Friends of Belsize Community Library Talk 18th June
Alan Selwyn reports-
Yesterday (18th June) we heard a hugely entertaining and informative talk by the charismatic Dan Carrier, recounting some of the history and current challenges of our esteemed award-winning, independent, local paper, The Camden New Journal.
We heard how independent newspapers are a dying breed across the UK. In England. 51% of local papers are owned by two major corporate groups – including the once magisterial Ham and High, which now operates out of a warehouse in Essex and has no local reporters on the ground (though, to be fair, some recent efforts have been made to increase local interest a little).
We are, however, incredibly lucky in Camden to have the wonderful Camden New Journal, still just about clinging on and providing high quality independent, investigative journalism. And amazingly, each of its 100,000 weekly copies is free at point of access, just like the also fragile NHS. This, at a time in our ‘post-truth age’ when most people consume “news” via the internet, this mostly being gossip, opinion and marketing, masquerading as news. Dan stressed the need in a democratic society, to provide independent factual reporting to everyone, including those who could not otherwise afford it. This is a founding principle of the paper.
In 1872 the first copies of The Holloway Press rolled off the new printing-press in a shop in the Holloway Road, just one of many local newspapers benefitting from the new technology. Another important factor was the removal of the paper duty of The Stamp Act in 1861 following the earlier newspaper stamp duty abolition – seen as a tax on knowledge – in 1855. Following the Elementary Education Act of 1872, literacy rates in London rose to close to100% by the end of the century the appetite for newspapers was huge, encouraged by serialisations of books such as The Count of Monte Christo. Newspaper sales rose rapidly, bringing many other popular features such as letters columns, gardening, royal and society reporting, women’s pages and fashion, sport and obituaries, crime, politics, investigations and so on.
Factual reporting had increased greatly during the Crimean War, the rise of the telegraph and railways for distribution speeded up news dispersal and reporters became professionalised, replacing the leisurely essayed opinions of the ‘Men of Letters’ of the earlier parts of the century.
In Camden the huge numbers of railway workers serving our three main termini and goods yards meant trade union and generally left-wing matters became well represented in our local press.
The Holloway Press joined with other titles and by the early 20th century there were hundreds of local papers in London alone.
Newspapers, fuelled by advertising, were profitable and the rise of the newspaper barons saw more and more titles bought up and merged.
By 1942 the paper had become the North London Press and in 1971 it divided into the Camden Journal and the Holloway and Islington Journal. The owners, Courier Press, suddenly decided to sell the papers in 1980 and editor Eric Gordon had to tell his staff at their Christmas Party that they had lost their jobs. A 16 month strike followed, supported by journalists across the country and by readers and other local residents. Eventually Eric Gordon was able to buy the title for £1 and so the Camden New Journal was launched in March 1982, as one of the very first free newspapers.
In those days a young lad could join the local paper and work his way up to become a reporter, which is exactly Dan’s history. In 1983 at the age of 10yrs, Dan took his first paid job at the paper. His entrepreneurial 13yr old brother was eligible to apply for a paper-round and he sub-contracted half the work to his under-age younger brother, splitting the 1p per copy delivery fee.
Dan has subsequently worked in every facet of the paper since then and lamented the loss of this ‘apprenticeship’ route to becoming a reporter. He hopes to introduce a scheme soon as entry into the profession is now largely through an expensive degree in journalism, which restricts the types of people who become journalists.
It also leads to a reduction in localism and contact with the people the paper serves and the ordinary, everyday life which shapes the content. The local paper then generally becomes a vehicle for advertising, often dressed up as ‘news’ and has no resources for the important matters of reporting local issues such as council planning decisions or services. Holding councils to account should be a vital function of a local paper – and one at which the CNJ excels.
With the ‘rationalisation’ of the newspaper industry into the hands of few huge corporations and the replacement of many newspaper functions by the seductive and addictive, instant, algorithm-driven and often misleading internet, again run by just a handful of very wealthy owners, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find factual and well-researched, balanced reportage. Let’s face it, it is time-consuming and tough.
Dan, however, clearly loves it and is infectiously full of enthusiasm for his job and his paper and his love of this area (he lives in Kentish Town) and its people. He is thrilled by the everyday stories that so strongly affect people’s lives and and recounted several amusing tales, including the capture of a wallaby early one morning in Kentish Town with the aid of a tennis net – a reporters’ life is never dull!
More seriously he also told us how the CNJ receives dozens of calls from distressed residents each week, often the last port of call when people cannot get a response from the council, the NHS or other large organisations or when they are unable to manage the online-only access routes that are now so pervasive.
The CNJ clearly still fulfils a vital role in our community, connecting us, keeping us informed, speaking truth to power, holding organisations, particularly our council, to account, giving anyone a voice and providing some wonderful arts, historical and other content of local relevance and publishing council statutory notices. We learn so much about our amazing fellow-residents each week. Its community ethos even extends to attempting to publish, in the paper, the photo of every child under 16yr in the area to help boost their self-confidence!
The paper and its reporters consistently win national awards each year, so its quality is undisputed but it is under enormous threat – on occasions with only 3 week’s money remaining. This is despite its cooperative structure and the low pay of its employees – certainly not enough to live on, so Dan moonlights also for the national press.
The CNJ Substack offers longer pieces and at £80 a year generates a small additional income stream and is a recommended way to help. Dan told us about some other plans, possibly creating a media hub at the paper’s offices in Camden but there are still fears the days of the CNJ might be numbered. It is up to us to support it and fight for it and let’s hope we can keep looking forward to picking up those excellent free copies every Thursday!
Altogether a wonderful talk and the last in this season’s Friends talk programme.
The next talk is on Sept 17th ‘George Bernard Shaw and Camden’ presented by Tudor Allen.
The Friends have also announced a series of events leading up to the 90th anniversary of the library in March 2027
