A common thread in the correspondence I receive is the dominance of London and the south-east in the paper’s coverage, at the expense of the regions. Northern Ireland complains that when the paper mentions it at all it seems to focus on bad news, almost as though the Troubles were still with us. Scotland notices that news coverage, apart from the referendum (and this weekend’s resignation) is almost non-existent and Wales searches in vain for any mention at all, apart from sport.
But beyond the obvious absence of local news, readers identify another more insidious slight: national stories that overlook major regional differences, as though devolution never happened.
Headlines on a recent three-page survey of universities talked of the marketisation of higher education “racing ahead in Britain” and life on campuses “across Britain” changing radically, but as a Scottish reader wrote: “The thrust of the article is about tuition fees at English universities. Scottish students at Scottish universities don’t pay tuition fees. There is no mention of the system in Scotland and how this may result in a different experience for students.” Similarly, a story on A-level reform “damaging” maths failed to acknowledge that Scotland has a different education system where only a few private schools teach A-level.
The same reader also criticised a piece explaining why NHS staff felt they had to strike. “Although it is of some interest to know what is happening down south, and the article does state that the strike is only in England, why is there no note of why NHS staff in Scotland or Wales are not striking?”
A Welsh reader wrote in exasperation: “Sure Start [the early learning and day care scheme facing big budget cuts] is not ‘Britain’s flagship programme’ as you call it (News, 12 October) but an English flagship programme. In Wales, we have Flying Start, which is going from strength to strength with investment from the Welsh government.”
A recent piece on the options if no party wins an outright majority in next year’s general election included the possibility of a “rainbow coalition” of smaller parties and mentioned Lib Dems, Unionists, Ukip, SNP and Greens – but omitted Plaid Cymru. “You mention the prospect of a Labour minority government and report that the SNP governed as a minority in 2007,” wrote a Pontypridd reader, “but the Welsh Labour government in Cardiff is governing as a minority now. It is so obvious that Welsh political issues are not in the mind of those writing such articles. Wales might as well be some obscure eastern European state for all the coverage it gets in a British newspaper.”
A Magazine piece headlined “Is rugby now too dangerous for children?” focused on English and Scottish private schools. Our Pontypridd reader pointed out that there was not a single mention of Wales, where rugby is played by a large proportion of boys in state schools and where it is the national game. “Furthermore, the issue of rugby injuries has been in the news here because of the spinal cord injury to Welsh international Owen Williams. The article says the Rugby Football Union was unavailable for comment, so why not try the Welsh Rugby Union? In the week before the article was published, the WRU launched its own concussion education programme.
“The only time Welsh issues are covered are either when they are ‘breaking news’ or when they are quirky – like the story earlier this year of the ‘Lonely Tree’ in Llanfyllin. That was a classic example of how – I fear – Welsh people are viewed by the London elite. It contained a priceless quote from a National Trust specialist, who opined that, in Wales, trees ‘are regarded by communities and individuals as family’. What an image of a forward-thinking, modern nation that conjures!
“I understand that the Observer may need to focus on areas of the UK in which a greater proportion of the readership is found but surely there must be an effort to see that no section of the populace is simply ignored?” That’s a serious point, particularly when we remember that 15% of our print readership live in Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In some respects, though, the paper can’t win. In the past, when it had the resources to fill editionised pages with local news, readers would complain that they did not want to read about their own region: they wanted the Observer to tell them about matters that affect the nation as a whole and to give them a world view. But still that’s no excuse for failing to reflect regional differences in national stories: Britain is more than England – and England is more than London and the south-east – but that’s another story.
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This article was amended on 28 October 2014 to include the 1% of print readers who live in Northern Ireland.
