Carnegie UK Trust says more funding should be put into community news websites to help them flourish
Community websites should be given a share of the public funding made available to local UK news organisations, according to a national trust.
The Carnegie UK Trust said hyperlocal sites, such as The Edinburgh Reporter, produce thousands of stories every week and play a vital role in sustaining local democracy and connecting communities, yet receive no support.
There is currently no media-neutral, large-scale fund available to support organisations that run independent, responsible local news websites
It made the claim following the publication of an interim report into the trust’s Neighbourhood News project, which awarded five organisations £10,000 to develop community news sites.
The report, compiled by Talk About Local, found the organisations involved successfully demonstrated that communities can be brought together to scrutinise local democracy through local journalism.
Douglas White, acting head of policy at Carnegie UK Trust, said: "The five local news organisations we have been working with have made extremely good progress with their individual projects, generating a significant volume of news content, bringing community members together, and creating new employment and volunteering opportunities in their local area. However, they have also faced a range of challenges which have demonstrated the importance of external support being available.
"We need to be creative and find new ways of encouraging and supporting vital local news outlets in whatever form they take. Local news websites are a vital part of this mix and the sector needs more support so that it can flourish and grow.
“There is currently no media-neutral, large-scale fund available to support organisations that run independent, responsible local news websites with small pots of funding.
“We believe that this is a gap which should be addressed.”
Meanwhile, a recent report from the BBC Trust appears to back Carnegie UK Trust’s call for investment in other areas of news.
The report expressed concern that younger audiences use of broadcast news is continuing to decline and said some parts of the audience find the BBC distant in tone and subject matter.
