The public say they need us — but will the next Government take the steps needed to make sure local journalism thrives again?

As the General Election draws to close and local journalists around the country prepare to stock up on Haribo and Red Bull for the long night ahead, it’s probably a good time to stop for a moment.

If any event demonstrated the value — indeed, critical importance — of local media in the UK, it’s a General Election in an age of misinformation.

And while you would expect Behind Local News to make that point, there’s also data to back up the argument, too.

Public polling during the election, conducted by OnePoll for the News Media Association, revealed that the public relied heavily upon highly trusted local news media to combat misinformation and fake news during the election campaign.

Their polling revealed 81 per cent of UK adults think local news media has an important role in debunking AI-generated misinformation about the general election.

In addition, 80 per cent agree local news media is the most important source for local news about the general election.

The public firmly believe that local news media — which reaches 42 million people a month in print and digital — is a force for good in local communities.

Conducted in March, the OnePoll survey found that 91 per cent of the public agree that local news media improve communities by campaigning on issues that matter to residents.

The BBC’s encroachment into competing with local news organisations isn’t popular with the public either — 89% agree it’s not the BBC’s place to replace independent commercial news publishers, something it is feared is effectively happening as the BBC axes local radio shows to fund digital journalism which replicates existing output already being produced.

And calls for big tech firms like Google and Facebook to pay for the use of news resonates with the public too, with 93% in agreement.

NMA chairman Danny Cammiade said: “As we enter the age of misinformation supercharged by increasingly sophisticated technology, the role of trusted sources of news and information will become even more important than it is today.

“At the core of this is UK local news media — local newspapers and their websites — which serves communities with trusted local journalism on an hourly, daily and weekly basis across a wide variety of platforms, acting as a powerful force for good.

“Government can foster an environment in which local media can thrive by placing the sector at the heart of its levelling up agenda and taking decisive action such as diverting more advertising spend to local news and reining in the BBC’s expansion into local markets already well served by commercial providers.”

Whoever is in Number 10 after today will have, as part of their in-tray, how to help journalism thrive in the UK. While it’s not a topic which will top any candidate’s election leaflet, or be an opening gambit on the doorstep, it’s an issue both the Tories and Labour have sought to engage with.

Of course, we’ve been here before, with warm words about local journalism not being reflected in actions taken. Weeks after telling the Manchester Evening News in 2018 that government needed to help develop a model to strengthen and underpin local journalism, then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was demonising journalism at the Labour Party Conference. In the interests of balance, Gogglebox was also accused of bias by Labour that weekend too.

In 2019, weeks before the General Election, then PM Boris Johnson couldn’t speak highly enough of local journalism — at a reception involving local editors — heralding local reporters as the ‘political lifeblood of the areas that you serve.’

A year later, as the world emerged from the first wave of the pandemic, local editors found themselves being denied access to public visits the PM was making.

Editors Behind Local News spoke to this week said they had been impressed with the way Labour had engaged with local publications during this election. Even before the election was called, Sir Keir Starmer had visited newsrooms including the Liverpool Echo, Manchester Evening News and Northern Echo.

Views were more mixed about the Tories. Swindon Advertiser editor Daniel Chipperfield went public after his team were denied access to PM Rishi Sunak when he turned up in Swindon. He has, however, written for the Northern Echo, also his local newspapers, promising to unlock the potential of the region if he remains in power.

The words of support from Governments towards local media have never been lacking. Taking culture secretary Lucy Frazer’s comments during the last Journalism Matters campaign, run by the NMA.

She said last year: “Local newspapers, powered by committed local reporters, copy editors, photographers and publishers, are part of the lifeblood of that industry.”

Shadow Culture Secretary Thangam Debbonaire MP, was similarly warm, saying: “Quality regional and local media is crucial for democracy. It’s the glue that helps bind and build resilient communities.”

So what can Government do to help local journalism? Building on the NMA’s Manifesto ‘A Sustainable Future for National, Regional and Local Media’, the NMA produced a Local Matters report which proposes five actions for the next government to take to place local media at the heart of its levelling up agenda and support local journalism:

• Rebalance the digital markets. The passage of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act means that the Competition and Markets Authority will have the tools it needs to level the playing field between publishers and platforms. The new regime must empower local publishers to reap the fair rewards for use of their content by platforms, including AI firms who feed off trusted news.
• Recognising the importance of local media to devolution and local growth by diverting more government advertising spend into local news media. In 2022, the government spent less than three per cent of its advertising budget in local news media compared to 17 per cent spent on Google and Facebook. Some of the funds allocated to the platforms could easily be diverted to local news media;

• Rein in the expansionist ambitions of the BBC and its plans to expand into digital local news markets already well served by commercial providers. Eighty-nine per cent of the public agree that it is not the BBC’s role to replace independent commercial news titles in publishing journalism online;
• Maintain the statutory requirement for public notices to be published in printed local newspapers — a critical platform particularly for vulnerable and elderly groups and those with low levels of digital literacy;
• Consideration should also be given to targeted interventions for the local news sector such as a local journalism tax relief and business rates relief for local titles, allowing publishers to focus even more investment on putting more journalists on the ground, as they transition their businesses to a digital-first future.

All of the above are in the gift of the next government to resolve at speed. Will the next government be the one where the warm words about local journalism are matched with action to ensure it has a thriving future?

Sarah Lester, editor of the Manchester Evening News, hopes so: “The next Government has a responsibility to empower regulators that play a key role in bolstering a plural UK press ecosystem. This includes supporting the Digital Markets Unit to move quickly to guarantee a fair value exchange between Big Tech and trusted news publishers. The wider public is largely unaware how much influence big tech has on what is served to them to read. It’s not an exaggeration to say without action a fundamental part of our democracy is at stake.”

Emily Woolfe, editorial director at Tindle Newspapers, said: “Local journalism is the linchpin of communities: it celebrates successes; mourns with communities; holds authorities to account; challenges the status quo; and offers a connection between people which would be lost without it.

“The survival of the regional press industry is vital, but we must restore people’s faith in their media — and allow them to recognise that the BBC is not always the best source of news, and social media is frequently far from accurate. However, the industry must continue to evolve and adapt if it is to survive. It must find new ways to serve its audience, to deliver the news to the audience in the way they are likely to consume it.”

Will action follow the words, and swiftly? Time will tell — much depends on it being so.