You may have noticed a new collaboration opportunity on the Funders Collaborative Hub recently: a Local News Fund for Newry, started with seed funding of £15,000 from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, building on the Media Wealth Building initiative I led for the Public Interest News Foundation in 2022/23.
While we were developing this initiative, the first of its kind in the UK, a coalition of 20 funders in the USA - I know, I know, it’s not always a fair comparison, but bear with me - announced their pledge to give their domestic independent, public interest and non-profit news sector at least US$500m over the next five years. Even if some of that is not new money, it’s a serious statement of collective concern.
Those of us who work to support and unlock funds for independent and public interest media in the UK are, to be frank, slack-jawed, and not a little envious.
As in the US, the decline of local news has had a devastating impact on communities across the UK. Our Media Wealth Building report distils how this is impacting six communities across the UK, but in short, the fabric of local news is coming apart - from local papers bought up by large chains (on which Professor Jane Martinson paints a grim picture), or the volunteer-run community radio station, or the independent news entrepreneurs going into debt to keep their digital outlets going.
Local businesses, civil society groups, government, trusts and foundations (including community foundations) are increasingly recognising the importance of these local media to their local economy, arts, culture and heritage venues, hospitality industry, and inward investment, and are taking steps to support it.
While it is a growing part of the philanthropy and social investment agenda, the unequal access that citizens living in different parts of the UK have to quality local information and media isn’t part of the political or policy discussion.
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I’ve written before about why journalism has become a more widely accepted strategic area for US philanthropy. The UK sector has some of those building blocks in place: charitable status is emerging as an option, research on the independent news sector and news deserts in the UK is growing, there’s growing recognition from the business and investment community of the need for quality local journalism, and community foundations and other place-based funders are beginning to exhibit concern about the decline of truly independent and local journalism. Even national media understand what will happen if local media die.
The Lords Select Committee has announced a consultation into the Future of News in the UK - its last report called (as yet unheeded) for the revival of the Future News Fund that DCMS axed after one round, and just £1m of funding, rather than the £10m p.a. that Dame Frances Cairncross called for in her landmark inquiry for the UK government. (And it’s not unique to the UK - I’m writing this from Portugal, where a similar crisis has caused the President to issue a call for political parties to agree a deal to ‘save journalism’ ahead of the coming elections.)
But while it is a growing part of the philanthropy and social investment agenda, the unequal access that citizens living in different parts of the UK have to quality local information and media isn’t part of the political or policy discussion - it’s not a part of Thriving Places or inequality indices, wellbeing analyses, or assessments of the digital divide. And this leaves journalism out of wider conversations about the quality of our places, about the wellbeing of our people.
We know, however, that our communities can’t wait any longer, so we’re working to build Local News Funds to help get support into local news and information ecosystems across the UK, starting in Newry, Northern Ireland - and we welcome conversations with anyone interested in doing the same, whether in Newry or elsewhere around the country.
Get involved
Visit the Local News Fund collaboration opportunity on the Funders Collaborative Hub
