Longevity in independent local news - a survive and a fall
Longevity in independent local news - a survive and a fall
Plus learnings in journalism and media innovation
Good afternoon,
I write from a very dreary wet Wednesday in Lancashire. It is proper gloom out there. I think Autumn may well be missed entirely and it’s straight into the winter storm season. I was out earlier today to interview a local business for a feature and I think I may need to invest in an aquatic vehicle for my next car - such were the waves on the country lanes as I made my way there. Anyway, their story is one for another day.
Let’s get straight into the digest and it is a tale of two contrasting fortunes when it comes to funding and investment for hyperlocal news innovation
West Leeds Dispatch awarded £148,924 by National Lottery Community Fund - West Leeds Dispatch - let’s start with a shot in the arm, well done to John Baron and team over the Pennines who have successful negotiated further lottery funding to give themselves three years more of publishing both digital and in print.
I’ve had the good fortune to know John for more than a decade now and it is testament to his resilience and hard graft that the Dispatch is established within its community.
What’s telling is how much emphasis both John and the lottery funding puts on his upskilling of people as community reporters to help drive the Dispatch.
I think it’s also one of a growing number of examples where the civic and social value of community journalism means it can be nimble and access funding from outside traditional investment sources.
Why The Lincolnite closed down, with Daniel Ionescu - Journalism.co.uk - another six-figure investment but this is a very frank discussion between Daniel, who was innovating with the MyLocal app and platform which evolved from The Lincolnite. He discusses in the podcast some of the challenges and external factors faced with Jacob. It’s rare to hear someone discuss why something didn’t work out in such detail and all credit to Daniel for being willing to do so.
My key takeaway was in looking at the incremental scaling up is important for any new thing, although this depends on where and how the funding is coming in. As if you’ve got to get a return, you need to get a return.
And I will round off this afternoon’s newsletter with a piece from my archives, thoughts on journalism innovation from the module I was involved in teaching within the University of Central Lancashire’s journalism leadership and innovation programme last year.
We’re about to start this module with this year’s cohort. It’s always fascinating to see what challenges they are facing, ideas they are developing and where they see the opportunities as being.
And that’s this week’s digest, many thanks for reading and there will be no digest next week as it’s half-term week here so I’ll be busy keeping a small person occupied while also keeping the plates of Alma, Blog Preston and more spinning.
Have a great rest of the week and keep going.
Ed
p.s. many thanks to whoever put me forward for this list of media consultants from journalism.co.uk - was a nice surprise to see myself listed alongside some very talented and knowledgeable people!