Local News Fund
About the Local News Fund
PINF is building a Local News Fund to unlock the potential of community-first newsrooms.
Local news knits communities together, fights disinformation and improves governance. Local democracy requires informed citizens, effective debate, a shared understanding of facts and of community.
The 20th century business model for local news has evaporated — corporate local newsrooms are a fraction of their former selves as advertising has been hoovered up by tech giants with no stake in the UK’s local communities. Four million Brits now live in local news deserts. Millions more have only ‘ghost newspapers’ providing little value. Disinformation is weakening civic resilience in our communities and even causing violence.
But green shoots of emerging 21st century business models are sprouting up across the country. Trailblazing newsrooms such as Greater Govanhill have high-street shopfronts that invite the community in to share their stories, funded by events, coworking spaces and members, while The Bristol Cable is collectively owned and funded by 2,500+ people chipping in for a better city.
These newsrooms can be sustainable: audiences will pay for quality local journalism. Our survey shows the average audience member willing to contribute £4/month, and there are now successful email newsletters like The Mill achieving steady growth. This reader revenue model aligns the business with the social purpose, serving one master: the members of the local community.
But there's a need for capital investment, as has worked in the USA. Newsrooms face a chicken-and-egg situation: communities want to see a quality product before chipping in, but newsrooms can’t get to a quality product without investment. In the states, organisations like the American Journalism Project has shown that injections of patient capital and venture support will lead to sustainable growth.
With hundreds of communities demanding better news providers, there is capacity for huge growth in the local news sector. We’re ready to unlock patient capital to start and scale sustainable newsrooms - in service of our communities and a more resilient democracy.
