Jemima Kiss in the Guardian reviews the continuing decline in the circulation of local newspapers. She highlights the fact that very local newspapers buck the trend. A commenter on the article says:

[Here in Brighton] so many people wish that the local “evening”, in fact morning, paper were equipped to print more news. That is what brings in readers. There was a move some three years ago to make it more of a “lifestyle” production, and the circulation palpably dropped.

The key to the success of local papers is to look at models like James Hatts’ excellent London SE1 where a remorseless concentration on reporting very local news has created a useful franchise.

What are the characteristics of this model?

• Low production costs
• An active online community
• Niche local ads (the site could do much more of this than it does)
• Users who themselves report news to the forum
• Detailed coverage of local issues: planning, crime, politics

The Evening Standard, by contrast, has abandoned reporting local news and is the process of losing its market share to its freesheets (Metro, London Lite) and the chirpier, more web-savvey Murdoch-owned lifestyle sheet the London Paper. It is noteworthy that London SE1’s Alexa ranking (a rough and ready indicator of traffic) is 165,556, not that far behind the London Paper’s 81,340. A publisher could learn much from the success of London SE1. It is a model which could serve local community news throughout the UK.