The incoming director general of the BBC has been urged to make saving the local democracy reporting scheme a key priority with its funding due to run out next year.
Former Google executive Matt Brittin took office as the most powerful man in UK media yesterday following the departure last month of Tim Davie.
The BBC has helped sustain local council reporting over recent years through its £8m a year funding of the Local Democracy Reporting service.
But that funding is due to run out next year and although 165 local journalism jobs are dependent on it, there is currently no guarantee it will be renewed.
Now former local newspaper editor-turned-academic Tor Clark, pictured, has taken up the cause as part of the series of open letters to Mr Brittin.
They have been compiled in a new book entitled Letters to Matt Brittin, edited by John Mair and Andrew Beck, published on 20 April.
Wrote Tor: “The decline of the UK regional press since the turn of the century has led to a drastic reduction in the number of journalists available to local papers to cover local news. At the same time the move of local news content from print to digital has meant it is now possible for editors to monitor and analyse the popularity of each individual news story.
“It will not surprise you to learn news stories about the work of local government are not as popular with local readers as other more sensational and less important items.
“Faced with this situation, you will be pleased to hear your predecessors at the BBC teamed up with the body which represents the publishers of the UK regional press, the News Media Association (NMA), to form the Local News Partnership (LNP) to fund initially 150, later 165, journalists specifically tasked with reporting the work of local councils across the UK.
“This stabilised the crisis as these dedicated local democracy reporters (LDRs) began their work covering local councils across the UK. But this arrangement runs out in 2027 and there is little public discussion of the importance of it continuing or of its future being guaranteed.
“The UK regional press has contracted dramatically over the last 25 years. Its printed newspaper sales have dwindled to meagre levels and its advertising revenue, as you will know, has largely departed to digital platforms, threatening its existence.
“This leaves the BBC in the vanguard of protecting local information for local communities. As new DG, you must recognise the value of local democracy reporting, continue to support the LDRS as currently constituted and, most important of all, commit to an evaluation and redevelopment of that service.”
Tor’s letter can be read in full below.
Dear Director-General
The future of UK local democracy is now in your hands. With all the challenges on your desk—from the most powerful man in the world suing you for billions of dollars to the existential threat to the Corporation caused by people’s fundamental changes in media consumption—I bet you didn’t imagine this would be in your in-tray as well? But it is and it needs to be right at the top because the whole viability of the local communities which are the bedrock of the UK—the community you now serve above all others—is at stake.
This is because the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is currently funded by the BBC to the tune of £8m per year. This meagre funding ensures a measure of reporting on the work of all UK local government in local media, which in turn means local people have some evidence on which to base their democratic choices at local elections. The LDRS has been operating since 2018, and it is no exaggeration to say it has saved UK local government reporting and with it local citizens’ vital connections to the councils which govern them and spend millions of pounds of their money doing so.
My most recent research has examined the history of the reporting of UK local government by the UK regional press over the last 50 years. Once local newspapers gained access to council meetings in the 1960s reporting on the work of councils was thorough, and for several decades local people knew what their local authorities were doing in their name. This provided strong, vibrant, informed local communities with local government by consent.
The decline of the UK regional press since the turn of the century has led to a drastic reduction in the number of journalists available to local papers to cover local news. At the same time the move of local news content from print to digital has meant it is now possible for editors to monitor and analyse the popularity of each individual news story. It will not surprise you to learn news stories about the work of local government are not as popular with local readers as other more sensational and less important items.
Up until 2018 this meant newspapers were increasingly tasking their hugely reduced numbers of journalists with writing the kinds of news stories which got clicks or page views on their websites. By 2018 this had created a situation in many areas where there was no systematic reporting on the work of local councils. Instead news stories were prioritised on the basis of the number of page views they would attract, a situation which has been termed the local democratic deficit.
Faced with this situation, you will be pleased to hear your predecessors at the BBC teamed up with the body which represents the publishers of the UK regional press, the News Media Association (NMA), to form the Local News Partnership (LNP) to fund initially 150, later 165, journalists specifically tasked with reporting the work of local councils across the UK. This stabilised the crisis as these dedicated local democracy reporters (LDRs) began their work covering local councils across the UK. But this arrangement runs out in 2027 and there is little public discussion of the importance of it continuing or of its future being guaranteed.
