Today the Government launch our local media strategy, “Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan”, setting out our plans to support the sustainability of local journalism in the UK and empower communities through a thriving local media that highlights the issues that matter to them, helping to drive community wellbeing, social cohesion and local growth.
Local media plays a vital role in the fabric of our society, keeping citizens informed about decisions and events that directly affect them, scrutinising the activities of local public services and other institutions, and helping to reflect the views and perspectives of citizens and communities.
As audiences converge online, the business models of many local media outlets have been challenged, posing a risk to the sustainable provision of high-quality, trustworthy news and information at local level.
The local media action plan outlines our proposed approach to tackling these challenges, building on previous studies into the sustainability of public interest journalism in the UK, including the Cairncross review and inquiries conducted by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee and the Lords Communications and Digital Committee. Our approach is based around three central pillars.
Financial sustainability in the short-to-medium term
We will support the industry’s existing innovation to accelerate the transition toward sustainable, digital-first business models by:
Launching a multi-year local news fund of £6 million in the first year—and up to a further £6 million in the second—to invest in digital innovation and infrastructure, ensuring funding is distributed in ways that benefit a broad range of local news providers and the diverse communities that they serve.
Increasing DCMS community radio funding to £1 million per year to strengthen the vibrant community radio ecosystem.
Making best use of local media as a key trustworthy channel for Government advertising and public information campaigns, for the benefit of both local media and audiences.
Meeting long-term challenges of changing audience habits
We will ensure that local media reaches younger audiences and thrives alongside BBC and the largest tech firms by:
Starting in the north-west, launching an inspiring the future campaign, to connect local media to schools, building news literacy and inspiring the next generation of journalists.
Ensuring young people from all backgrounds and in all parts of the country have access to high-quality local journalism.
Ensuring through the BBC charter review process that the BBC does more to support local media diversity, including future-proofing the local democracy reporting service.
Exploring greater transparency options and developing a healthy licensing ecosystem between AI developers and rightsholders including local media, helping local news providers to adapt to the emerging challenges of AI-generated news summaries.
Incentivising public interest news
We will make it easier for journalists to scrutinise local institutions and conduct other public interest news-gathering without fear or favour by:
Establishing a best practice framework for engagement between journalists and public services through a new regional media forum, in partnership with the West of England combined authority.
Consulting on the future of statutory notices to ensure they continue to support both community awareness and journalistic scrutiny.
Refreshing the national action plan for the safety of journalists to assess and mitigate the specific risks faced by local reporters.
A thriving local media is essential to a healthy democracy and a cohesive country. This action plan presents a robust programme of work in support of this vital industry but it is also only the beginning of our commitment to support local media. We intend to monitor our progress, and the impact on our communities and on citizens, over the coming years, and will provide a short annual update to summarise and track progress.
Our country is richer for the diversity of voices, views and experiences in every nation and region, and those voices will be heard.
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