Research: What is the state of UK local data journalism?
This document is part of the Bureau Local, a project by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, being launched on March 27. It's about increasing the use of data journalism in local newsrooms.
Tech for getting the story out: Reuters' JOURNALISM, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS 2017- A raft of initiatives over so called‘fake news’ from both publishers and platforms fail to restore public trust. Fact-checking services move centre stage./ We’ll see further job cuts and losses across the news industry. More papers in the US and Europe go out of business, slim down or become online-only./ More focus on algorithmic accountability, the use of data for targeting, and the power of technology companies./ Expect widespread innovation with messaging apps, chat bots and the art of‘conversational journalism’. http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/publication/journalism-media-and-technology-trends-and-predictions-2017
What is the state of local media in the UK?
Key points
The number of local and regional newspapers in the UK is falling. Papers that have not closed have seen staff cutbacks or offices being shut.
Print circulation is declining year on year for regional weekly and daily newspapers.
In contrast, readership of regional newspaper websites has increased significantly.
Local newspapers have become"digital first" and focused on shareable content which generates clicks
There are concerns about the ability of local newspapers to report in detail on the communities they cover, particularly on courts, councils and other public interest areas
There is a desire among journalists to learn new skills but barriers include: time, lack of support from employers, shortage of courses.
In places where papers have closed, or where coverage is seen as inadequate, hyperlocal websites have emerged.
The BBC is creating a new data journalism unit which will provide data-driven stories to local newsrooms.
Trinity Mirror has a data unit which produces stories for the Mirror and its regional titles. Several other publishers have less well-established team with remits including data journalism.
Where a central data team provides locally relevant statistics and context to local/regional papers, how are these stories used/developed?
Stark lack of diversity in local and regional newsrooms; particular lack of black journalists
Google sheets for UK daily and weekly newspapers, including publisher and circulation.
Between 2005 and 2015 there was an estimated net reduction of 181 local newspapers. Many others have seen offices close and staff cut as publishers reduce costs to offset falling advertising and circulation revenues.
The Leicester Mercury, for example, was one of the country's largest and most profitable regional newspapers which, at its peak, sold more than 150,000 copies a day and declared more than £12 million profit in a single year. In 1996 it brought in almost £59 million in revenue and employed 581 staff.
But, as lecturer Keith Perch wrote earlier this year, by 2011 its revenues had plummeted to £16 million and it employed just 107 people. Circulation fell from 157,000 in 1984 to just 29,317 in the six months to July 2016. The company's revenue dropped 82 per cent in real terms, a figure matched almost exactly by the reduction in staff.
"The Leicester Mercury reflected the depth and severity of the monetary collapse of local newspapers in Britain," wrote Perch in an article for Press Gazette.
Print readership continues to decline year on year across the industry. Circulation data from ABC for the final six months of 2016 showed the vast majority of newspapers had lost sales.
Regional dailies fell by an average of 12.5 per cent year on year, while the average circulation of weekly newspapers fell by 11.2 per cent. Only four out of 228 weekly papers saw increased print sales during this period. None of the 75 audited daily newspapers increased in circulation.
In contrast to the decline in print sales, every regional newspaper website audited by ABC recorded strong growth in the second half of 2016.
Reading on journalism-tech
What is the state of local media in the UK?