I’ve contributed to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into the UK Government’s Creative Industries Sector Vision. The consultation process is a welcome opportunity to reflect on the direction of national cultural policy. But from a community and foundational media perspective, the glaring omissions in the Sector Plan reveal how far we still have to go to build a media and creative ecosystem that truly serves the whole of society.
Who Was Left Out?
Most striking is the lack of engagement with community media, independent media, and civic-focused communication organisations. Despite the pivotal role these groups play in sustaining local identity, promoting participation, and generating social cohesion, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) did not facilitate any meaningful consultation with those working outside the commercial or subsidised mainstream.
The result is a plan that speaks the language of growth, exports, and high-tech innovation—but says very little about media as a civic infrastructure. For those of us who work at the intersection of communications, social value, and local democracy, this is a missed opportunity.
What’s Missing?
The Plan lacks a strategy to support media that is grounded in place, relationships, and community purpose. There’s no clear commitment to:
- Rebuilding the everyday media infrastructure that has been hollowed out by centralisation and market failure.
- Supporting participation and access for those whose voices are rarely heard.
- Investing in communications practices that foster trust, mutual understanding, and democratic inclusion.
In short, the foundational communications needs of communities—especially those disconnected from mainstream institutions—have been sidelined.
What Could Be Gained?
To its credit, the Plan acknowledges the importance of creative clusters and the need for regional investment. If taken seriously, this opens a door to new kinds of support for localised, participatory, and civic-led cultural work. But we need a shift in thinking. The purpose of cultural policy cannot simply be to scale up talent pipelines for the global economy. It must also be to ensure that the cultural and media life of communities is resilient, responsive, and regenerative.
Community media is not simply a pathway into the creative industries; it is a public good in its own right. Its value lies not just in what it produces, but in how it is produced—collaboratively, reflectively, and with a commitment to place and belonging.
A Question for Government
The central question we’ve posed in this consultation is this:
How will the Government ensure that the Creative Industries Sector Plan supports a place-based, civic-focused media strategy that rebuilds from the ‘middle’—addressing social identity, cohesion, and belonging—while regenerating local civic life and foundational economies, beyond commercial growth and elite institutional priorities?
This is not just a matter of funding or infrastructure. It’s about values. It’s about recognising that a thriving creative economy must be underpinned by democratic access to communication—not as an afterthought, but as a principle.
What We Need Now
Decentered Media calls for an open strategy that:
- Recognises community and civic media as essential to the health of our creative and democratic life.
- Supports participation and access as social rights, not commercial privileges.
- Anchors media development in local needs, identities, and capacities.
Only by rebuilding from the civic middle—where everyday people communicate, organise, and express themselves—can we ensure that our creative future is equitable, sustainable, and genuinely inclusive.
We’ll continue advocating for these priorities in every policy arena available to us. And we invite others—practitioners, policymakers, researchers, citizens—to join us in reclaiming media not just as industry, but as infrastructure for belonging.