I started to gather my thoughts about Ofcom’s Local Media Interim Report shortly after it was published, then events took over, and the context changed. With widespread rioting and a breakdown in public order in many places across England, there is now a sense of urgency to complete this report, and the for the potential reforms and actions to be implemented.
Immediate Action: Given the scale of the rioting and public concern about misinformation and propaganda seen on social media and via legacy forms of media, the Secretary of State for Media, Culture and Sport, Lisa Nandy, should consider suspending Ofcom’s independence in order to ensure swift action is taken to deal with threats to our media systems integrity. Ofcom must act swiftly to deal with broadcasters who flout their responsibilities under the Broadcast Code, which is something many have complained that Ofcom has been reluctant to do.
So, these are some interim thoughts, and I’ll be gathering comments and observations from relevant colleagues and associates soon, in order to make a response to Ofcom. Responses can be submitted to the review process via email. Ofcom uses the term ‘stakeholders’, but this should be opened up to all interested parties who wish to make additional points, or provide evidence pertinent to the issues covered in the report. Ofcom is inviting submissions to localmediareview@ofcom.org.uk by 5pm on 6 September 2024.
Given the challenges of keeping public order and maintaining security, both from within and without our communities, I am concerned that Ofcom and the local media and news media organisations won’t act quickly and radically enough to address the breakdown of trust and the susceptibility to propaganda and misinformation that many people are subject to.
My principal concern, therefore, is not what is being provided by local media, but what is not being provided!
Local news services have been cut and reduced substantially in recent years, despite the commercial media sector bragging about their profitability. There is plenty of cash in the media economy, however, it gets extracted from local communities and local providers by large corporations acting in a protectionist and anticompetitive economic framework, such as that now built into the Media Act 2024, which in many ways limits competition.
One of the main issues that the report fails to address sufficiently is the extent to which local news provision has been hacked away, subjected to consolidation, and the extent to which local services, such as BBC Local Radio in England, have been decimated. The reduction in these services have broken the bond with residents and has driven them to use alternative sources of information and entertainment.
It takes more than news bulletins and traffic updates to maintain a community-relevant radio station; or paid reviews of burgers and crisps to build the readership of a local newspaper. Local media needs to reflect the diversity, interests, and needs of the local population, and provide a platform for public debate and accountability. A point well made by PINF in its local news commission.
However, too much has gone missing in action, and the decline in local media services has not happened by accident, but is the result of laissez fair economic and regulatory policies that have failed to give protection to meaningful local content and media services. I’ve often complained that media wasn’t part of the Levelling-Up agenda, and I have no idea how the Labour Government will appraoch media reform as part of the devolution agenda.
The report fails to address the level of subsidies that commercial operators receive through government advertising, which conflict with their free market status. The Local Democracy Reporting Scheme, for example, has been run as a largely restricted lobby for the benefit of the established news organisations. It has been very difficult for new and alternative providers to gain access to the funds provided.
Likewise, because Ofcom are obsessed with Small-Scale DAB roll-out, its impossible to enter the market as a radio station in AM or FM, as no analogue licences are being offered. Ofcom is limiting media diversity rather than expanding supply. This clearly isn’t in the best interests of the citizen or the consumer, as less services are provided, and the ones that remain are highly formulaic and generic, made centrally to homogenised formats.
If protectionism and restraints of trade are not challenged by the regulator or by DCMS then we can only surmise that something has gone wrong at the heart of government. ‘Has Ofcom been captured?’ is the question that many people ask.
Furthermore, the freedom to make profit should not be dependent on public subsidy. Public subsidy for media should only go to those providers and innovators who have a strong sense of public purpose, who are prepared to tackle the most difficult topics, and willing to serve the least advantaged audiences. We live in a changed world where media supply is no longer scarce, but this does not mean that we can’t insist that media providers work towards the betterment of our society and communities.
Media operators must be able to demonstrate they are serving the public interest in an independent and impartial manner. Commercial media, fundamentally, should not be allowed to exploit any public resources and spectrum without fulfilling their obligations and responsibilities towards the local communities they claim to serve.
