The UK Government is to pay up to £12m to local media outlets over the next two years to support innovation and help fill “news deserts”.
The Local News Fund is part of the Local Media Strategy, aiming to “guarantee the long-term sustainability of local journalism” as part of wider plans to boost social cohesion in the UK.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) described the Local Media Strategy as the “first action plan to back local news in a generation”.
The DCMS said that the Local News Fund will distribute up to £12m to local media outlets publishing in print, online, radio or TV through a centrally-managed competitive bidding process with the aim of helping news publishers transition to online-focused business models.
The DCMS cited research from the Public Interest News Foundation that suggests that up to 37 local authority districts are effectively “news deserts” with no dedicated print, online, TV or radio outlets, affecting 4.4 million people.
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Some of the funding will be reserved for a parallel process, open to the third parties that are developing tools that could help the industry, such as app, adtech and website infrastructure providers.
The DCMS added that more information on the Local News Fund will be shared in the coming weeks.
More funding will also go into community radio stations, doubling funding from £500,000 in 2024/25 to £1m over the next three years.
The DCMS said this would support the long-term sustainability of almost 400 stations and encourage more stations in underserved areas.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “This strategy will provide unprecedented funding for local media outlets to invest in innovation and infrastructure, almost tripling the size of funding for community radio, harnessing the power of local and national government and giving more young people access to high quality journalism and the opportunity to pursue careers in it.
“Because local media was and always has been a ladder of opportunity to help new voices break into journalism. This is not a nice to have. It is essential to a cohesive country. Our debate is too narrow and too small. We will change that.
“The strategy we publish today is the start – not the end point – and we recognise there is more to do. But it is the start of a new approach to local media, which nurtures it and places it directly at the heart of our government’s support for our country. Because the future of news is local.”
The strategy also includes a review of statutory notices, which currently must be published in local print newspapers by councils on matters including planning, road management and alcohol licensing.
As of 2020, planning notices brought £10m into the local news industry each year while a further £30m came from other types of public notices. But there has been increasing criticism that digital-only publishers, with at times higher readership than print and digital brands, were missing out on being able to receive a slice of this revenue.
The government also promised to “endeavour to make best use of local media outlets”, including assessing the value of increased use of hyperlocal outlets, in its advertising campaigns.
It said: “Where local channels are identified as a good fit for a campaign, the government will always use local media as a trustworthy communications channel with a loyal and engaged audience.”
The government also said it would launch an “Inspiring the Future” campaign to connect local media employers and journalists with schools to talk about careers through showcase events and visits, initially in the North West.
A Department of Education-funded scheme in which all state-funded primary and secondary schools have access to local and national news titles will also be improved, the DCMS said.
