Local Newspapers

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2015 Westminster Hall

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under you as Chair, Mr Rosindell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), the hon. Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell), who is not here, and the hon. Member for Maldon (Mr Whittingdale) for going to the Backbench Business Committee to secure this important debate.

I also pay tribute to the previous Chair, Sir Hugh Bayley. I wanted to make these remarks while he was here, and I told him I would be making them, but he has now left. This may well be the last debate he chairs—it is certainly the last debate in which I will appear before him—because he is retiring. I pay tribute to him for all his efforts in the House. He was actually in the Speaker’s Chair when I made my maiden speech, and it would have been nice to complete the circle, but that is not to be. However, I have you, Mr Rosindell, which is just as good.

[Andrew Rosindell (in the Chair)]

Thank you.

[Valerie Vaz]

I do not know whether hon. Members are aware of this, but one of my earliest jobs, before I went to university, was at the local newspaper, the Richmond and Twickenham Times, which was run by the Dimbleby newspaper group. One of the major stories that broke when I was very young was by a reporter on the Brentford and Chiswick Times called Malcolm Richards, who went on to become the editor of the Richmond and Twickenham Times. It was about a new women’s refuge in Chiswick—the first ever women’s refuge, which was set up by Erin Pizzey—and there was a lovely photograph of Malcolm and Erin sitting on the refuge steps. However, that piece would not have come about had it not been for a local reporter. Malcolm could have gone on to become a very important journalist in what we then called Fleet Street. However, he chose to stay at the Richmond and Twickenham Times, and it remained a flourishing local newspaper.

That is why it is so important for young journalists to cut their teeth in local journalism and to find out what it is like. When I was at Cambridge for a short while doing some research, one of the local journalists at the Cambridge Evening News was Alan Rusbridger. He was a fine, outstanding journalist, and we know where he has ended up. It is important for young journalists to cut their teeth on local newspapers; writing a blog or writing for the internet are slightly different from the journalism we want to see. When people have time to get the facts right and to get the evidence, we get a proper, balanced article.

The Government have a role to play, not in interfering with, but in supporting the local newspapers that inform people. When I first came to the House, local newspapers contacted me to say they were alarmed by the fact that adverts had been pulled from them. That was a pity and a shame, because it is important to encourage and support local newspapers. Local people want to be informed.

Many people will know that young David Pearce designed the new pound coin that was announced in the Budget, and he is on the front page of the Walsall Express & Star because he is a pupil at Queen Mary’s grammar school. I am very proud of the fact; it is in my constituency. That is not major news to everyone else. David was given a small piece in some of the other newspapers—but local people want to know about that. That is the importance of local newspapers.

Another major event will happen on Sunday when for the first time in its history Walsall football club will go to Wembley, for the Johnstone’s paint trophy final. We wish the team well. There will be a souvenir edition of the Walsall Advertiser and the Express & Star. It is probably not of interest to everyone else, but it is very much of interest to local people. I wonder how someone could get a souvenir edition of a blog or something on the internet. Many people keep souvenir editions. I think I have kept one of The Times from when my daughter was born. It is wrapped up in a plastic bag, and I am keeping it for her. Many parents do that with announcements about their children, or items about things that happen to them—particularly people such as David Pearce’s parents.

I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington and support the call by the NUJ not just for Government consultation but a full inquiry. The hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards), who is not in his place, mentioned that it is important to ensure that there are different models and ways of working, and it is also important to enhance the quality of local journalism. That will be a help to local journalists and the national journalists of the future. We need thriving local papers to survive in a thriving democracy.