Local news is another 'blind spot' in mainstream newspapers. This is often the result of the need to make the newspaper meaningful to a wider readership. You cannot focus on details when using a wide-angle lens in your camera. The same holds good for a newspaper. The free-sheeter, on the other hand, can be like the 'camera lucida' and put local issues under the microscope and draw out all the minute details. While the newspaper only sees a fine air-conditioned restaurant with a fantastic menu, the free-sheeter can note that the cook uses the same broom to sweep the floor and also to dispense oil on the king-sized hot plate for making your favorite 'dosa'. A good free-sheeter can give you the details that most newspapers have no access to. In the local context, a free-sheeter has an advantage. The editorial team of a free-sheeter normally comprises of local people. It is, thus, in a better position to understand local nuances, culture and tradition. For example, a woman who is topless may cause a riot in our metropolitan cities; in some tribal areas, remote Polynesian communities or the beach-front from Hawaii to the Riviera, a topless woman may not even cause anyone to raise an eyebrow, except if she is exceedingly beautiful! The local perspective makes a free-sheeter interesting to the local readership because they can identify with it. Local issues are of great interest to local readership. What is being done about the water pipeline leak is important to those living on the first floor of buildings in the locality. Poor pressure in the pipeline means that the water will have to go to a sump and then be pumped up. Besides the cost, time and effort, this could also lead to increased contamination of water. A small pipeline leak in a neighbourhood has no news value to a mainstream newspaper. It means the world to the people in the locality that is affected. Such issues have local news value and, hence, the justification of a greater emphasis on local readership. This is where a free-sheeter can step in. Editorial Content: The right place to express one's views is in the editorial and in the feed-back column. It may be regarding the news or current issues or some other matter of importance to the readers at that point of time. The fact that a significant section of the readership skips reading the editorial should make the editors sit up and assess the relevance of the editorials they write, or get written on their behalf. Just as the front page is the 'face' of the periodical, the editorial should be its 'heart', not a vestigial organ like the appendix.