No at-scale, independent financing instrument for local public-interest news
PINF's December 2025 Local News Report finds 4.4m people in news deserts (37 districts: 27 with no outlet, 10 with limited coverage), concentrated in deprived and diverse areas. The BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service (~165 reporters, ~£8m/year) has no guaranteed future amid £500m BBC cuts and Charter review; DCMS's Amplify plan offers only £6m in 2026/27 plus up to £6m in 2027/28. PINF's own Local News Fund is philanthropic and small; Google's estimated £2.2bn UK news-derived revenue is uncaptured. Charitable status for journalism remains legally awkward, deterring foundation funding.
Local news is the accountability layer for the entire devolution agenda: new strategic authorities, mayors and neighbourhood boards will spend billions with fewer reporters watching. Evidence links news provision to local service performance and civic participation; deserts map onto exactly the deprived areas receiving Pride in Place money.
An independently governed Local News Fund/endowment at £30–50m per year, financed by a platform levy or negotiated platform contributions plus philanthropy; LDRS protected and expanded in the BBC Charter settlement (extending reporters to courts and NHS bodies); and Law Commission/Charity Commission clarification making public-interest journalism a charitable purpose.
// State-led: Instrument: platform levy legislation plus BBC Charter LDRS settlement; philanthropy-plus-platform-contributions fund possible earlier but not at-scale.
Local accountability collapses as devolution scales up; the live BBC Charter review now decides the reporting service's fate, and no independent at-scale financing fills the news deserts.
One gap, several dossiers: entries folded into this one (1)
The research pass surfaced this gap independently in more than one domain. Those entries are merged here so the map counts it once: the same arm's-length news fund financed by platform levy plus philanthropy, with LDRS reform.
№ 149 · No independent funding institution for public-interest news (Funding (lens))
The Cairncross Review (2019) recommended an Institute for Public Interest News with an innovation fund (~£10m/yr); government rejected the institute on press-freedom grounds and delivered a one-off £2m Future News Fund pilot. The Public Interest News Foundation carries fragments of the role at sub-£1m scale. The BBC's Local Democracy Reporting Service funds ~165 reporters, with ~90% of contracts going to the three dominant corporate publishers rather than independents.
Its fill: An independent, endowed public-interest news fund at arm's length from government (capitalised by a Digital Services Tax slice, platform levy or foundation consortium), regranting to independent local and investigative outlets, plus reform of LDRS procurement to open contracts beyond the big three publishers.