Hyperlocal local election reporters pilot from Reach in County Durham, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Peterborough
The UK’s largest regional publisher has launched a project attempting to improve voter participation in some of the lowest areas of turnout in local council elections.
Voters in England will take to the ballot box on May 6 for local councils, mayoral seats, and police and crime commissioners.
But interest in local elections has often been disappointing — with as little as 20 per cent of voters in some English city districts and towns taking part.
As part of a pilot scheme, Reach is embedding dedicated reporters to cover contests in wards with persistent low turnout.
The project will see four freelance reporters recruited for the two months leading up to the May 6 vote.
The reporters will be a visible presence in the seats — speaking to residents, politicians, businesses and community figures about what the election means to them and exploring why engagement and voter turnout has been low.
The four areas which will be targeted have been chosen by Reach’s Data Unit who analysed historic voting patterns and how closely contested seats have been in the past.
The areas include: Newton Aycliffe (County Durham), Bolsover (Derbyshire), Skegness (Lincolnshire) and Peterborough.
Freelance reporters have been recruited to cover these areas and will operate with the Reach brands: Derbyshire Live, Lincolnshire Live, Chronicle Live and Peterborough Live.
Many traditional election activities such as door-to-door canvassing or hustings events will be affected due to coronavirus. As well as writing stories, reporters and editors involved in this project will look at ways of engaging communities remotely — including newsletters and online hustings events.
Editors and journalists will closely monitor the engagement on stories — as well as local voter turnout — to measure any impacts.
Yakub Qureshi, democracy editor at Reach, said: “This year elections are taking place under the shadow of coronavirus and there will be an even greater need for news and scrutiny.
“We believe this is a worthwhile and valuable experiment in hyperlocal news.
“By providing ultra-local reporting and scrutiny of ward-level candidates and campaigns, we hope to take away some important lessons that will inform our future election coverage .
“These will be stories which are extremely relevant to these four communities. We are looking forward to seeing how this additional scrutiny will be received by readers and we hope it will lead to greater understanding and participation.”
Natalie Fahy, editor of Derbyshire Live and Lincolnshire Live, where two of the reporters will be based, explained: “We are really excited to be part of this scheme and hope to learn some important lessons about what our audiences in Derbyshire and Lincolnshire want to see from election content.
“I hope our coverage will encourage people to get out and exercise their democratic rights on election day.”
