By HILARY GAVIN
TO BE HONEST, I’m not feeling particularly like a Grumpy(old)woman tonight because I’m happy to be left to my fate, whatever it might be.
That’s not to say I don’t have worries, everyone does – but there isn’t much I can proactively do if strangers (neighbours) have passed judgment on me summarily or have taken umbrage because I don’t view the world in the way they do.
Saying that, I feel I have to publish an open letter on my WordPress blog tonight about the lack of transparency at my local Chichester Observer which has, in my opinion, become a business-to-business (B2B) and entertainments magazine rather than a local newspaper covering news that is in the public interest.
Of course, historically local newspapers have always taken local business stories seriously, because businesses pay to advertise in the papers.
And I, for one, must say I welcomed the launch of the Chichester Observer’s Business Awards on Thursday, July 17th, 2025, in the hope they will promote local, diverse and quirky independent businesses that can revive our city centre.
Saying that, I’m not sure how the newspaper can succeed in this goal if it doesn’t pay for talented journalists to go out and cover important local stories that help to explain why Chichester’s small independent shops can’t afford to stay afloat.
Personally, I chose to become a journalist because I don’t like to have to toe the company line as you have to do in the advertising industry. Unlike the nationals, local newspapers have not historically been overtly partisan in their political bias – although some editors like nothing better than to provoke and cajole.
Which brings me back to the open letter I am publishing here on my WordPress blog and which I intend to send this week to the Editor of the Chichester Observer for publication in their Letters section. It goes as follows:
“Dear Editor of the Chichester Observer,
I am sending you a copy of the Open Letter, which I have published on my WordPress blog – hilarygavin.blog (Monday, July 28th, 2025), to ask you to explain why you do not publish your name and contact details, and those of your editorial staff at the Chichester Observer, in the weekly edition of your newspaper in line with the IPSO Code of Conduct. I would also ask you to explain why you do not attribute newspaper articles and photographs in your paper by printing bylines for staff news and feature reporters and picture credits for photographers? Finally, I should also be grateful if you would explain why you do not publish the job title and organisation to which authors of contributed copy belong, so your readers can evaluate whether it is subject to editorial spin or should be marked more correctly as an advertorial story and feature?
Yours faithfully,
Hilary Gavin
6 Southover Way
Hunston
PO20 1NY”
UPDATE: Friday, August 1st, 2025, 8.45am. As expected The Chichester Observer didn’t publish my Open Letter addressed to the editor in yesterday’s (31st July, 2025) edition of their weekly newspaper. I’ve yet to check whether it was delivered, as paid for, by Royal Mail Special Delivery to the newspaper’s offices at Metro House in Northgate, Chichester, and discover who signed for it, but I’m sure staff must have received it. I can see the paper has published its IPSO Regulated membership pledge on its two-page Opinion spread (pages 30 & 31) – which I assume is how readers’ Letters to the Editor are attributed nowadays.
Of course, my concise Open Letter asked The Chichester Observer to address three questions of the Observer Series, at least, so I can only assume those in charge of editorial didn’t feel obliged to publish it because I wasn’t passing any comment or opinion. I can also only assume that they will now have to change the Observer’s email address, which is published on the two-page spread yesterday, from letters@chichesterobserver.co.uk to opinion@chichester.co.uk for my missive to the editor dated Monday, July 28th, 2025 was a letter after all!
Still, at least the paper is now making readers aware of the Observer’s Readers’ Charter, “built on a tradition of accuracy and fairness”, and it is also making readers aware that both its newspaper and website is a IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) member. If you don’t yet know, IPSO is the regulatory body for the press, and The Chichester Observer is expected, as an IPSO member, to abide by its Code of Conduct, which you can read on its website.
As you can see from the AI screengrab below that, whilst the IPSO Editors’ Code of Conduct does not explicitly mandate a newspaper to “clearly identify its editor” – it is generally considered best practice as it emphasises “transparency and accountability” and “it enhances the newspaper’s credibility”.
Once again, I have to go out but my only hope is that The Chichester Observer will respect its readers’ right to complain about the newspaper’s content by pinpointing its editor and listing its editorial staff.
Whilst writing, I also hope that my local paper is treating any work-experience and young trainee reporters well by giving them the appropriate guidance and attribution for their CVs.
Of course, The Chichester Observer should be abiding by copyright laws, so I can only assume that the unattributed contributors, named but not fully identified, in the newspaper are happy to forfeit any monetary rights to their written work?
Hilary Gavin, update copyright 1st August, 2025
(UPDATE: Monday, August 18th, 2025 at 21.47pm: I’m updating this email after reading the last two editions of the Chichester Observer which featured letters from Adrian Moss, the leader of Chichester District Council (CDC), and a former Chichester mayor and local prominent city figures. It made me wonder if any ordinary folk write into the local press.
Of course, I know my letter was ignored the other week, as have previous emails, so I would like to know the Chichester Observer to clarify its selection process for publishing letters (or opinion) pieces – especially as the paper doesn’t name its editor in its weekly editions.
In view of the above, I have just sent the following email (see below) to the Chichester Observer letters page, to its newsdesk and to Sussex/National World newspapers as instructed in the paper.
I’ve copied the IPSO regulator in too for what its worth, as regulators seem to protect their industry members rather than ordinary members of the public nowadays – but we’ll see, I might be pleasantly surprised by their response.
Anyhow, I hope the Chichester Observer staff can see my name and address in my email as the text got a bit jumbled due to technical problems.
Here’s my email:
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to enquire about your (Chichester Observer and Sussex/National World) editorial policy for letters to the editor, which the Observer currently entitles Opinion pages. Specifically, I would like to know your guidelines on word count, preferred tone, and whether you prioritise letters and opinion on local or national issues. I am also interested in learning about your review process, and which members of staff are involved in this process, and standards for accuracy and fairness. Finally, I would like to know if you publish responses and, if so, what are the guidelines for doing so? I look forward to hearing from you.
Hilary Gavin, 6 Southover Way, Hunston, CHICHESTER, West Sussex, PO20 1NY
(COPYRIGHT: update Monday, August 19th, 2025 at 22.03pm)
- Adventures in Amsterdam on my 1984 stopover to Cold War Berlin
- Weekly Facebook Round-Up: Law, order, and personal Insights
- Isn’t it time to change? My weekly news round-up is challenging you to ask whether the “law is an ass!”
- Hunston parish councillors discuss flooding and crackdown on drugs at March meeting
- My news in brief: A round-up of last week’s FB commentary
Leave a Reply