Has the Champion hit a new low with this week gossamer thin Christmas edition?

At just 28 pages (that’s 14 in the old broadsheet style) QLocal’s Roger Blaxall was shocked to count over 20 press releases, some of which were used almost word for word as bona fide news reports, complete with by lines from reporter Henry James. The paper was padded out by ‘smiling’ Jim Sharpe’s usual excellent ‘One man and his dog’ article and some local seasonal news from Christmas fairs and the like.

Most of the PR’s were from the usual suspects, the County and Borough councils, the hospital trust’s PR office, the NWAS and HMRC - which supplied the lead story - and one from Adrian Owens and the OWL party.

In a way it’s easy to see why the Champ.- and for that matter the Advertiser - use so many press releases in each issue, and not just at Christmas. Gone was the time when they could be considered ‘local’ newspapers being located in Southport and Liverpool respectively and it’s very rare to see one of their reporters actually out and about in the Ormskirk area reporting news; one work experience reporter who worked in the Champ. newsroom told of how many stories are simply follow ups of reader’s letters.

Yes, QLocal Ormskirk also uses press releases but is proud to post a great deal of unique local content, too.

Back in the late 70’s Roger Blaxall and his NUJ colleagues all came out on strike over pay issues at the Advertiser. Imagine picking up an Addy each week written by editor the late, great Derek Appleton and filled with – you guessed it – press releases...