BBC and local newspapers are moving closer together

Several regional newspapers are now sharing content with the BBC. A scheme that began in west Yorkshire has now been extended to the north-east, reports HoldTheFrontPage.

It’s a welcome development and confirms the pledge made by the BBC’s head of news, James Harding, to terminate a period of needless rivalry between publishers and the corporation.

In the north-east, for instance, the BBC’s local websites in the Tyne and Tees regions are now displaying links to stories carried by daily print titles in Newcastle (the Journal and Chronicle), South Shields (the Gazette), Sunderland (the Echo), Hartlepool (the Mail) and Darlington (the Northern Echo).

According to a BBC spokesperson, the scheme, called Local Live, “may be rolled out more widely across the UK over the next year.” Indeed, that looks a certainty.

Harding, who formerly edited the Times, believes there will be benefits to both the corporation and newspapers. At the Society of Editors’ conference earlier this month, he spoke of wrong-headed criticism of the BBC and showed an eagerness for local journalism that has been somewhat ignored by the corporation in the past.

He said: “It is in our self interest to see a thriving local news business. I believe it’s in the local news business’ self interest to see a thriving BBC. If we want to, we can make that happen. We’re open to it.”

For their part, regional editors have long campaigned for the BBC to give credit to local papers when it uses (or follows) their stories. There have even been suggestions that the BBC should pay for its use of newspaper content.

So Harding will be lifted by the response of the Northern Echo’s editor, Peter Barron, who regards the pilot scheme as “a positive step” towards a constructive working arrangement with the BBC.