We want not just to survive, but to thrive – and you are the reason for that
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will unveil her department’s Local Media Strategy at a Society of Editors conference today(Image: Getty Images)
Plans to protect and encourage local journalism across the UK are being announced today by the Government.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will unveil her department’s Local Media Strategy at a Society of Editors conference. It is expected to include funding for local newspaper innovation and a boost for community radio, as well as campaigns to promote newspapers and journalism careers in schools.
Here at Hull Live and the Hull Daily Mail, we welcome the Government’s acknowledgement, through this strategy, of the vital role local media plays in society. Our newspaper has kept the people of Hull informed since the Hull Daily Mail was founded in 1885. Almost 150 years later, we still have a team of local journalists reporting from the Humber region’s courts, councils and communities every day.
Our team feels a great sense of responsibility, as custodians of this historic brand, to continue our good work and be a trusted source of information and entertainment for the people of Hull.
Local journalism matters. That includes ensuring justice is seen to be done through our daily presence at Hull Crown Court as well as coverage of magistrates’ courts and other crown and coroner’s courts across the Humber, and sharing important stories readers bravely trust us to get to the biggest possible local audience.
We hold the authorities elected to run Hull and the East Riding to account and scrutinise how public money is spent. We campaign for what matters to local people, at a community level, including backing Hull dad John Story, who is demanding simple routine diabetes Type 1 testing following the tragic loss of his two-year-old daughter Lyla. And following our campaign to improve safety on the Humber Bridge, a £3m plan is in the works.
In a 2026 digital landscape where the ever-changing algorithms of big tech companies like Google and Meta challenge our ability to deliver for our readers, funding our journalism through advertising alone is increasingly difficult. We’re working hard to evolve ways to build a more sustainable funding model for local journalism so we can continue to serve Hull as we look ahead to our 150th anniversary and beyond.
We want not just to survive but to thrive. Today’s Local Media Strategy is an important milestone in demonstrating the role the Government can, should and absolutely must play in supporting a flourishing, successful local media sector in this country.
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