The owners of the UK regional press are often considered to be at the centre of the protection of local news for local people. But under the regional press, reporting on councils declined to alarming levels, and in many areas a basic level of coverage was only restored when the BBC got involved and provided the funds to create the LDRS. Lauded by all as a brilliant innovation the LDRS now ensures all over the UK a band of dedicated journalists report the work of councils on behalf of local people. Their regular stories are pooled and used widely in local newspapers, on BBC local radio and TV, and on hyperlocal news websites.
My research has shown though the 165 posts are very welcome and those reporters are doing a fantastic job, often producing award-winning journalism which would not have happened without the LDRS, they and their communities are worried about the future. It has also shown although existing LDRs report as much as they can, their coverage cannot ever be as comprehensive as it was before the regional press contracted over the first quarter of this century, and some parts of the UK still receive little reporting on the work of their councils.
There are 165 LDR posts but the regional press itself has calculated it would require 1,737 LDRs to comprehensively report UK local government in the way they covered it before the turn of the century. And though these roles require experienced, skilled and intelligent journalists, annual pay can be as low as £26,000 and advancement prospects are nil. LDRs generally work alone and lack training and mentoring from more experienced colleagues.
So, in reality, maintaining the existing 165 LDR posts is just a start. Many more LDRs are needed, earning sufficient money to attract the best journalists, who have access to training and mentoring to develop their careers and skills. The UK regional press cannot be trusted to subsume LDRs into their organisations again because they now have different content priorities, focused on page views for digital and social media content. But the roles and scope of LDRs could be developed to encompass more use of video on other LNP partner platforms, such as radio, TV, and hyperlocal news sites.
In her 2019 report into the state of local journalism, Dame Frances Cairncross lauded the LDRS, then in its infancy, and advocated the creation of an Institute for Public Interest News, which could oversee the operation of the LDRS. This idea was expressly rejected by the previous Conservative government, which was uncomfortable with perceived state oversight of local democracy reporting, as it saw it, but with sufficient safeguards, this model could work well, perhaps even in the same way as BBC governance. It would guarantee public service, public interest, local democracy news to local communities. This would restore the link between citizens and councils, between governors and governed, and perhaps reverse the decline in the sense of community and society now missing at local level, especially because of the decline of a UK local press which used to provide that service, binding together local communities and helping them function well.
The UK regional press has contracted dramatically over the last 25 years. Its printed newspaper sales have dwindled to meagre levels and its advertising revenue, as you will know, has largely departed to digital platforms, threatening its existence. Its owners point to significant page views of digital content, but these reader interactions are brief, transient, and unmonetised. Readers skim the news and don’t pay for it.
This leaves the BBC in the vanguard of protecting local information for local communities. It can show it is serious by restoring fully local BBC local radio services, reversing the regionalisation of content of recent years, so local people can enjoy properly local radio for their community all day. The BBC’s relatively recent local digital reporting teams are useful but they can’t replace the local broadcasting generations of local listeners have come to enjoy and rely on. Both should be provided. There is an awful lot of money the BBC spends nationally which is not as useful to real local communities as the proper funding of local radio and its associated news services.
As new DG, you must recognise the value of local democracy reporting, continue to support the LDRS as currently constituted and, most important of all, commit to an evaluation and redevelopment of that service. Your goal should be providing the comprehensive local information service which local people used to enjoy, and which would do so much to restore UK local communities. What an achievement and legacy that could be for your time as Director-General. Please do consider it in your priorities. I wish you luck.
Yours sincerely,
Tor Clark
* Tor Clark is Associate Professor in Journalism and a Distinguished Teaching Fellow at the University of Leicester. His PhD research examined the coverage of local government by local newspapers, specifically the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Before academia, he worked in UK regional newspapers, editing both the Harborough Mail and the Rutland & Stamford Mercury, Britain’s oldest newspaper. As a political journalist he has covered the last nine UK general elections, the last five with BBC Radio Leicester.
This chapter appears in Letters to Matt Brittin, edited by John Mair and Andrew Beck, published by Bite-sized Books, available on Amazon.
