Too much too zoo...

Another baby giraffe has been born at Chester Zoo. And BBC News Online has chosen to report the birth. That is the fifth zoo story we've had since the beginning of this year. While it's good to know that these rare Rothschilds are surviving in captivity, it's hardly the most important thing happening in our county.

We have local elections in less than a month and for Cheshire, this will also mean the abolition of a number of district councils, the loss of our county council and the forced imposition of two unitary authorities by the government that will split our historic county in two forever. The BBC has only once reported on this, some months back, despite it having been on the political agenda for well over a year. This massive change is going to affect almost 1 million people. If this was taking place in Liverpool or Manchester, it's fair to assume it would be receiving saturation coverage.

We get bloody giraffes again, instead!

More zoo news

Yet again, the BBC's hottest news story from Cheshire is about Chester Zoo. This week it's all about a pregnant orang-utan that the Zoo didn't know was pregnant. That's 4 zoo stories since the start of 2008 alone, and 15 in the last 12 months.

One might be excused for thinking nothing much happens in Chester apart from zoo births if you only get your news from BBC Online.

Yet the top stories in this week's Chester Chronicle are far more varied. There's the ongoing faked sport stars' autographs trial at Chester Crown court, a major report on the urban impact on the Cheshire countryside, the unearthing of a medieval graveyard on the site of the old Chester police HQ, which is currently being redeveloped, and a visit by Margaret Hodge MP (culture minister) who met with more than 30 leading cultural representatives to discuss the loss of Chester's theatre and cinema in 2007 and related issues. There were also news reports on several serious violent assaults in the area.

Almost all these stories would have appeared on the BBC's news page for Merseyside if they had taken place in Liverpool. Yet they seem considered not worth reporting nationally by the BBC because they took place 25 miles away.