Innovations in Local News Media online seminar series. Leveraging technology to support independent news publishers.

Leveraging technology to support independent news publishers.

Matt Abbott, Director of PING News CIC

Richard Gurner, Caerphilly Observer

The MeCCSA Local and Community Media Network presents the first in a series of online seminars for 2024 focused on innovations in local news media. 

Precarity is a recurring theme in studies of UK independent community news journalism (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2021). The launch of the Public Interest News Gateway (PING) is therefore a significant innovation for the sector, with its potential for new revenue streams and a more sustainable, diverse news ecosystem. PING Director Matt Abbott will explain the development of the new platform, how it operates and the potential that it represents for independent operators. Matt has a background in promoting the interests of hyperlocal news operators, having worked for Cardiff University’s Centre for Community Journalism for nearly seven years.

Richard Gurner is publisher and editor of the award winning Caerphilly Observer. He founded the publication in 2009 as a hyperlocal website while working as a journalist in Sussex, to keep in touch with what was happening ‘at home’. After moving back to south Wales he launched the Caerphilly Observer as a fortnightly printed paper in 2011. Richard has grown his operation and now has four reporters working for him, including being one of the few independents with a contract for a Local Democracy Reporter. Richard has embraced AI technology for efficiency savings in parts of this operation and the Caerphilly Observer is one of a select group of news sites spanning independent, corporate local, regional and national publications to be featured on the Google News Showcase. Richard will outline the innovations that he has leveraged to build Caerphilly Observer.

The seminar will take place online and is chaired by Dr Carol Arnold, Senior Lecturer in Multimedia Journalism at Canterbury Christ Church University.

For more information on the MeCCSA Local and Community Media Network please see the MeCCSA website. 

Local news image via Lis Ferla on Flickr