You are invited to the following event - please register early - details below:

Goldsmiths Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy
In association with the National Union of Journalists

DEMOCRACY WITHOUT JOURNALISTS – THE CRISIS IN LOCAL NEWS

A pre-election meeting in Parliament to highlight local journalism and 
democracy 

Wednesday 17 March, 2-4pm, Thatcher Room, Portcullis House, Westminster, 
Bridge Street, London. SW1P 3JA.
(www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/colmap.pdf)

Speakers include: Jeremy Dear (General Secretary of the NUJ); Steve Hewlett 
(broadcasterR4 The Media Show and Guardian columnist), Professor James 
Curran, (Director of Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre), Natalie 
Fenton (editor of New Media, Old News), Angela Phillips (founder, East London 
Lines), Professor Stephen Coleman (University of Leeds).

Local news media are in crisis. The Newspaper Society notes that 101 local 
newspapers closed down between January and August 2009 while ITV has said 
it can no longer afford to provide a regional news service. Buffeted by the 
recession and the impact of the internet, the current business model for local 
news is facing collapse and, perhaps with it, the pursuit of local news that is 
in the public interest. The government has responded by setting up pilot 
Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) while the Conservatives have 
promised to scrap the pilots and to relax local cross-media ownership rules to 
safeguard the provision of local journalism.

This event aims to make the future of local news an election headline.  It will 
highlight the importance of robust news coverage for local democracy and 
propose concrete steps to halt the decline in local news, such as those 
contained in the NUJ’s economic stimulus plan to reinvigorate local 
journalism. , such as those contained in the NUJ’s economic stimulus plan that 
aims to reinvigorate local journalism.  Speakers will address:

•	why politicians and the public should care about local news
•	the significance of local news for meaningful local democracy
•	the viability of the Independently Funded News Consortia scheme
•	the need for public policy action to ensure a future for local news
•	possibilities for new initiatives in the provision of local news


Attendance is free but places are strictly  limited. Please contact Joanna 
Redden ([log in to unmask]) to reserve a place.