Writing About Local Politics and Neighborhood Change for 50 People; Finding Purpose in Covering Stories That Circulate Nowhere
The Peculiar Purpose of Writing Things Nobody Reads
I’ve been a London lifestyle and politics journalist for nearly a decade, which means I’ve written tens of thousands of words about council elections, neighborhood gentrification, pub closures, housing policy, and local political dysfunction. I’ve done solid reporting, interviewed real people, provided genuine insight into how London actually works as a city.
And approximately 47 people have read any of it.
This isn’t self-pity. It’s genuine observation about the economics of journalism and the structure of public attention. Local news doesn’t generate engagement. People don’t share articles about council planning committees. Neighborhood history doesn’t trend on social media. The things that actually affect people’s liveslocal governance, housing policy, community infrastructuredon’t compete with celebrity gossip or political outrage for audience attention.
The Knowledge Nobody Wants
I know things that would genuinely help people navigate London: which councillors actually deliver on promises, which neighborhoods are about to gentrify, how to navigate planning applications, where to find affordable housing, how local government actually functions. This knowledge is valuable. It’s also worthless in terms of attention economics, because knowing it doesn’t provide the immediate emotional satisfaction of outrage or entertainment.
So I write about things that matter and reach nobody, alongside the coverage provided by professional outlets and established publications that also struggle to get people interested in local governance.
The weird thing is that this makes me valuable precisely because so few people are paying attention. I can write accurate analysis without worrying about pleasing advertisers or generating engagement. Nobody’s following closely enough to demand sensationalism. The pressure to turn neighborhood change into entertainment narrative is minimal because the audience is so small that pleasing them is easyjust tell the truth about what’s happening.
Why I Keep Writing When Nobody’s Reading
Honestly? Because writing is better than not writing. Because occasionally someone reads something I’ve written and it changes how they understand London. Because I believe that local journalism matters even if nobody pays attention, and someone needs to do it.
Also because I don’t know what else to do. I’m a journalist. This is what I do. So I’ll keep writing about neighborhood change and council elections and pub closures, aware that the audience is tiny, confident that the value is real, and gradually moving further out of London because the city I’m documenting is transforming faster than I can afford to inhabit it.
The Poke | The Babylon Bee | NewsThump
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/author/lowri-griffiths/
