There will always be a demand for local news

WHEN I started work as a news reporter for the Northside People in 1999, the paper was already well established and was a local institution.

I had been abroad travelling and was back for the summer to save some money before heading away again. Nearly 13 years later and I’m still working here and am now the news editor on its sister paper, Southside People.

Before I moved to Southside People I was news editor of Northside People and now and again it would occur to me that I would love to take off again and see the rest of the world. It never happened for many reasons but one of them was because of the pure enjoyment I got from editing what is beyond doubt Dublin’s best local newspaper.

When my dad was a journalist for the now defunct Irish Press the newspaper business was already being described as a sunset industry. But whatever the future may hold for newspapers in Ireland one thing is beyond doubt in my mind: there will always be local news and there will always be Northside and Southside People to bring Dubliners that news.

That’s because people will always relate to their home town, village, estate and street. And while the national newspapers may overlook the issues that affect local areas, we will always be there to pick up the slack.

?¢ Neil Fetherston is a journalist, author and editor of Southside People.