Most local news fund cash to go towards ‘digital innovation’

Almost all of the new £12m local news fund will go towards digital innovation initiatives, it emerged today as the government’s local media strategy was published in full.

Culture, media and sport secretary Lisa Nandy unveiled her plan to revive local media in a speech at the Society of Editors conference in London.

At the same time her department published the full details of the strategy in a policy paper entitled: Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan.

It reveals that the £12m fund will be split over two years, with £11m of it going towards ‘sustainable digital innovation.’

Todays Society of Editors conference in London

The policy paper revealed that 293 local newspapers have closed since 2005 with 10pc of the adult population unaware of a local news outlet in their area.

But despite this finding, just £1m has been set aside to tackle the so-called ‘news deserts’ – defined as local authority areas where there is no dedicated local news provider.

The first year will be used to assess suitable candidate locations for this funding, with the £1m coming on stream during 2027-28.

This could involve inviting an existing local news publisher or neighbouring local news title to expand into the area or revive a dormant title, or establishing a brand new community-owned title.

The remaining £11m of the local news fund will be distributed to local media outlets over a two-year period via a centrally-managed competitive bidding process.

Funding will be used to invest in tools and software required for sustainable digital innovation, with some of the cash reserved for third parties developing tools and initiatives from which the whole industry could benefit.

Examples of initiatives which could benefit from the fund include:

* Developing or purchasing adtech tools to increase revenues from online advertising or subscription/reader revenues

* Developing better website architecture and multimedia tools to reach new audiences and unlock new content formats.

* Developing and using AI in responsible ways to drive efficiencies in the news room, including adapting stories to a particular local context.

* Enabling more collaboration in the industry such as developing shared advertising exchanges to better leverage the collective reach of local media, or tools and platforms which simplify and centralise journalists’ access to public records.

The policy paper states: “The impact of digitalisation has been more challenging for many of the local news publishers who act as the primary providers of public interest journalism at local level.

“At least 293 local newspapers have closed since 2005, equivalent to around a third of the sector. The number of journalists employed by the three largest local news publishers fell from circa 9000 to circa 3000 between 2007 to 2022.

“The cumulative effect of these trends has been an overall decline in the provision of high quality local media across the UK.

“Up to 37 local authority districts now have no print, online, TV or radio outlet dedicated specifically to that area – leaving as many as 4.4m citizens in local ‘news deserts’.

“Urgent intervention is required to support local media on a nationwide scale in transitioning to sustainable online business models and adapting to the rapid decline of print newspaper circulation.

“Stimulation funding from the government is the most impactful and targeted policy lever available for achieving our objectives in the time required.”

The paper also called for greater collaboration between local news providers and the BBC, while also leaving open the possibility of curbs on the corporation’s local media operations.

It said: “The BBC can play a role in helping ensure that the public benefits from a thriving and diverse local news market over the long term, and support the industry in adapting to changing audience habits.”

This could include mandating the BBC to explore partnerships with high quality local media outlets, with the aim of providing commercial outlets with access to technology, skills and networks.

Ministers will also consider “whether better regulation is required to prevent disproportionate market disruption from BBC activities in local media markets.”