Spotlight on Leicester – Communities Together Festival 2025
The Spotlight on Leicester programme at the Communities Together Festival 2025 highlighted the role of community radio in fostering civic dialogue, creativity, and shared identity. […]
Community Media
BBC Leicester’s “Only Station Made in Leicester” Claim – and What Came Next
BBC Radio Leicester’s claim to be “the only station made in Leicester for Leicester” has been challenged, with the BBC now admitting the promotion overstated […]
How Can Public Service Communications Meet Equality Duties in the UK?
This blog explores how UK public service communications can align with the Public Sector Equality Duty. It asks key questions for Equality Impact Assessments and […]
Street Voices and Citizen Media – Billy Moore’s Manchester Video and the Limits of Mainstream Reporting
Billy Moore’s recent Manchester video shows how citizen media captures raw street voices often absent in mainstream reporting. Unlike institutional journalism, it presents unfiltered views […]
Libraries, Radio, and the Civic Future – Learning From the Carnegie Model for UK Community Media
In a time of increasingly centralised media ownership and declining local news provision, it is worth revisiting the legacy of Andrew Carnegie—not for nostalgia’s sake, […]
Billy Moore’s Approach to Storytelling – Insights for Decentralised Media and Citizen Reporting
I’m fascinated by community-driven, decentralised media systems that serve as alternatives to corporate-controlled media. These systems emphasise social cohesion, cultural democracy, and democratic engagement. In […]
Welcoming the Civil Society Covenant – A Timely Call for Community Media to Step Forward
The launch of the UK Government’s Civil Society Covenant is a welcome and necessary development, particularly for those of us who believe that a healthy, […]
Welcoming the PINF Co-Creation Toolkit – A Step Forward for Community-Centred Journalism
At Decentered Media, we welcome the publication of the PINF Co-Creation News Media Toolkit as a timely and constructive development in the evolving relationship between […]
A Shared Frequency – Reflections on Community Radio from Leicester to Ahmednagar
As producers and collaborators on Spotlight for Soar Sound, we—John Coster and Rob Watson—often find ourselves in conversations that leave a lasting impression. This recent […]
Reaffirming Social Gain – A Critical Evaluation of Ofcom’s ‘Measuring the Social Gain of Community Radio’ Report
The June 2025 report Measuring the Social Gain of Community Radio, commissioned by Ofcom and prepared by Wavehill, is a welcome and necessary intervention. It […]
Free Speech, Community Radio, and Editorial Responsibility – A Balancing Act
The Office for Students (OfS) has recently issued Freedom of Speech guidance (2025) that takes a “very strong” approach to permitting lawful speech on campus. […]
Leicester Leicester Libraries Reorganisation – Proposal for the Development of Community Media Hubs
This proposal outlines an opportunity to integrate Community Media Hubs into Leicester’s network of libraries and community centres as part of the current reorganisation proposals […]
Building a Civic Media Network in Leicester – Reflections and Next Steps
I would like to extend our thanks to everyone who joined us at the Leicester Community Media Networking event on Tuesday evening at LCB Depot. […]
Soar Sound at Leicester’s Riverside Festival – A City in Conversation
The Riverside Festival in Leicester has long been a vibrant celebration of the city’s life and diversity, and this year, Soar Sound community radio was […]
Beyond the Regime Media – Why We Must Reclaim Dialogue in the Public Interest
Given the ferocity of discussion on social media, and the need for legacy media providers to remain relevant, would it be possible to reflect pragmatically […]