Every now and then I think myself into an existential crisis about what we do, how we do it, and is it ultimately worth it?
I started Caerphilly Observer back in 2009 when I was working on The Argus newspaper in Brighton.
I was disillusioned about the way the industry was heading and frustrated by the fact I couldn’t get out to meet people and tell the stories I thought were important.
There was also a gap in news provision for Caerphilly County Borough.
This September it will be 20 years since I started life as a trainee reporter with the Campaign newspaper. Its website back then was very much the secondary product. People read their news in print and local businesses had few other options to advertise to potential customers.
It had two full-time reporters, a team of around a dozen advertising sales reps – not to mention the back-up of being owned by a huge media company Newsquest (owners of the South Wales Argus).
I loved working there and I’m still in touch with several former colleagues. It was a title which didn’t receive much editorial attention from the owners and I was pretty much left to my own devices to cover whichever stories I fancied.
The freedom it afforded me to develop my skills as a reporter was unrivalled. Working in an office full of advertising staff also gave me an insight into the commercial pressures of running a newspaper. It was this grounding that sowed the seeds of Caerphilly Observer five years later.
From the Campaign I was moved to the Barry and District News and then I managed to secure a job on The Argus in Brighton – the city where I had gone to study at university.
Keen to keep-up with the news from back home, I found the Campaign website wasn’t being updated. Coupled with the frustrations of being told what to do and not being allowed to cover the stories I felt were important I decided to create something of my own.
It was a hobby and I used to fantasise about turning it into a full-time job with its own office and staff. In truth, it was nothing more than a pipe dream. Setting up a newspaper? Crazy.
Fast-forward to 2011 and I had married the woman I moved back to Brighton to be with and it was time to start thinking about the future. With both of us coming from Wales, the feeling of hiraeth was too much. Missing our families we decided to upsticks and move home.
I was faced with a crossroads. Do I continue working for a big media company, or do I try to make Caerphilly Observer something?
A conversation I had with my late father at the time was pivotal. Being a self-employed carpenter, he knew the pressures of striking out on your own, and cautioned me on whether I was making the right decision.
I explained that if I didn’t have a go, I would probably spend the rest of my life thinking ‘what-if’. He listened and told me I had to give it a go – but only if I was certain.
So I moved home and got to work trying to make Caerphilly Observer something.
An old colleague of mine from the Campaign days, Jan Withers, started helping me on the commercial side of things and we started to attract advertisers.
From there we grew and in 2013 we secured funding to launch a fortnightly print edition. Jan’s husband Barry, whose background is in print, also got on board as a volunteer (and still proofs the paper to this day).
We got staff, got an office, and then a delivery van and the rest, as they say, is history.
Except that unlike the Campaign (which stopped printing in 2018), the story of Caerphilly Observer hasn’t ended.
In the 15 years since I sat down with my laptop and built our first website, there has been nothing short of a revolution in the media industry.
Which brings me back to my current existential crisis.
The way people consume news is unrecognisable compared to when I first started out and the information people have available at their fingertips is unprecedented.
It would be easy to think this ease of access has been a boon for media companies – but the reverse is actually true.
According to the latest research by the Reuters Institute, people are now consuming news less than ever before and the way news is accessed has also changed significantly in the last decade because of social media.
It’s more than likely you’ve arrived at this article through Facebook, yet that distribution model is also being undermined as the tech giants de-prioritise news in the feeds.
The advertising-led business model of old is under threat and, as I’ve said before, the only way we can move forward as an industry to save local news is to get our readers more involved.
While funding sources are vital in keeping us going, the most important aspect of our work is you – our readers.
We need you more than ever before – and not just as consumers, but as participants. Something that I like to think sets Caerphilly Observer apart from other media brands is that we do listen and that we are open with you.
That’s why this week, as part of Indie News Week, we want you to tell us what we are doing well, what we are not doing so well, and how we can improve.
We need your input to stay relevant and for us to do journalism that is of value. The thinking is that if we provide something of value to our communities then they will support us by signing up to our newsletter and becoming a member.
We’ll be holding an informal event at our base at Caerphilly Miners Centre for the Community on Watford Road, Caerphilly, on Saturday June 8 between 10am and 1pm.
We’re opening our doors for readers to come along and meet us and find out more about what we do.
More importantly it will be a chance for us to find out more about you, and how we can serve you better by covering the issues and stories that are important to you.
Richard Gurner
Editor and Publisher of Caerphilly Observer