The Guardian is to close its local blogs in Edinburgh, Leeds and Cardiff over the next few weeks.
According to an article by Meg Pickard which made its way to The Guardian site earlier today, it was apparently always considered to be a year-long experiment, and the decision has been made to bring the experiment to an end.
Edinburgh Beatblogger, Michael MacLeod, has tweeted today to say that he is looking for other employment. We are sure that he will receive many offers, but we are equally certain that if he is allowed to continue in his role, The Guardian Edinburgh Local Blog would only gather momentum and pace.
The local Guardian Edinburgh blog has had much impact in the city. Local news from a title as important as The Guardian has real clout. It has been a collaborative blog, allowing many local bloggers, including The Edinburgh Reporter, to write guest posts. Their approach, guided by Sarah Hartley, has been collaborative and cooperative from the start. The daily viewing figures claimed by The Guardian are in their thousands each day.
So why stop?
The reasons for that are known only to the high heid yins at The Guardian.
The discussion on Twitter this evening is gathering pace for a Save the Guardian Local Blog rather than a commiseration or obituary of what has surely been a success story. Mr Rusbridger we hope you are listening.
Completely agree with you on this. There’s an interesting take on it from a non Edinburgh POV here: http://www.andydickinson.net/2011/04/27/guardian-localfailed-experiment/
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