The Annan Report in 1977 recognised that broadcasting is a public value exchange proposition, in which operators gain access to resources, in exchange for providing something that is socially useful – like children’s programming, arts programming, religious programming. Fast forward to 2024, and its is unclear if any of these genres of programming will survive the Media Act, because it will be down to Ofcom to arbitrate what counts as meaningful content for these non-commercial genres. What hope for local programming then?
The general topic of the Local Media Interim Report, then, is an analysis of the current state, challenges, and prospects of local media in the United Kingdom. The report focuses on various aspects, including the definition and importance of local media, changing consumption patterns, financial and operational challenges, the impact of technology and social media, and the role of key players like the BBC.
The report outlines consultation methodologies, identifies contributors, and presents conclusions on the vital role local media plays in supporting local democracy, civic engagement, and community cohesion. The report also discusses the benefits of local news, differences between news and civic content, and the significant role of small independent and community providers in the local media ecosystem.
Summary Issues
The key issues identified in the report are related to local media in the UK, including:
- Role and Importance of Local Media: Emphasises the critical role of local media in delivering news, supporting local democracy, and fostering community cohesion.
- Changing Consumption Patterns: Highlights the shift in how people consume local news, with a significant move towards online and social media platforms, impacting traditional media outlets.
- Financial and Operational Challenges: Discusses the financial sustainability issues faced by local media providers, including the decline in traditional advertising revenues and the rise of digital platforms that control significant portions of advertising revenue.
- Impact of Technology and Social Media: Explores the profound impact of online platforms and social media on local media, offering new ways to reach audiences but also reducing transparency and control over content and revenue streams for local media providers.
- BBC’s Role and Impact: Examines the dual role of the BBC in both supporting local journalism through initiatives like the Local Democracy Reporting Service and competing with other local media providers, necessitating careful monitoring and consideration of competitive impacts.
- Sustainability and Innovation: Identifies potential measures to enhance the sustainability of local media, such as overhauling public notice legislation, expanding the Local Democracy Reporting Service, reallocating government advertising spend, and providing targeted subsidies and innovation funds.
- Future Steps: Outlines the next steps in the review process, including further research and stakeholder engagement, with the final report aimed at identifying measures to support the sustainability of the local media sector.
Public Purpose Media
One of the main findings of the review is that local media in the UK faces significant challenges in terms of sustainability, innovation and diversity. The report notes that local media provides a range of civic and social benefits, such as supporting local democracy, boosting civic engagement, enhancing community cohesion, providing balanced and trusted information, stimulating local economies, and filling information gaps in areas lacking other sources of credible local information. However, these benefits are at risk as audiences increasingly turn to online platforms for news and information, and traditional sources of revenue decline.
The report acknowledges that there is no single solution to the problems facing the local media sector, and that different types of providers may need different forms of support. It also recognises that some initiatives are already in place to help bolster the provision of local public interest news, such as the BBC’s Local News Partnership and the Community Radio Fund. However, it argues that there is scope to do more to support the sustainability and diversity of local media, and to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration across the sector.
To this end, the report sets out several recommendations, including:
- Reforming the public notice legislation to allow local authorities to publish public notices on any platform that reaches a sufficient proportion of the local population, rather than only in print newspapers. This would enable smaller and digital-only providers to access this important source of revenue and increase the transparency and accessibility of public notices for citizens.
- Expanding or reshaping the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) to cover a wider range of public institutions and issues, such as health, education, environment and culture, and to ensure that the service reflects the diversity of local communities. The report also suggests exploring the possibility of opening the LDRS to non-traditional media outlets, such as community radio stations, hyperlocal websites and citizen journalists, subject to meeting quality standards and editorial guidelines.
- Rethinking the allocation of government advertising spend to ensure that it is distributed fairly and transparently among local media providers of different sizes and platforms, and that it supports public interest news and information. The report also recommends that the government should consult with the local media sector on how to best design and implement a targeted subsidy scheme for local news providers that meet certain criteria, such as serving underserved areas or communities, producing public interest news, and engaging with local audiences.
- Requiring the BBC to do more to champion and collaborate with the smallest and most diverse local media providers, such as by sharing content, data and expertise, promoting media literacy, and providing training and mentoring opportunities. The report also urges the BBC to be more transparent and accountable about its local news output and its impact on the local media market, and to consult with local media stakeholders before making any significant changes to its local news services.
