In an on-the-street survey conducted by the Ledbury Portal Herefordshire Council's monthly propaganda magazine 'Herefordshire Matters' scored worse than any other local media, despite Herefordshire Council claiming that their magazine has a readership of 83%. The Ledbury Portal's survey revealed they actually have a very meagre readership of 12%.

Herefordshire Matters is a 'public services' magazine with a print run of around 85,000. It costs Herefordshire Council about £72,000 a year and takes in about £36,000 of advertising almost all of which is supplied by Herefordshire Council itself and from other public sector partners such as the police, the primary care trust, hospital trust and social housing organisations.

It has no editorial policy, but receives editorial content from 'a large number of personnel across the council and primary care trust.'

According to Herefordshire Council's website Herefordshire Matters 'is regarded as being the prime source of information about the council by more people in Herefordshire than any other source, including local press and broadcast media.'

Then it claims: 'According to the most recent research undertaken by the local authority (summer 2008), readership of Herefordshire Matters is high (83 per cent) and compares favourably with Hereford Times (76 per cent) and The Journal (70 per cent). A high percentage of the citizen's panel claimed never to read The Journal (22 per cent), compared with Hereford Times (10 per cent) and Herefordshire Matters (6 per cent).'

Perhaps Hererfordshire Council should do some more up-to-date research. I questioned 25 people on the streets of Ledbury and asked them what local media they read and which one was their favourite:

What people read:

Ledbury Reporter                  72%

Hereford Journal                    56%

Ledbury Focus                       48%

Hereford Times                      40%

Ledbury Community Portal    12%

Herefordshire Matters           12%

People's Favourite Read:

Ledbury Reporter                  48%

Hereford Times                      14%

Ledbury Focus                       12%

Hereford Journal                    4%

Ledbury Portal                        2%

Herefordshire Matters            0%

The remaining 20% showed no preference to the above titles saying they preferred none of the above or The Citizen, local radio, glossy magazines or teletext.

[Ledbury Poll of 25 people taken, Saturday 6th February 2010]

It is difficult to see how Herefordshire Matters can be 'the prime source of information about the council' when so few people are reading it, even though it falls through nearly every letter box in the county. Is it a waste of time, money and valuable resources? An online version of Herefordshire Matters is available online through the Herefordshire Council website.

What do Ledbury people think about the local media? The Ledbury Focus was described 'handy' and good for small, local businesses; the Hereford Times was described as 'a good read' but also 'depressing' and 'snobby'; the Hereford Journal was described as 'c**p' and lacking local knowledge while the Ledbury Reporter (or 'Ledbury Liar' as one young girl called it) was described as 'very Malvern', 'sh**e' and 'getting thinner' though good for real estate.

One local man said that both the Hereford Journal and Hereford Times made good fire-starters.

Interestingly one man said he distrusted all newspapers calling them 'bulls**t', 'propaganda' and a way of 'controlling' people. Someone else said that there was more news on the street than in any of the newspapers. That last comment is one, that I personally, I could not agree more with. If you really want to know what's going on get down the shops, cafes and pubs and have a natter.

The journalists and editors of newspapers are sitting in their offices waiting for you to tell them the news. Herefordshire Council press office only want to tell you their news as and when it suits them - and not us.

Ed: Information about Herefordshire Matters released by Geoff Hardy, Special Projects Lawyer, Assistant Chief Executive's Office [part of Herefordshire Council's legal team] under the Freedom of Information Act requested by L. Barnett.