Aunty still has no Cheshire

This is the BBC's reporting of the closure of the North West Enquirer.

Note how the BBC states that the NWE covered Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Isle of Man and Greater Manchester. But not Cheshire. Even though the NWE regularly ran Cheshire stories and even led on the front page with important news stories from our county.

I despair...

One less news source for Cheshire

I learned very late last night that the North West Enquirer has gone into administration. It won't hit the news stands ever again :( I feel quite sad about that as it was an excellent paper.

I don't know how long the NWE website will remain on the net so if you want the full story, you can find it here.

This means that the urgency of having regional news for our county on the BBC website has increased enormously.

Please - if you are reading this, use the sidebar link to sign the petition.

Northerner gap

The Guardian's regular Thursday column, The Northerner, also seems to think that Cheshire does not exist. Take a look at their left-hand column listing regional newspapers in the north-west. Can you spot Cheshire? No, I can't either.

Several weeks ago, The Northerner conveniently posted a submission link at the bottom of the column, inviting people to submit questions. So I asked why there was no coverage of Cheshire. The following week's issue of The Northerner contained a rather scathing remark about how it couldn't possibly list or cover everything happening in the region. Well, no, no one expects The Northerner to. But it's not unreasonable to expect them to list the main regional paper covering our county (the Chester Chronicle), if it's listing all the other regional papers of significance.

The Northerner's contact link has not appeared since. What is the Guardian afraid of? Reader feedback? Surely not...

It seems only The North West Enquirer is prepared to cover events in Cheshire from a regional or national perspective...

The NWE's coverage is excellent. The lead story this week is Cheshire-based, and examines the forthcoming enquiry into Cheshire County Council's problem with its rubbish mountain. Well done to the NWE for reporting on news in Cheshire.