- Supporting innovation and experimentation in the local media sector, by creating a fund for local media providers to develop new products, services and business models, and by facilitating knowledge exchange and best practice sharing among local media providers, tech platforms, academics and regulators. The report also encourages local media providers to explore new ways of engaging with their audiences, such as through participatory journalism, co-creation and membership models, and to diversify their content and workforce to better reflect the communities they serve.
Civic Voices
The report, however, fails to raise sufficient concerns about the limited and unrepresentative nature of the submissions and evidence gathered for this report, which mostly reflect the views and interests of the traditional, legacy and mainstream news media sector, while ignoring the perspectives and experiences of small independent and community media providers, as well as their audiences and participants. These are mentioned, and the report acknowledges that they these smaller and more localised providers find it difficult to operate sustainably.
Particularly, the report fails to adequately address the broader civic issues and challenges that affect the local public services and devolved political landscape, such as the need to foster social capabilities, support devolution and local governance, and promote place-based social economies and ‘levelling-up’ agendas. The report therefore adopts a narrow and instrumental conception of local media as primarily providers of news and information, rather than recognising the wider social and cultural roles and values that local media can play in enhancing local democracy, engagement, and cohesion.
One of the key recommendations of the report is to support the production and distribution of high-quality and relevant civic content that informs, educates, and engages local audiences on matters of public interest and concern. However, the report does not sufficiently address how such civic content can be made more appealing and accessible to the diverse and changing needs and preferences of local communities, especially those who are traditionally underserved or marginalised by mainstream media.
The report also overlooks the potential of local media to foster social connections and relationships among local residents, as well as between them and their local institutions and representatives. Local media can serve as platforms for dialogue, deliberation, and participation, as well as sources of companionship, bonding, and bridging social capital. These aspects of local media are essential for building civic and social capacity and resilience, especially in times of crisis and uncertainty.
Yet, local media are usually neglected or excluded from discussions and initiatives on social renewal and civic empowerment. Therefore, the report should recognise and promote the broader civic and social roles and values of local media, beyond the provision of news and information, and explore how they can be supported and enhanced to better serve the interests and aspirations of local communities.
The civic benefits of local media acknowledged in the report include supporting local democracy, boosting civic engagement, enhancing community cohesion, providing balanced and trusted information, stimulating local economies, and filling information gaps in areas lacking other sources of credible local information.
The report notes the gap in the perceived relevance of civic content, particularly among younger audiences, and the challenge of combating misinformation and disinformation in areas with scarce reliable local media sources, but it doesn’t make any suggestions as to how this might be rectified, and what civic alliances are needed to develop an integrated and holistic response that benefits the unique needs of each place.
The report discusses the unique roles, challenges, and contributions of small independent and community providers, including issues related to sustainability, revenue diversification, and the transition to digital formats, but this focus on transactional business matters limits the potential for a social and cultural framework that recognises the quality-of-life issues and sentiments that go unserved and unacknowledged as commercial pressures lead to homogenisation.
The report talks about the extensive stakeholder engagement undertaken during the review, including input from civic society organisations, public service providers, and public authorities, to understand the local media landscape and identify potential support measures. However, public authorities and civic society organisations are entirely absent from the list of news sources, despite many public authorities controlling sizable communications resources and capacity.
The report has a flavour of being self-affirming, and that the only forms of legitimate communications that are recognised are existing media platforms and providers. This misses the media that is produced by people in their social networks, and the media that is created and shared by public sector and civil society organisations. These forms of media can offer alternative perspectives, narratives, and voices that are not captured or represented by the mainstream local media outlets, and can foster civic participation, engagement, and empowerment among diverse and marginalised communities.
These issues reflect the complex and rapidly evolving landscape of local media in the UK, emphasising both its critical societal role and the significant challenges it faces in adapting to new consumption patterns and financial realities. They are going to need a concerted and purposeful push from government to restore this sense of purpose and redress the do-nothing, laissez fair policies of the past.
This is a detailed report, with lots of supporting information. Meeting the September deadline for responses will be tough.