That the BBC will now share its video and audio output with other regional and local news organisations is finally some good news for those of us concerned about the recent decline of local media. But it won’t be enough.
The UK is going through the biggest upheaval in the local news industry ever. At least 242 local newspapers closed between 2005 and 2011, according to the Press Gazette. Those that remain are publishing to ever-diminishing audiences.
Is the BBC to blame? When chancellor George Osborne accused the organisation of being “imperial in its ambitions”, capable of crowding out national newspapers, he may have been hinting at its culpability. Although I don’t believe the growth of the BBC is fully responsible for the decline in local media, I do think it has a public service duty to share its resources with other local news providers to help inform communities.
It would seem that the Beeb has finally woken up to the need for it to perform this duty – but director general Tony Hall’s plans won’t go far enough to mitigate the effects of the upheaval.
There are huge problems with the reporting of local community affairs in the UK. It feels like a long time ago that reporters were based in towns, neighbourhoods, villages or communities writing about what happens there, including the work of local parish and town councils. Local media is becoming increasingly regionally based, so communities, councils and parishes are fighting in a bigger pool to get their voices heard – with devastating impacts on community news.
There is a burgeoning community of hyper-local reporters, stepping in to fill the gaps in news about neighbourhoods, towns and villages. But nothing in the announcement from BBC towers – the details of which have yet to be released – suggests it will do anything to support this industry.
The other part of the BBC plans was to unleash 100 licence fee-funded journalists to come among us and report. This is good news, but how local can 100 reporters get? At first glance, it seems that the Beeb will simply add to the raft of regional reporters already out there.
The local media landscape is an unbalanced one. There is a whole range of government-backed financial interventions not accessible to the hyper-local and community news media market. This includes resources for BBC local radio, fees for statutory advertising in local newspapers, and the local TV infrastructure subsidies. And let’s not forget zero rating on VAT on newspapers. Support for community and hyper-local journalism, however, remains limited. This needs to be readjusted to allow people to hold local power to account and find out about what’s going on in their area.
We need the media to report on local parish council meetings or community events; these are the stories that matter in local areas. While the news coming from the BBC is encouraging and hopefully will help with this ambition, it is only the start. BBC and others in power need to play a bigger part.
Alan Jones is the head of communications for the National Association of Local Councils
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