There are many reasons for a possible crisis in trust in our national media (as Matt highlights here) but at a local level, at least, the picture is looking a lot rosier.

The results of a Newspaper Society-commissioned survey out this month suggest that the trust which readers have in their local newspapers holds true across all platforms, including online, and that investment in cross-platform delivery is paying dividends.

Four national brands ran test multimedia campaigns lasting up to five weeks in the print and online offerings of a selection of four regional newspapers, including our very own Bristol Evening Post.

Whilst it’s not surprising that more people are aware of advertising in local media than national - a far greater proportion of people see a local paper each day than a national, for example - the results showed that people trusted the advertising more and had a higher opinion of the brands in question when they featured in local media rather than national. 

Perhaps that’s not surprising, either!

Sheffield Wednesday FC is taking some of its own fans to court over comments posted on the fansite Owlstalk, which the Club says were defamatory.  The case went before a High Court judge last month as the Club sought disclosure orders against the site’s owner, Neil Hargreaves, seeking to force him to release the details of the anonymous posters.

I don’t know exactly what the ‘offensive’ comments were, as they were removed from the site as soon as Mr Hargreaves received a letter indicating the Club's intention to take legal action (and according to Mr Hargreaves, this was the first he knew of any objections), but it is possible to find reference to them on other sites. One of the anonymous posters has stated that s/he was merely expressing an honestly held opinion.  A supporter says that what has been said on the forum is “no worse than what is said in the pub before the game and on the Kop.”  

The expression of an honestly-held belief, if it can be shown to be such, is a defence to defamation.  It will be interesting to see the outcome of this case, and how far freedom of expression can be upheld in these circumstances.  In the meantime, other web-forum users and posters to blogs and message boards have taken fright at the implications of this case and are reminding each other to be careful with their comments.

The Club has issued a statement saying that it “expects and welcomes comment from its supporters, but when those comments include false and misleading allegations and accusations, the club will need to take action to protect its reputation and the reputation of its directors."

My own personal opinion is that in pursuing this action against their own fans they may end up doing far more damage to their reputations than if they had quietly asked Mr Hargreaves to remove the comments they found offensive and just left it at that. 

We have had a fun start to the week, with a Lottery press conference on the beautiful North Devon coast.

The press conference was for Lottery winner Janet Baddick, who scooped £1,298,223 last week. Janet uses family ages as her numbers, but thankfully, she forgot to change her lottery numbers from 26 to 27 after her eldest son’s birthday last month and so she matched all six numbers. Janet would have won £1,500 if she had remembered to update the number! You can view the pictures from the press conference here.

The Saunton Sands Hotel was the location for the press conference and what a location it was! Stunning views and fresh sea air make a great start to the week.

We had great press attendance and secured coverage in the Sun, the Mirror and BBC News. Have a look here, here and here.

Newport-based paper, the South Wales Argus, has added crime-fighting to its online offering. Last week, it posted recordings of hoax 999 calls on its website, and asked its readers to contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 if they recognised the callers.

The newspaper has agreed to post the recordings as part of a zero tolerance campaign launched by South Wales Fire Service against hoax callers from Gwent. The numbers involved are quite staggering: in the last financial year, emergency crews attended 376 hoax incidents in Gwent at a cost of £639,200 to the taxpayer. Group manager of South Wales Fire Control, Jennie Griffiths, said that Newport was an historic hotspot area for malicious calls and is therefore being targeted as part of the zero tolerance campaign.

The online recordings will feature particularly nasty or persistent hoax callers, some of whom have reported multiple vehicle road accidents and serious chemical spills in order to maximise the waste of emergency service resources.

Catching criminals should be a community-wide affair; everyone has their part to play and it’s great to see the use of online opportunities in this way.