It’s nearly time for the 2025 Local News Forum
- Joe Mitchell
- Sep 11
- 3 min read
Tempted to join us at this year's Local News Forum? Deputy Director Joe Mitchell explains what’s coming up.
In just under a month’s time, we’ll be gathering the great and good of local news in Leicester. In this blogpost, we have a sneak preview from Eliot Higgins in advance of his keynote, I’ll outline the rest of the agenda and provide some more reasons to join us.
What’s on?
We have a packed agenda shaping up — I’m not quite sure how we’re going to fit it all in!
Even before the forum kicks off with lunch on Friday, there’s the opportunity to visit the pioneering Leicester Gazette's newsroom and get an exclusive preview of their first-ever print edition. It’ll be a tight squeeze, and only a few spaces remain for this visit, so do sign up soon if you'd like to join it.
We begin in earnest on Friday lunchtime, at Leicester’s City Hall.
First up, we’re thrilled to be joined by Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, the multi-award-winning open-source investigations organisation. Eliot told us:
“I’ll explore how disinformation has flourished in the digital era, reshaping the way democracies perceive and debate the world around them. I’ll examine how the collapse of traditional information gatekeepers, combined with new media ecosystems driven by engagement and outrage, has left democratic societies vulnerable to manipulation, fragmentation, and epistemic crisis.
“My talk will also highlight the crucial role of local news in resisting this slide towards authoritarianism. While global platforms and political actors exploit disinformation to polarise and destabilise, resilient local journalism provides communities with trusted information, accountability and a shared sense of reality. By strengthening local news, I will argue, we not only defend truth but also reinforce the democratic values that keep societies open and participatory.”
You won’t want to miss it! Sign up here.
We’re also looking forward to delving into what is consistently one the biggest issues in indie local news: sustainable funding. A panel of experts, including Holly Donagh from Paul Hamlyn Foundation, one of the UK’s biggest philanthropic foundations, and Matt Smith, the Chief Exec of Key Fund - a leading investor in social enterprises, will join us to discuss the current landscape, how we can create a better funding environment for local news, and how organisations can put their best foot forward in applications.
All this and so much more:
At Glasgow 24 we launched the first ever Tenacious Journalist Awards — in Leicester, we’ll be bringing some of those award-winners back together to tell us how it went and what they uncovered: from vital stories on synthetic opioid use, to highlighting campaigns to reduce glyphosate.
We’ll have lightning talks from the Bath Bee, The Northern Eco, Tower Hamlets' The Slice and others.
Workshops! We’ll be putting our heads together on the future of public notice advertising, what next for Big Tech negotiations, and designing the ideal UK Local News Fund.
Speed-networking! We’ll make sure that you can make the most of being in the room with 50+ newsrooms and stakeholders from across the UK.
And we’ll make sure you’re well fed and watered with the finest comestibles Leicester can provide on Friday and Saturday, regular tea and biscuit breaks, and an informal evening social with dinner on us.
Who’s coming?
The event is aimed at local news providers and stakeholders — so if you work in local news, or your work touches on the importance of local community, local economy or anything where local place matters — we’d love to see you there. Providers, policymakers, think-tankers, researchers and funders are all welcome.
It’s an opportunity to meet people passionate about local news from all over the country. Joining us in Leicester will be The Bristol Cable, Local Authority (Medway), Social Streets (East London), Local Trust, Key Fund, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Ipswich.co.uk, Democracy Club, Impress, Independent Media Association, Bath Bee, Greenwich Wire... the list goes on!
Four years strong!
This is now the fourth year of the forum — from our first pilot in a lecture room in Leeds to Bristol 2023 to Glasgow 2024 and now on to Leicester, they’ve proved an invaluable opportunity to connect people across the sector, to help set the agenda for journalism support and to reinvigorate ideas and campaigns.
Last year, attendees scored the forum at 9/10 in the feedback survey and said some very kind things:
"Great for re-energising and coming up with new ideas and collaborations”
“As someone who is very new to the industry, it was incredible to be in a room with so much experience and knowledge.”
“Meeting people doing the same thing and being able to share experiences. We all tend to work in our own bubbles and so physical events like these are so important and great for the soul.”
Sign up to join us!
We’re really looking forward to seeing as many of our blog readers in Leicester as possible, but tickets are limited!
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