The BBC responds...

This morning, I emailed the BBC yet again to try to find out why there is a lack of coverage on the BBC News Online website.

This is what I said:
"Dear Northwest Newsonline team
I am writing yet again to the BBC to try to find out why the BBC repeatedly refuses to cover Cheshire news properly online. I am not alone in my frustration at trying to find daily updates on the BBC news website regarding what is happening in my area.

At present (and has been the situation for as long as I can recall), Cheshire is the only English county not represented on the BBC's full website. If I type in my postcode, I am taken to the Merseyside/Liverpool page. News coverage is split between the pages for Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Staffordshire. Sometimes Cheshire news can even be found on the page for north-east Wales! As a licence payer, I find this wholly unacceptable.

I have written on at least 6 previous occasions to the BBC website team to find out why our local news coverage veers between poor and non-existent. Only once have I received a response, in which I was told "we don't know why this is so, we'll look into it". As I expected, I heard nothing further.

As I mentioned, I am not the only person who is fed up: other people in Cheshire with whom I have been in contact have asked the same question and been told "it is not viable" or "read the news pages for surrounding areas".

To this end, I would like to draw your attention to the following websites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/G1908 started by myself - I invite you to read the comments.
http://newsforcheshire.blogspot.com/ again started by myself. Please read the comments.
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/9179.html more signatures and comments (also on the petition forum).

There may not be that many signatures yet, but the comments are very indicative that Cheshire licence payers feel cut out of the loop when it comes to local news coverage by the BBC. Even the contact page where I found this email address to write to you says : "The team, which provides the latest news in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside, and the Isle of Man..." and Cheshire is missing yet again. It's hard to understand why such a large county seems to be routinely ignored. It's as if Cheshire is invisible. We all know the BBC has a tight budget these days but adding an extra webpage and keeping it updated really would not cost very much out of our licence fees. In fact, it's a very cheap option for keeping a county-wide population of almost a million people happy.

I would appreciate a response to this email and some positive action. If I don't hear from you, I will be stepping up action and speaking to my MP to have this issue raised at a higher level because it is simply unfair and unacceptable to deprive such a large part of England equality of coverage."

Incredibly, I received a reply within an hour. And even more unbelievably, the response was from Hugh Berlyn, the Editor for all the England news pages. This is what he had to say:

"I have been passed your email with regard to the provision (or lack of it) of a BBC News Interactive index dedicated to Cheshire news. I have been impressed with your campaign, blog and petition and will follow their progress with great interest.

I am sorry that you feel you have had unsatisfactory responses from the BBC in the past - and I am not confident that this response will offer any immediate satisfaction.

I can promise that the desire for provision of news for Cheshire is very much on the BBC's radar, but you will be aware that the BBC recently received a disappointing licence fee settlement from the Government. As a result of that all BBC priorities are currently under review - including news provision for Cheshire.

"Under review" means just that - no decisions have been made either way - but I can assure you senior managers are looking at what will be possible for the future.

Thanks again for your email."

The blog will be updated again when there is more to report. Watch this space!