How did provincial newspapers report the activities of local government in the nineteenth century?

What is it about?

The paper examines a range of local political stories in the nineteenth century local press. It focuses on election reporting and social reform to show that there was not a decline in interest in the activities of local government during this time. It shows the importance of addressing the reader as an engaged and critical individual who was very much a part of their local community.

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Why is it important?

The paper challenges the conventional wisdom that reporting of local government in the local press declined as the nineteenth century progressed. It shows that the situation was more complex than this and that the levels and consistency of decline have been exaggerated. Some towns actually saw an increase in local government reporting during this period. It also focuses on the local press outside of London in order to redress the predominance of work on London-based newspapers in the nineteenth century.