Government sets out plan to support local news
"Future of news is local" says Labour as it announces the first local media strategy in a generation ...
The Labour government has announced a new action plan that aims to transform the local news industry across the UK by providing media organisations with the support and finances needed to ensure the future of quality journalism.
A local news fund worth £12 million will be set up to enable different types of local news organisations, from print and radio to online and video, to “support financial sustainability and transition to online-focussed business models”.
In terms of wider support, the government said that increasing digitisation of the local news industry through tools, resources and infrastructure would also be critical in helping news organisations reach more audiences across more platforms and open up new and diverse revenue streams.
The Local Media Strategy will also looking to address existing challenges with a review of statutory notices – which requires councils to publish certain information in print newspapers but not digitally – and an examination of how the government can better advertise in local media outlets when promoting campaigns.
A media forum will also be launched this year in the west of England to better understand how to improve the relationship between local news organisations and local councils, local courts and local emergency and health services.
“In an age of mass AI slop, churnalism, ragebait and mis- and disinformation, where access to information is dictated by a small group of tech platforms, any and everything that can be done to support professional, quality-driven local journalism is welcomed,” said Narinder Purba, editor of The Ilkley Journal.
“We’re happy to see that the government appears to be taking this very seriously with today’s announcement of its local media strategy. What we’ve seen so far, from the introduction of a local news fund to getting more people to inspiring more people from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in local news, is reassuring. It’s a big step forward in the right direction.”
The Local Media Strategy is part of a bigger “call to action” improve social cohesion, as it seeks to tackle the growing “forces of division” nationally and internationally that threaten the progress made by Britain since the end of the second world war.
“Economic shocks, austerity, technological change, demographic changes and a rise in extremism have each made people feel as if they have lost a sense of control over their lives, their country and their community,” the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said last week in a foreword to the new policy paper.
“Many have reacted through online echo chambers exacerbated by malevolent algorithms, and in the polarisation of public life leaving us more detached from one another and less resilient.
“The threat this presents to our cohesion is not academic. People from different backgrounds getting on together isn’t a nice to have, it is a fundamental pre-condition to the Britain we have come to expect and that is needed for Britain to thrive in the 21st century. Without our multi-ethnic democracy there is no NHS, without cohesion there is no stability to plan ahead or weather attacks, without pride in Britain, there is no better future for our children.”
The Local Media Strategy is also one aspect of the government’s plan to improve media literacy to enable the UK to become a “a safe, informed digital nation” over the next three years.
It falls under one of four actions that will be undertaken under one of the four priority areas that the government will focus on (to build awareness of media literacy and support access to trusted information).
Along with running media literacy campaigns for youngsters and adults, helping “trusted voices” – for example, the NHS, the Electoral Commission – reach more people when needed and exploring how the BBC can, as part of a new charter, should support and improve media literacy, the strategy is put forward as the requirement for supporting local journalism.
“Local news plays a vital role in providing trustworthy information at a local level, reporting on the issues that matter to communities,” the policy paper states. “Under the strategy, we will encourage and support local media and public services to work together to improve local information for their communities.
“We will also support young people to value local journalism, consider careers in the sector, and develop their news and media literacy.”
The Local Media Strategy is long in the making and comes on the back of major reports and investigations like the 2019 Cairncross Review and the 2022–23 sustainability of local journalism inquiry.
Both have highlighted various challenges faced by the industry, from a devastating loss of advertiser revenue and the “imbalances of power” that a highly concentrated local news market fosters to tthe increasing role played by social media platforms in informing people about what’s happening in their community (if at all).
You can read more about what we’re trying to do at The Ilkley Journal below with some examples of the kind of journalism we want to be known for:
