Rethinking the BBC’s Role in Local News
- Beckie Shuker
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
With Charter review coming over the horizon, PINF Campaign Manager Beckie Shuker sets out a new vision for the BBC's relationship with local news - one that strengthens local journalism, rebuilds trust and puts communities first.
This summer, we announced our plan to lead a Local News Campaign to drive positive change and help local news thrive in the UK. We want to regenerate local media so that communities in every local authority district in the UK benefit from journalism that speaks to them, for them and with them.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been introducing each of the three pillars of the new campaign, ensuring that: the BBC works in partnership with local news, big tech treat local news providers fairly and local authorities support local news providers.
The final focus of the Local News Campaign is to ensure a positive new relationship between the BBC and local news providers. We’ve created a briefing calling on stakeholders to invest more in the BBC’s local democracy reporting, including through a new Local News Commissioning Fund.
As the BBC approaches the renewal of its Royal Charter in 2027, it faces a defining moment. Journalism is going through an era of rapid change, and the BBC is not immune to the same set of political, economic, social and technological challenges.
As trust in news declines and the revenues falter, the corporation must make bold changes that tackle these obstacles head on. Charter renewal provides a key moment for the BBC to reconsider its relationship with local journalism.
The BBC has an opportunity to become the cornerstone of the local news ecosystem, ensuring that everyone can benefit from truly local, high quality journalism that’s grounded in their communities.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has already made clear that collaboration, not competition, will be central to the review. Speaking earlier this year, she set out her vision for the BBC:
“We need more collaboration... to tackle these great social and economic challenges, working together in a number of areas, particularly tackling mis- and disinformation and promoting high quality news by investing in your journalism arms, partnering more rather than competing with or undercutting local news publishers... supporting initiatives like BBC Verify and the Local Democracy Reporting Service.”
The need for change is urgent. Trust in national media has fallen sharply, and even the BBC is feeling the strain. Only 45% of British adults say they turn to the BBC for news they trust and according to their recent survey, many feel it no longer reflects their communities.
Meanwhile, local journalism is having to fight to survive. Newspaper closures, shrinking ad revenue and the dominance of big tech platforms have decimated local reporting. Yet PINF’s research shows that people trust local news that's produced locally far more than local news that's parachuted in from outside the area.
The BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) was launched in 2017 to fill gaps left by diminishing outlets. Funded by the BBC and operated through Supplier publishers, it’s created165 reporting jobs and produced over half a million stories covering local democracy.
But as valuable as the LDRS has been, it’s more of a sticking plaster than a cure. Most of its funding flows to three large corporate publishers. Independent, community-based news outlets, often closest to their audiences, are largely excluded from the scheme due to an overly bureaucratic tendering process that favours corporations.
The LDRS has helped keep local democracy afloat, but it isn't the solution to provide the plural, diverse media ecosystems that local communities desperately need.
Alongside the LDRS, a Local News Commissioning Fund could support longer-form, democratic investigations and public interest journalism by local news outlets. It would provide flexible, short-term funding to independent outlets tackling important local issues, from health boards to youth justice, without the red tape of lengthy procurement procedures.
If the BBC is to truly live up to its mission of informing and reflecting the whole of the UK, it must evolve into a partner and facilitator of a thriving local news ecosystem. That means embracing a new relationship with local news, one that shares power, funding and opportunities across the country.
A new framework agreement between the BBC and local outlets needs to be established, that outlines shared principles, fair attribution rules and a commitment to collaboration over competition.
Taken together, a new Local News Commissioning Fund, framework agreement and some adjustments to the LDRS could establish the BBC as a pillar of local democracy, ensuring that every community has access to trusted, high-quality local journalism.
The renewal of the BBC’s Charter isn’t just a bureaucratic milestone. It’s an opportunity to restore trust - both in journalism and in our democratic institutions.
When people can see journalists who live among them and who know their streets working to hold local power to account, trust grows. Independent journalists are fighting to keep going, but local media ecosystems are in real need of support.
As misinformation and division continue to spread, the need for reliable, locally sourced information has never been greater. The BBC helped build Britain’s broadcasting infrastructure in the 20th century. In the 21st, by working together with independent journalists in our communities, it can strengthen the foundations of local democracy.
If you want to get involved in the Local News Campaign or find out more about our work, please get in touch.