Sustainability of local journalism
The Bedford Independent (founded as part of Progress Publishing), was established to fill the void of local news in Bedford Borough after publishing giant Reach closed the Bedfordshire on Sunday.
We are a three-person team, two editorial (Paul Hutchinson and Erica Roffe) and one commercial (Julia Course-Crofts). We also have some occasional freelance editorial and commercial support.
It was the last newspaper based in Bedford. The only other printed newspaper left covering Bedford is the Times & Citizen who, with a dwindling circulation, had relocated its offices to Milton Keynes, 25 miles away.
The Bedford Independent launched its social media channels on 13 August 2018 and our main website launched a few months later in November.
Our editorial mission was simple. Unbiased and independent news for Bedford people by Bedford people delivered via a modern ‘reader first’ website.
We also wanted to make sure our readers had faith in our credentials and commitment to fact-based journalism and so were proud to be accepted as members of press regulator IMPRESS.
It was clear from the moment that we launched that people in Bedford Borough needed a modern, editorially led news desk.
We report on the news at it happens, an average of five stories a day, covering everything from local democracy, crime, education, and human-interest articles to what’s on at local venues in the area and business news.
Our readership consists of an almost equal male and female split with 25 to 54-year-olds our largest age group (68%). 18-24s make up 10% of our readers, 55-65+ make up 22%.
Since our launch (13 August 2018), we’ve published around 4,500 stories, including 137 exclusives. We average around 130,000 unique readers each month, with some months reaching 160,000 unique readers. We are the most popular news desk in our patch.
Our Impact
We strongly believe that without the Bedford Independent, people across Bedford Borough would be at the mercy of rumour and fake news from social media and clickbait, gossip, and sensationalism from other titles.
While we also run the largest community Facebook group, We Are Bedford, which is moderated in line with our editorial policies, many social media groups popped up in the wake of the closure of the Bedfordshire on Sunday, with no fact-checking and no barriers to prevent misinformation. The importance of this became all too apparent with the emergence of COVID-19.
● Within a few months of us launching our website, the former Bedford Hospital caught alight. We were the only news desk covering the fire, which attracted national attention. This was an incredibly important story as many people had parents in the town who worked there, and many Bedfordians were born there. National media used our coverage and people were kept updated by our reporter who stayed on the scene until the early hours of the morning when the fire was officially declared under control.
● We are the only local media that reports up-to-the-minute updates live from our local election counts. Our coverage not only gives residents results on local MP, council, and mayoral elections as they are announced, it has also encouraged a review into the count processes after it was found that Bedford was one of the last in the country to return its results.
● Since our launch, we’ve published around 4,500 stories, including 137 exclusives.
● We are consistently proud of our coverage, in particular that which gives local people a voice. This includes investigating a local pub landlord who had not paid staff, the shopkeeper who had refused entry to a blind woman with a guide dog, and a business accused of racism and ignoring the Government’s COVID-19 advice.
● We also get behind local charity campaigns, helping to maximise their efforts, such as the campaign for Lulu, a young girl with a rare cancer, or Love in a Bag, which supports women in crisis by donating health, beauty and sanitary supplies.
● We are the media partner for Bedford Hospital Charity and Friends, which is currently working on raising £1million for our local hospital’s A&E department.
● All our local MPs, the Mayor and the Police and Crime Commissioner have a free and un-edited monthly column at their disposal to speak directly to our readers about their work and update them on matters that they have been working on in the local area.
● This year we launched a ‘guest editor’ series, giving local people and organisations a chance to ‘take over’ parts of our editorial and raise awareness of their campaigns or the things passionate to them. This has, so far, included the local Polish community and a homeless family, with more planned soon.
● When COVID-19 hit, our revenue stopped overnight. However, we gave free advertising to 166 local businesses, who were able to adapt to COVID-19 guidelines and remain open, through our ‘buy local or bye local’ campaign
● During COVID-19 the printed newspaper in our area stopped publishing, yet we were able to continue providing daily updates on health advice, COVID figures, organisations offering support to local people, and updates on the local area that helped make sure readers didn’t feel isolated. This included ‘lockdown life’ a series of articles during each lockdown that gave people a voice and a chance to talk about how lockdown was affecting them. We have written 467 informative and fact-checked articles related to Coronavirus to date.
● From 1 April 2010 to February 2022 we provided almost daily updates on local COVID-19 figures and advice at a dedicated webpage.
● Partnering with Bedford Borough Council and our local NHS, we created the ‘Spread the Love not the Virus’ campaign. This was a guidebook that gave local people access to lockdown advice and phone numbers or websites for support all in one place. It was also supported on our social media channels which used artwork by a local artist to give messages of hope and encouragement during lockdown.
● For the last two-years we have hosted the Bedford Independent Everyday Heroes awards, recognising those who go above and beyond to make Bedford brilliant through their work, hobbies, volunteering, or community care. This also includes two categories for those who went above and beyond during the COVID-19 pandemic. The awards are supported by the Harpur Trust and other local businesses, as well as being endorsed by HM Lord Lieutenant Helen Nellis.
● We have employed three student journalists, paying them above minimum wage, to help them gain experience in their chosen career. Two have now moved on, one completed his studies and is now employed full time as a reporter, another has gone on to write for national media while also pursuing a rugby career in the USA. The other is still working with us and studying but found her experience at the Bedford Independent has boosted her confidence and understanding of the sector. After passing a recent essential journalism exam, she said: “I definitely think working for the Indy [Bedford Independent] helped me pass it…your mentoring has brought me on so much.”
● We are part of the LDRS network and have a close relationship with our LDRS reporter. While they are based with the out-of-town publication we carry the majority of their news, updating it where necessary to include our own content and findings that create a broader picture for our readers.
● Our founders are extremely passionate about local news and the media sector as a whole. Paul Hutchinson sits on the IMPRESS Code Committee to help shape the future of responsible journalism, Erica Roffe is on the ICNN Board of Advisors, and Julia Course-Crofts is part of the ICNN Advertising network
We support the News for All campaign, which is calling on the Committee to:
● Make sure that truly local news providers get a priority share of revenue and data from the tech giants through the forthcoming Digital Competition Bill and the newly established Digital Markets Unit.
● Create a £100m innovation fund to kick start and build the capacity of truly local news providers, helping them find sustainable business models.
● Create tax incentives to help truly local news providers raise donations and investment.
We would also like to make the following additional recommendations:
● Government guidance to allow local authorities and businesses to choose to place public notices and licence applications in regulated, digital news titles if they wish.
● Government guidance that encourages advertising agencies to utilise the network of independent publications that reaches c2million people.
● A sector wide donation model, akin to the charity sector, that allows readers to donate with confidence to news publishers. Consideration should also be made for the use of ‘gift aid’ with these donations.
● Grants or funding for independent titles solely for the use of employing and training new journalists to encourage and support future writers and reporters.
We would be very happy to discuss our impact, challenges, and recommendations with you.
Paul Hutchinson
Co-founder and co-managing editor
Bedford Independent