In 1976 David Murphy wrote his critique of the role of the UK regional press in local politics—The Silent Watchdog: The Press in Local Politics. Through the next two decades, local ‘papers of record’ attempted to report on the activities and decisions of their local councils regularly and diligently but the decline of the regional press in the twenty-first century has rendered Murphy’s critique obsolete. This article will look at what was expected of local journalism in the 1970s. It will show what was delivered until the twenty-first century and then look at how local press coverage of local government has declined, raising the scenario of a ‘local democratic deficit’¹1 Clark, “Missing Biggest Story,” 65. whereby local politics in some communities receives little direct coverage, creating a danger of a disconnect between local government and local communities caused by the abandonment of its former role by the regional press.

1976年，大卫·墨菲（David Murphy）对英国区域新闻在地方政治中的作用进行了评论：“沉默的看门狗：地方政治中的新闻”。在接下来的二十年中，当地的“记录纸”试图定期并勤奋地报告其地方议会的活动和决定，但是二十一世纪地区媒体的衰落使墨菲的批评变得过时了。本文将探讨1970年代对当地新闻的期望。它将展示到二十一世纪之前交付的东西，然后研究地方新闻对地方政府的报道如何下降，从而引发“地方民主赤字”的情况¹1克拉克（Clark），《最大的故事缺失》，第65页。某些社区的地方政治几乎得不到直接的报道，存在区域媒体放弃其原先职责而造成地方政府与地方社区之间脱节的危险。