From 3 – 9 June, the UK’s independent publishers are celebrating Indie News Week, a chance to raise the profile of publications like the Bedford Independent and Bedford Clanger, dedicated to delivering quality news to their communities.
According to the Press Gazette, the local news sector has shrunk by three-quarters since 2007. In Bedford, the Borough lost its weekly Sunday paper in 2018 and the circulation of the remaining print title has dwindled significantly.
With that in mind, the inaugural Indie News Week theme is ‘no news is bad news’, highlighting how independent publishers, like those behind Bedford’s most popular newsdesk, the Bedford Independent, are fighting back and bridging the gap.
Read: We’re ranked number two in the UK, but what does that mean?
Earlier this year, in an editorial piece on the decline of local journalism, The Guardian wrote: “Publications are less and less likely to be owned by proprietors with a stake in their communities, and more and more by big conglomerates prioritising the extraction of cash.
“While individual reporters and organisations still do remarkable work, they do it against the odds.”
Spearheaded by the Public Interest News Foundation (PINF), The ‘No News is Bad News’ campaign aims to combat this by showing how a well-informed community is more able to act together to shape its own future.
That local news is fundamental to a healthy democratic society and invaluable in helping to create strong communities.
“Indie news providers are the unsung heroes of local communities across the UK, unearthing stories and informing their audiences,” said Jonathan Heawood, PINF’s Executive Director.
“Through Indie News Week, we want to say thank you to the enterprising journalists and editors who make up this sector and help them connect even more deeply with their communities.”
Vital to democracy
Local news reporting encourages people to take part in the democratic process. It fosters a sense of community and allows an exchange of ideas and it creates pride of place.
And news isn’t just about society’s problems or philandering politicians either.
From sports coverage to business openings, a weekly what’s on guide or writing about everyday heroes awards, publishers of local news champion the great and good on their pages too.
For us, Indie News Week is a chance for us to share the importance of ‘good news’ to make good things happen.
Since the launch of The Bedford Clanger in 2011, our raison d’être has always been to highlight the very best of Bedford – the cultural highlights, the creative community, the history and heritage, the indie shops and the people making great things happen.
Talking up the town attracts like-minded, positive people. It attracts investment and creates a domino effect – more good things happen. Collaboration instead of competition, ‘we’ instead of ‘I’.
The launch of the Bedford Independent in 2018, and the formation of a more structured publishing business, Progress Publishing, meant we could now also report on the more ‘serious side’ of news with balance.
And since we created our ‘good news’ filter earlier this year, we calculate that over a third of our published stories fall into this category.
Tell us your good news
On Sunday, 9 June (the same day as this month’s Bedford Flea) the team from Bedford Independent and The Bedford Clanger will be in Silver Square highlighting the importance of professional and regulated local news and collecting good news stories.
We want to hear about everything from sporting successes to finding your new favourite business, a friend who’s faced adversity to someone who’s raised buckets of cash for charity.
Maybe you’ve just seen an amazing play that you want to let everyone know about or know of a young Bedfordian who’s making waves in a hobby or school subject.
We’ll have a pin-board to create a ‘wall of fame’, so come and find us next to the Silver Faces so we can share our good news yours. Some may even be published on our pages.
During the week we’ll also be encouraging our readers to support us to keep delivering good news and more in Bedford.
How to support genuine local editorial
The days of a daily paper delivered to your door may be gone, but you can still have your daily dose of news delivered directly to your inbox every day at 6am.
No need to even get out of bed, just open your eyes, open your emails and there it is.
If you like what we do, then we would love it if you could make a regular or one-off donation to support our work. All of us work part-time, so imagine what we could achieve with more resources.
Our titles have around 130,000 monthly readers, but we would love to be able to reach more people.
Share our Bedford Independent links on your street’s WhatsApp group, help an older neighbour sign up for our daily email, and give a friend a copy of the Clanger
Indie News Week – let’s get the good news rolling.
Update: This article was updated on 3 June 2024 at 12:59 to adjust some information which has now been updated.
