EDITOR ON TOUR #4: How one newspaper ensures readers in both Blackburn and Burnley get value for money

Lancashire Telegraph

TAKE a quick glance at the page ones of these two daily newspapers...

A mate of mine visiting from up north dropped them on my desk last night and, when I found them this morning, my first instinct was to start assessing what I thought were publications from separate days.

Even the front page adverts were different.

And with the heavy editionising continuing on 11 of the 12 local news pages, it wasn't until I got to the Motors section on page 15 that I realised that both editions were from yesterday, Thursday November 12.

The Lancashire Telegraph has two editions, the 'home' one serving Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

But readers in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale are not short-changed just because they don't host the paper's headquarters.

As well as multiple change pages on news, the editions also proudly display major sports changes from Blackburn Rovers to Burnley FC, as can be seen here...

Even the paper's 'lookingback' nostalgia section gives readers specific local history and memories from their own areas....

Now that takes a bit of effort, but the result is a classy example of the importance of 'local, local, local' newspapers.

Yes, flick through the media industry websites and you'll find that the Lancashire Telegraph, published by Newsquest, has had its share of cost savings in recent years.

It's gone overnight; district offices have been closed; it's switched its printing to Deeside, Flintshire; there have been editorial redundancies, etc.

Despite these cutbacks, there is obviously no distraction on the editorial floor from providing the best local news service possible for its different sets of readers.

And there is no predominance of press release fodder. There are plenty of hard news stories, court convictions, council rows and local human interest reports throughout.

They've even got local MP and Justice Secretary Jack Straw to write a weekly, mostly readable column.

It's what a committed editorial team led by a hard taskmaster editor can achieve.

No wonder readers in both edition areas continue to shell out their 40p a day.

While sales have fallen, they are only 6.2% down to 28,569 in the latest ABCs, which is a better-than-average performance during the current downturn.

Top marks for the attention to local detail to editor Kevin Young and team.

I'm sure this dedicated service to readers will see the Lancashire Telegraph through the current recession.