The BBC, once criticized for its London-centric organizational structure and programming, is investing more and more in production and services outside the British capital. To reflect and serve the diverse communities around the U.K. is now one of its key missions.
The public service broadcaster launched a new channel dedicated to Scotland—BBC Scotland—in February 2019. Its flagship nightly news program ‘The Nine’ covers regional, national and international news from a Scottish perspective. The channel is also home to documentaries, comedies and dramas, portraying life in modern Scotland, with a daily broadcast from noon to midnight.
The BBC has also established the Local News Partnerships (LNP) program, a collaborative journalism project created under the latest Royal Charter, and in partnership with local media organizations across the U.K. As a part of the LNP, the BBC funds the cost of hiring Local Democracy Reporters (LDRs), who report from local newsrooms working to hold local authorities and representatives to account. In 2018, more than 50,000 stories by over 140 LDRs were shared among around 850 news outlets, an achievement that has caught international attention.
The Assistant Editor of BBC Local News Partnerships took part in a panel session themed on public service journalism and local journalism collaboration at the BUNKEN FORUM 2019 held in March this year. The final part of this paper will summarize the discussion of the panel, with a focus on the value of partnerships and the challenges ahead in local journalism. This paper is the second part of a series of articles based on presentations at the BUNKEN FORUM 2019 and field researches in the U.K. and the U.S.