Salford Star
The Salford Star was a free local news, culture and campaigning magazine based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. First published in 2006, it moved to online-only publication in 2009, although returned briefly to print in 2015–2016. It stopped publishing in 2021 for financial reasons.
Establishment
The magazine was co-founded in May 2006 by journalists Steven Speed and Stephen Kingston, who had worked together re-launching a small community magazine, the Old Trafford News. Kingston had previously worked freelance for mainstream publications, including the Manchester Evening News, Elle, and The Times. He became frustrated that community articles were rarely accepted by publications, especially when critical of their sponsors; he experienced this particularly when attempting write about potential negative impacts of the 2002 Commonwealth Games on its host city of Manchester. Speed had previously worked as a photojournalist and on community media projects, and was approached by Graham Cooper, a youth worker in a residential regeneration area, to help set up a local paper written by and for Salford people. They decided it would be a not-for-profit publication, and advertised a public meeting at a local pub. The initial meeting was attended by 40 people. The magazine received funding before its launch from UnLtd, Awards for All, and Salford City Council via the East Salford Community Committee.Features
The Salford Star covered local news and culture in Salford. It also featured local history pieces, sports reporting, and ran interviews with celebrities from the area, including Christopher Eccleston, Shaun Ryder, and John Cooper Clarke. The "What's On" section contained previews and reviews of local events and performances. The magazine was vocal on local issues and sometimes took an active role in campaigning.Campaigns and investigations
From its inception, it reported critically on local regeneration schemes and published investigations into the property development company Urban Splash, which at the time was responsible for many such schemes in the area. In its first issue it reported on the Lowry Centre, a publicly funded arts venue which had opened six years earlier, promising to ensure it was welcoming to the community. It published a photo comic of an experiment in which a reporter photographed a group of young people as they entered the building, capturing how they were quickly ejected. According to Kingston, Salford City Council said they were "very angry" about the action, but did meet community contributors to talk about the issues.In August 2009 it campaigned alongside the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society and local residents to save The Tree of Knowledge, an Alan Boyson mural at Salford University that was to be demolished, resulting in the work being protected with a grade II listed status.