BBC Blogs - About the BBC - Why we are building stronger partnerships with local media

Yesterday (Monday 7 September) Tony Hall set out plans for a more open BBC that works in partnership for the good of Britain, at home and abroad.

As part of this we’ve made some new proposals which build on the Local Journalism partnerships we have been managing for over a year, following our Revival of Local Journalism conference.

Since that conference I have been chairing a Local Journalism Working Group, with representatives from many of the local news organisations, that has wrestled with how the BBC can best help and how the sector can develop a more unified voice. Our proposals have therefore been developed following conversations with the industry in mind.

This subject matter is not without its controversy however, so I want to be clear about what our intentions here really are.

Our plans are about upholding local democracy and accountability. They are about being a good partner, using a licence fee backed model which seeks to help local journalism grow and thrive. They are designed to ensure audiences benefit from strengthened local news output, with local and regional press gaining access to additional resources and audio and visual content.

The local news sector is not a homogenous group. There are many voices, some with strong views. So let me be clear that our proposals are just that – proposals. They are not a move to make a more dominant or bigger BBC and such hyperbole is not helpful.

All of our proposals mark the start of a consultation process which aims to create a genuine partnership with the industry, so we welcome all views to shape the final proposals.

One of our proposals is to fund a network of 100 reporters from different organisations across the country. These reporters would provide impartial reporting on court, council and services to be used by the local news sector, as well as the BBC.

The suggestion that our plans to to introduce these reporters across the country are an “extension of the BBC the backdoor” is not correct. Any local news organisation that has concerns about an expanding BBC can in fact bid to provide reporters to the Network. They would then be based in that organisation for the benefit of the whole news sector in that region. Bids could come from local and regional papers, agencies, journalism start-ups or citizen bloggers, as well as BBC teams, providing that bidders are both reputable and can meet the BBC Editorial Standards and Guidelines.

As part of our conversations with the industry we welcome a full and frank discussion about how we can offer guarantees that many of the reporters will come from organisations outside the BBC.

We know that the need for more reporters varies across the country and in different local and regional media organisations, so we’ll be asking the industry where they most need this resource. We will also take into account the anticipated pressure on the local news that further political devolution may bring.

So, we are at the beginning of a process to agree what all the final service will look like.

We have also announced plans for a Local News Bank to share audio and video content, making it available for immediate use by any local and regional online news outlet.

In addition we have proposed a Data Journalism Hub in partnership with a leading University, which would make BBC expertise in data journalism available to local newspapers. This is both about the BBC partnering more closely with the industry than ever before, as well as creating new and exciting content together for audiences across the country.

Our proposals follow other established initiatives to partner better with the local news sector. Earlier this year we began improved linking and credits to external local news sources, from BBC Local Live streams online. Roll out is expected to be complete by the middle of 2016.

We’ve also started a consultation with community news websites or ‘hyperlocals’ to see how we can partner with them better, direct BBC audiences to the best stories online and ensure the right credit is given to external news sources.

The feedback from the sector on the work we’ve already begun has been largely positive, but some have said what we are already doing does not go far enough. We weren’t being bold enough, or making a real impact. That’s why I firmly believe that the proposals announced yesterday are the right direction of travel for the BBC and for the industry.

We are now seeking the views of all voices across the sector to shape the new proposals into something that really works for all. I look forward to discussing them with industry representatives when the Local Journalism Working Group meets in the next few weeks.

David Holdsworth is the controller of BBC English Regions