Essex Chronicle editor Alan Geere has boosted his paper’s local profile without creating a Facebook group, or spending all his time twittering.
Instead he has gone back to the ’20s and taken a soapbox to the high street to let the public shout about their news, sans editing.
Geere said from his soapbox: “Forget your Facebook and toss your Twitter, now is the chance for everyone to talk directly to your audience.”
The two-hour session in Chelmsford High Street let people talk about everything from the war in Afghanistan to the development of Stansted, and Geere was astonished that people just stood and listened.
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He said: “Some heckled, some tried to argue but most simply listened in a respectful and admiring silence. All were grateful for the opportunity afforded simply to be part of our democratic exercise. ”
Geere now plans to try and make the soapbox a regular fixture in Chelmsford and is talking to the council.
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