What happened to a quiet summer?

Today is a real “back to school” day. It's literally so for my daughters, who went off to start year 3 and year 6 this morning. And it's figuratively so for me, as I've got my first full working day for a long time.

We're just back from a lovely week camping in the woods — with even less internet access than our earlier trip. So, yes, this is another catch-up thread. The summer really has failed to live up to the old “silly season” moniker — there's been plenty happening while many of us have been desperately trying to escape our screens…

(Summer holidays: a period of time when parents try to escape screens, and children try to get time on them.)

Hang on to your hats, folks. We'll be looking at some interesting moves in local news, SEO, Twitter and more.

Putting the “local” in local news

There's so many bad stories about local news in the UK that I rarely bother to link to them any more. At some point, I'll gather them together and write something longer, but at the heart of my thoughts is that there's still too much “doing journalism” and not enough “doing journalism that people really care about”. Here's Ian Carter making exactly that point:

We are getting the best response from the stories that involve detailed reporting on the issues that really matter to people, ideally offering solutions and conclusions.

Don't focus on abstract news values: focus on what people really need in their daily lives.

Being better

I was reading the memoirs of former Q editor Ted Kessler on holiday when I stumbled across a passage that had me nodding so vigorously that the woman on the adjacent sun lounger must have thought I…

Ian Carter blogiancarterblog

In the meantime, the picture looks grim for a lot of the regional press. Reach's journalists have been on strike, and the cost-of-living crisis has been making their salaries inadequate: