I spent the majority of my working life before I entered politics in local news. Even as a child I delivered copies of the Local Guardian around south London. My first proper job was at the South London Press and later I spent nearly ten years at Newsquest, with its huge footprint across the UK.
I still write a monthly column for the Bromley News Shopper which remains the go-to place for my constituents across Bromley and Biggin Hill for the news that counts. The local news.
Indeed, local journalism is more in demand than ever, with the local news sector attracting 42 million readers a month in print and digital. 80 percent of UK adults trust the news and information they see in their local media and 91percent agree local news media improves communities by campaigning on the issues that matter to residents. Clearly our local media outlets are vitally important.
But the sector faces numerous challenges. It is estimated that nearly 300 local papers have closed since 2005, with around 12.5 million people now living in areas where there is only one local paper while 5.4 million live in news deserts without a single local paper.
In approaching this issue, I focused on what I see as the three biggest challenges facing the sector. Namely the rapidly evolving digital environment, engagement with government and public notice funding, as well as the conversation around a new relationship with the BBC.
The shifting digital environment has been and remains one of the biggest challenges facing local media. For an industry that relies on advertising revenue the emergence of platforms such as Facebook fundamentally changed the marketplace, but over time the industry learned to adapt and channel shift in order to keep pace with the changing news environment.
Twenty years on from one epoch defining technological advancement to another. We marvel as we see AI developing and becoming the new intermediary between readers and news. This technology can now scrape the internet for information and pump out unchecked, unverified content which undermines both the faith in professional journalism and the financial sustainability of newsrooms.
This undercuts the very institutions which produce the content, resulting in decreasing web traffic and draining advertising revenue. It is vital that the Government takes action to ensure a fair licensing market, transparency in AI training data, and strong backing for the Competition and Markets Authority to level the playing field between publishers and tech giants.
Then there is the issue of public notices. These statutory notices in local papers are a cornerstone of democratic accountability, ensuring residents know about local changes that affect them and yet the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill risks removing this requirement. Doing so would irreparably damage the public’s right to know and would be a huge mistake. The Government should commit unequivocally to keeping public notices in local papers, especially at a time of major reform in local government.
Third, the role of the BBC. The corporation has undoubtedly made valuable contributions to local media through initiatives like the Local Democracy Reporting Service. But we need to better understand how the relationship between local news and our national broadcaster can work together more effectively to ensure that commercial operators are not inadvertently impacted due to BBC overreach.
As the BBC’s Royal Charter is reviewed, this is the moment to reset its relationship with local media—focusing on collaboration, not competition, and ensuring commercial newsrooms can thrive.
Finally, government advertising. Eighty per cent of UK adults trust the information they see in local media. Yet government campaigns remain heavily skewed toward social platforms, missing the millions of people who rely on print and digital news. Shifting more advertising spend to local publishers would not only improve reach and engagement but also strengthen the financial sustainability of the sector.
With it’s sharp focus on local issues, scrutiny of key decisions and responsibility for training up the next generation of journalists, local journalism is a public good. It informs, it scrutinises, and it binds communities together. But it cannot survive on goodwill alone. The Government has the tools to act and now is the time to secure its future.
Local journalism is a public good – we must do more to secure its future
