This study examines local government reporting in the English provincial press from 1900 to 1950. It has two main findings—firstly, that the press moved from verbatim council reports in the early part of the century to selective news stories that were designed to maximise news values and commercial revenues. City council meeting reports were re-shaped, re-focused and re-formulated to resemble news stories, often featuring on the front pages. They conformed to journalistic news values such as drama, conflict and personalities and provide evidence of a move to a more news-driven approach to local government reporting.

The paper also demonstrates the often-invisible commercial links between some elected representatives and the local press, on whose boards of management they sat. Overall, it provides a challenge to the conventional wisdom that the provincial press interest in municipal issues declined in the twentieth century.

本研究调查了 1900 年至 1950 年间英国省级媒体对地方政府的报道。它有两个主要发现——首先，媒体从本世纪初的逐字逐字报告转向了旨在最大化新闻价值的选择性新闻故事和商业收入。市议会会议报告经过重新设计、重新聚焦和重新表述，以类似于新闻报道，通常出现在头版。它们符合新闻价值，如戏剧、冲突和个性，并提供证据表明地方政府报道正在转向更加以新闻为导向的方法。

该文件还展示了一些民选代表与当地媒体之间通常不可见的商业联系，他们是当地媒体的董事会成员。总的来说，它对传统观点提出了挑战，即省级媒体对市政问题的兴趣在 20 世纪有所下降。