Happy Christmas. The Fight for better North West Regional News Coverage of locations North of Preston Must Go On in 2024.

21st December 2023

Dear Readers

Hello. I would like firstly to wish all readers of this website a happy and peaceful Christmas, and all the best for 2024. For viewers north of Preston who may be exasperated with the lack of a geographic-appropriate Public service of Regional TV news- provision, the fight for such a service will continue into the New Year.

North West Regional TV continues to short-change South Cumbria and northern Lancashire

Neither BBC1 North West Tonight nor ITV1 Granada Reports have covered areas north of Preston to any significant degree over the last week. The last two days has seen much coverage taken up with the murder trial for Brianna Ghey. This is not to minimise that this was a very serious crime that deserved extensive coverage. However news-coverage has continued to be very Manchester and Merseyside-centric over recent days on both mainstream Regional TV services. Now BBC1 North West Tonight does cover Lancashire better than ITV1 Granada Reports., covering Cumbria occasionally when ITV1 Granada Reports never does. But this last fortnight underscores that neither of the two mainstream Regional TV News-services serving North West England are fit for northern North West England.

The situation remains one whereby folk living in Carnforth, Morecambe, Kirkby Lonsdale, and Millom get 80% “local news” about places 60, 80 or even 100 miles southwards.  This is unacceptable for local communities if the friendly faces of Roger Johnson, and Gamal Fahnbulleh (ITV1 Granada Reports) do not bring news about their communities and places nearby. But local folk do not have to accept a Public Service funded by tax (the TV License of £159 a year) that doesn’t tell people about their area. Folk in a community need to know about flooded roads, local work opportunities, bad weather affecting local commutes and nearby places that are nice to visit. They are not getting this because it’s mainly about Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire!

The Fight for Better Local News-coverage for Cumbria and North Lancashire goes on

Folk living in communities across South Cumbria and northern Lancashire do not need to put up with poor Public service broadcasting that does not serve their needs. There is power if they come together in numbers, write in to BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports and write to local MPs. Broadcasters of Regional TV News in North West England need viewers to tell them, loud and clear, that they are not happy with their Regional TV news-coverage.

Viewers need to come together, not just by writing in. A couple of timely peaceful rallies outside the BBC NW and ITV1 Granada headquarters at Media City, Salford Quays could work wonders. A rally with a large banner reading “We want Lancashire and Cumbria News, not Manchester and Merseyside news!” would convey a strong message. The more viewers at such rallies, the better.

Switching to ITV1 Border Lookaround

Another vital tactic in the campaign for much more local news-coverage is viewers make clear to broadcasters that they consider switching to ITV1 Border Lookaround for Cumbrian news. Switching over to ITV1 Border Lookaround might not be ideal for North Lancastrians. However, the over 50% coverage of Cumbria (notwithstanding some southern Scottish coverage) is perhaps a bit more local than Merseyside and Cheshire. Viewers in Lancaster, Morecambe and Garstang have closer links to the Lakes (which they visit) than to South Manchester and Merseyside.

If nothing else, if North Lancastrians demanded their local area be transferred from ITV1 Granada to ITV1 Border in a rally demanding this it would heap greater pressure on ITV1 Granada broadcasters. It’s a mean to an end, with viewers prepared to change their viewing habits at cost to themselves, to pressurise North West Regional TV broadcasters into offering a much better service.

People Power Can Change Regional TV for the better

Again, it’s a numbers game. One hundred or more viewers need to adopt such strategies to have a lasting effect. Hopefully, as more folk learn about this Campaign for Lancashire and Cumbria Regional TV, some of the strategies that viewers can adapt become more widely known. Viewers can then use them.

As we go into a new year, People Power really can change Regional TV. Over thirty years ago communities in and around Carlisle opposed the BBC giving them Regional TV from Manchester. It took five years with MPs, local newspapers involved, and rallies but the mighty BBC buckled and returned North Cumbria to BBC1 Look North, from Newcastle. In the late 1980s, viewers in the Carlisle area took exception to the BBC foisting upon them a Regional news-service that was 80% about locations over 100 miles southwards. One can read more about this North Cumbrian campaign against the BBC here: https://northwestisnorthwest.org/2021/07/11/thirty-years-ago-people-power-changed-regional-tv-in-northern-cumbria-and-it-can-in-northern-lancashire-too/.

Today, viewers in the Lancaster, Morecambe and South Cumbria areas can likewise rise up and object to news-coverage that is 80% over sixty miles southwards. If enough people get involved and demand local news-coverage, and they are prepared to watch other local news-outlets to make the point that local links are stronger with Cumbria than Merseyside, and heap pressure on broadcasters, producers for both BBC1 North West Tonight and for ITV1 Granada Reports will buckle. Producers BBC1 North West Tonight will likely make room for more coverage of Cumbria and northern Lancashire, ITV1 Granada Reports may provide a 15-minute opt-out so that their more northerly viewers get geographic-appropriate news-coverage. That, of course, is the end goal for this Campaign!