

Pros and cons

As an independently published paper, Grocott’s Mail’s biggest challenge is money. “We struggle each month due to shrinking budgets,” she says. “I think the corporates at commercial papers have more room to maneuverer.”

But Maclennan says this presents a bright side. “We are forced to work with what we have and to find ways of being economical, which pushes us to really focus on what is going on around us.”

And at the end of the day, that is a community newspaper’s most important function; to provide news and entertainment about the community, for the community.

Do you read a community paper? What function does it serve?