IN recent months the BBC has been accused of playing a part in the troubles faced by UK local newspapers.

The long-term future for local news provision in this country is online.

The local newspaper industry is walking a tightrope as it migrates to digital while attempting to preserve print newspapers in the medium-term. Why? Because the bulk of revenues still rests with the print products, although the gap is closing.

More people are reading the Argus now than five years ago. But they are reading it across print, mobile, tablet, PCs and social media.

The BBC has increased its local online output in recent years, often using news culled from local newspapers and often to the detriment of those original sources.

Auntie’s answer to this is to employ 100 journalists around the UK to cover courts and councils with their stories made available to local newspapers. Its intention is to be ‘helpful’.

The reality is somewhat different. Local newspapers like the Argus already send reporters to court hearings and council meetings on a daily basis.

Far from being helpful, the BBC’s proposal simply offers more competition paid for by the public purse.

It is expansionism hidden behind a paternalistic smile.