'Local newspaper week' - The local council publicity machine

During 'Local newspaper week', I wrote about the impact of local council newspapers on the commercial press. This led to some really interesting comments, and as a result I surveyed the publications produced by London's Boroughs. A quarter of them are at least fortnightly, and over 70% of them take commercial advertising, including giving away free classified listings in one instance, and yet the LGA insists that they do not compete.

Another reason that I struggle to buy the necessity of local council newspapers in London is that there is hardly a lack of other promotional options available to them.

On Friday it took me just 3 minutes to photograph all of these pieces of local government publicity, all located within a 200 metre radius of my house.

Do I really need a glossy magazine that is eating into the local advertising market as well?