Local News Under the Microscope: What the Data Says on Future of UK Media

Local news is the lifeblood of democracy, covering council business, local planning and community issues. But the media ecosystem is shifting. PINF’s Deputy Director Joe Mitchell introduces a new report from Canterbury Christ Church University providing the latest insights on the challenges and opportunities facing UK local media. 

“Shrinking.” “Plummeting.” “Disengaging.” These are among the first words of Challenges and Opportunities for UK Local Media, and they capture the reality facing our local news ecosystem. It’s a tough time for local journalism in the UK, but this new paper by Simona Bisiani and Agnes Gulyas offers one of the clearest snapshots yet of what’s going wrong, what’s working and where hope lies. 

I believe that quality local news knits communities together, fights disinformation and improves governance. Local democracy is only possible with informed citizens who can engage in constructive debate with a shared understanding of the facts. Local news provides these, while also helping shape and strengthen a sense of belonging in a place - the very ‘demos’ itself.    

But hundreds of local newsrooms have been lost as advertising revenue that used to fund journalism 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 of value. The risks of ‘AI slop’ are headed our way. 

However, there are new models of local journalism in the public interest emerging across the country. As our surveys of providers have shown, with more help they believe they could do much more to serve and empower their communities.  

To make the case for that help - and to ensure that help is directed in the most impactful way to benefit the public - organisations like PINF, philanthropists, policy-makers and the public all need better data, evidence and insight to guide our work.  

So I am delighted to see such a useful concise overview produced here by Simona Bisiani and Agnes Gulyas. The authors have crammed nearly 200 books, academic essays, government and parliamentary reports and industry articles into this readable 60-page paper. And even that is too long for you - and we know from PINF research that the average local news provider is extremely time-poor - skip ahead to pp. 9-10 to read the punchy and concise recommendations. 

Read the Report

While I make some attempt to keep up with the latest research papers on local news, there is plenty in this paper that was new to me. A section on the rise of independent news providers (pp. 22-23) looks at why new entrants come along and, to coin a phrase, the results will surprise you! The results will also help us understand the right approach to seeding and supporting startups. And I knew that local news was vital to local democracy, but I’d not seen some of the starkest findings on political participation at p.27.  

Because PINF’s mission is for everybody to have access to quality local news, we have been attempting to map provision across the country - as small funding pots have allowed, and with the help of this paper’s authors - since 2023. Our eyes have certainly been opened to the difficulty of defining ‘local’, ‘news’ and even ‘outlet’, so Chapter 1 will be of much use to us going forward, and I’m taking away some new inspiration and ideas for a collective effort we could perhaps be making with a group of academic researchers.  

Since 2020, PINF has been trying to understand what’s going on in local news - the bad and the good - and we have become aware that there is a considerable lack of evidence, and awareness and understanding of that evidence, on the state of, and impact of, local news in the UK. 

While this paper is stacked with useful insights, we still need more evidence and understanding of local news in the UK - particularly on its economic and social impact, on whether that impact is shared equitably across the country, and on the sustainability of news providers themselves.  

So I make a plea to researchers, particularly those of you with a quantitative approach, to read this guide with a view to the gaps and how you might fill them. PINF is ready to help ensure that your findings can make a real difference beyond the page, in newsrooms up and down the country. Let’s press on!  

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