PAPER ROUND: Longford was last week labelled the worst town in Ireland, the sort of harmful tag which "can stick in the public consciousness", said the Longford News.
So it was vital to give some perspective to the banner headlines, said the paper, noting that "in reality, Longford is the most disadvantaged of a number of smaller provincial towns".
This unenviable status was the result of a Government report which found that the town was the worst in terms of poverty, education, health and crime, compared to similarly sized towns which applied for a particular type of Government funding.
In response to the findings, the editorial in the Longford Leader noted that "there was very little of the usual 'flog him and burn him' reaction that we often got before from local dignitaries" when anything negative was written or said about the town.
"The reason is obvious - there is quite a lot in the report that is true and not even the most partisan Longford person could deny that."
However, the editorial immediately noted: "Some of this report is rubbish. The statistics which were used to arrive at the report's conclusion are outdated, lopsided and taken out of context."
But at least the report may have "jerked local people and the people in politics and executive authority who profess to run the town of Longford out of their apathy. Traffic and parking chaos, decrepit approach roads, filthy signposts, we could go on and on."
The report, the editorial continued, "only dealt with a small number of specific areas - for which the people and officials of Longford town should be eternally grateful".
But "such a stigma can act as a deterrent to future commercial, industrial or retail investment in the town", said the Longford News. It also badly affects the morale of the town's population."
In the run-up to the election, its editorial noted, the findings of the report "would be used as weapons in political dogfights" - but really all local politicians are partly to blame.
Solutions lie, said the Longford Leader, not by "whingeing about Government agencies or running to Government departments for help" but through better local administration and "more active involvement by Longford business people and citizens of the town in progressing the town".
One of the paper's columnists, John Donlon, said: "They'll be laughing at us up in Cavan. Oh no, they won't. It was adjudged third worst, separated from us only by Carrick-on-Suir."
But Cavan's placement did not seem to cause much controversy there, judging from the Anglo-Celt's front-page story, which said the listing would work to the town's advantage.
In contrast to other regional reports, their coverage was curiously muted. There were no outraged locals or point-scoring politicians - only a Government spokesman explaining how the survey has been "misrepresented to mean more than it is".
Inside, an editorial welcomed Cavan's inclusion in the list of towns which should receive Government funding.
Many of the indexes which were used to rate towns, such as education and housing, were "already being addressed in some manner but largely on a voluntary basis with little State support", the paper noted.
Other towns mentioned in the report objected to being labelled in the press among the worst in the country.
In the Corkman's lead story, a Mallow councillor, Mr Noel O'Connor, said it was "horrific" to see the town listed in the top 10. He said it was "portrayed as if they were going around looking for bad towns in Ireland".
"The purpose of the exercise was to find where best funds could be spent in areas that might have lost out in the economic boom," he said.
Tipperary town and Carrick-On-Suir were in the top four "worst" towns in the survey, noted the Nationalist.
And Opposition politicians in the county wasted no time in using the results to snipe at the Governenment, saying the findings were "a damning indictment of neglect" of South Tipperary.