By Emma Clayton

IT speaks volumes for my love of both local newspapers and soap operas that I take more notice of the Weatherfield Gazette and the Hotten Courier than I probably should.

The headlines are usually laughable. In Corrie recently, a Gazette headline screamed: "Weatherfield Councilor in Affair Scandal" - spelling error aside, it's hardly local paper fodder - while, strangely, the back sports page was devoted to the Scottish FA Cup Fifth Round. Not a mention of Weatherfield County.

Soap hacks are nearly always portrayed as sleazy spiv types in raincoats, stitching up innocent folk for a sensational story.

Brookside used to be the worst offender, with characters regularly falling victim to eye-wateringly libellous press reports, and soaps continue to get it wrong.

Emmerdale took the predictable option recently with an explosive summer storyline involving a helicopter crashing onto a wedding party, which was so hammy it made Hollyoaks look like Bertolt Brecht. Despite being crushed by a collapsed ceiling, the bride was carried out in a pristine white dress, with barely a scratch, and clearly no-one in Emmerdale had heard of the air ambulance, or any other emergency services, as it was several hours before anything resembling a high-viz tabard arrived.

But the fall-out led to an even bigger suspension of disbelief. When a village stalwart organised a clear-up operation, a young Hotten Courier reporter politely asked for tributes to those who'd died in the accident. Now, I'm always ready to mock soap journalists, because they're usually ridiculous, but this time I gave Emmerdale the benefit of the doubt. "Maybe, just for once, they've got it right," I thought.

A few scenes later, it appeared that they hadn't. Naturally, the polite reporter turned out to be a nasty piece of work, twisting Bob's words and portraying him as an evil trickster milking the village tragedy to flog buns in his cafe. If the scriptwriters had bothered to research journalism law they'd know that the Hotten Courier wouldn't be allowed to refer to Bob's impending fraud trial with a dramatic front page splash because court proceedings are active, which restricts reporting.

Not long ago the Courier revealed someone as an arsonist across its front page, before his trial had even begun. And in Corrie a snooping Gazette reporter turned a bogus drugs raid at Nick's Bistro into the kind of witch hunt that would've had the paper closed down.

More than any other profession, journalism suffers from lazy writing and dated stereotypes in TV drama.

I live in hope of a realistic portrayal of local newspapers, and the positive contribution they make to community life. The digital age has battered the newspaper industry, with devastating consequences for many people. Instead of continuing to stick the boot in, TV scriptwriters should learn to appreciate local papers. We won't be around forever.