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 journalism and civic life in the UK. As a framework grounded in the principles of participation, accountability, care, and truth-seeking, the toolkit offers a practical pathway for news producers who recognise that journalism is not simply about content production—it is about fostering civic dialogue, enabling inclusive representation, and supporting democratic participation.
These are not new ideas for those of us working in community media. For decades, volunteers, grassroots organisers, and citizen reporters have practiced these values, often with limited resources and little recognition. Community media platforms have long empowered local voices, encouraged context-sensitive storytelling, and developed informal but resilient systems of care and responsibility in the production of media content. The PINF toolkit affirms these practices, while providing a language and structure that news producers—especially those working in place-based, volunteer-led, and under-resourced contexts—can use to strengthen their impact and legitimacy.
The alignment between the PINF framework and community media practices is noted from my experience over the last twenty years. From Citizens Eye to Soar Sound, community-led media projects have pioneered co-creational approaches that centre lived experience, non-hierarchical governance, and reflective learning. These projects have long resisted extractive models of journalism, favouring instead a developmental and collaborative ethos grounded in the needs and capacities of the people they serve.
What is especially heartening is the extent to which the wider journalism field is beginning to recognise the value of these approaches. A decade ago, schemes such as the BBC Local Democracy Reporters initiative explicitly excluded community media from participating, arguing that such work lacked the viability and sustainability required of professional news outlets. Today, we are witnessing a shift. Journalists and editors are increasingly engaging with ideas of social gain, co-production, and public value—not just as abstract ideals but as working practices. The language of civic engagement and the tools of community storytelling are becoming part of the professional landscape, with growing recognition that rigid newsroom hierarchies and extractive models of reporting are inadequate for the pluralistic and participatory media ecosystems we now need.
The PINF toolkit helps to bridge these domains. It presents 16 elements across four media functions—governance, content creation, fact-checking, and impact—that offer clear, adaptable prompts for ethical and collaborative reporting. These are not standards to impose, but resources to support: a set of reflexive practices that help volunteers, freelancers, and small teams to navigate the pressures of limited funding, complex community relationships, and the need to build long-term trust with the people they serve.
For community news reporters, this toolkit offers not only a useful guide but also a form of validation. It shows that the values they have long upheld—mutual accountability, open participation, locally grounded truth-seeking—are now being taken seriously in broader journalism debates. What remains lacking, however, is a formal means of recognising and accrediting this work in a way that boosts confidence, supports sustainability, and strengthens public understanding of its value.
As we argued in our 2020 Decentered Media Development Model, community media must not be treated as a peripheral add-on, but as a foundational component of a regenerative civic model. The practices outlined in the PINF toolkit reflect the same metamodern principles—decentralisation, belonging, growth, and worldview—that underpin a more plural and empathetic model of media development. We would now urge policymakers, journalism educators, and funders to take the next step: to embed these values into formal recognition schemes, support peer-led training models, and ensure that news producers working with care, inclusion and participation at their core are recognised as central to the future of UK media.
The PINF toolkit is not a blueprint. It is a compass. It invites us to look again at how journalism is done, by whom, and for what purpose. For those already working in community-led and co-creational ways, it is a welcome sign that the path they’ve been forging—often against the grain—is now being illuminated. For others, it offers a starting point for rethinking the relationship between journalism, democracy, and social cohesion. Either way, it is a tool worth using, sharing, and building on.