The Local Democracy Reporting Service is one of those schemes most people don’t know by name.
Set up in 2017, it’s funded by the BBC
The reporters work for local news organisations. The idea is simple: make sure someone is sitting in council meetings and public bodies, holding power to account, even as local newsrooms have shrunk.
How many Local Democracy Reporters are there?
There are more than 150 Local Democracy Reporters spread across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their job is to cover local authorities, police and crime commissioners, health bodies and other publicly-funded organisations. In short: the decisions that directly affect your schools, roads, housing and local taxes.
Here’s the clever bit
While the reporters are employed by specific local outlets, their stories are shared with hundreds of news organisations. That means one council meeting can inform multiple papers, websites and broadcasters.
It’s not PR
It’s not council newsletters either. The reporters are independent journalists, asking questions and digging into how money is spent. If this career path interests you, you can study for a journalism degree in the UK, such as at the schoolofjournalism.co.uk.
An important pillar of local journalism
At a time when many local papers have closed, the LDRS has become a quiet but important pillar of local journalism. If you’ve read a story about a planning row or a heated council debate recently, chances are a Local Democracy Reporter was behind it.
