Yet more cuts are planned at the Wandsworth Guardian. Newsquest, the American owned media conglomerate, which publishes the local Guardian has put all its staff but two in its South London office on notice of redundancy. Eleven posts in an already depleted news room are to be cut.Sometimes people are dismissive of the local paper but my impression was that it had improved recently with a much more independent line taken with regard to the Council.I am a huge admirer of what Sandi achieves with limited resources on this site and it seems to be the primary news source for most people in SW15 but media plurality is important and the Guardian sometimes is able to cover local stories in much more depth. Also there is no equivalent to this site in areas like Balham, Tooting and Battersea. It is important that it survives and continues to offer the best news coverage possible.It is likely that Newsquest has been prompted to make the move by a decline in revenue from local advertising particularly estate agents hit by the decline in property transactions since Brexit. What this means is that, more than ever, the paper is dependent on the notices placed in it by Wandsworth Council i.e. essentially paid for by local Council Tax payers. The Council should be using this leverage on our behalf to persuade Newsquest that they should be committing enough resources to the area to sustain a reasonable standard of journalism.https://www.nuj.org.uk/news/newsquest-south-london-puts-whole-newsroom-at-risk-of/
David Parker ● 3038d