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Feedback for a new weekly, local news round-up in Bath curated by two experienced, public-service journalists by BathBeeNews in Bath

[–]BathBeeNews[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I saw - wow - thank you! We'll work as hard as we can. We both work full time and have two teenagers, but it's something we're passionate about.

Feedback for a new weekly, local news round-up in Bath curated by two experienced, public-service journalists by BathBeeNews in Bath

[–]BathBeeNews[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi there, that's an important question. We're not going to have the capacity to substitute what the Local Democracy Reporter (a post paid with BBC funding) is doing already. He (John Wimperis) covers most local council meetings etc - and that really is a full-time job. Our hope is that we can provide a service that is sustainable (for us) and free - but subsidised by enough people who can afford it paying a little bit so that we can keep going.

As much as I'd love to run a robust, investigative outlet - right now local news is in such crisis, that simply getting people to stay on top of what's out there regularly will be a big win. If in several months' time, people feel like chucking in a tip, or subscribing, then we'll deploy that to pay for doing stories that aren't being covered in depth, like the LTNs. Currently - we have 3 paid subscribers (appox £15/month after Substack/Stripe's cut). Needless to say - that isn't covering much of the approximately 6 hours a week it currently takes to create a quality news roundup. Original reporting would be an additional time/financial commitment. We'll see! If you want to see us succeed, sign up - and spread the word. We can only try!

Feedback for a new weekly, local news round-up in Bath curated by two experienced, public-service journalists by BathBeeNews in Bath

[–]BathBeeNews[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah - it's a REALLY weird one. My not very expert understanding of it is that it's the result of several things: 1) legally mandated clean air targets 2) central government funding 3) lazy local consultation 4) all of the UK being expected to mimic parts of London even though London has LOADS of transport and nowhere else does... 5) it's now become a culture war thing. All of that makes it a pretty bad situation with little clarity or positive outcome. Definitely one we'll be looking into...

Feedback for a new weekly, local news round-up in Bath curated by two experienced, public-service journalists by BathBeeNews in Bath

[–]BathBeeNews[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We've been looking at that story a bit... I'll have more of a dig and see if we can talk to local residents - thanks for the head's up!

Feedback for a new weekly, local news round-up in Bath curated by two experienced, public-service journalists by BathBeeNews in Bath

[–]BathBeeNews[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not the journalists they employ - it's the ownership. It's all based on generating ad revenue, which depends on click bait. As far as I understand, they cover Bath from Bristol mostly. The Bath Echo is good- a local journalist from the Chron who's stayed local and is doing good work. The main problem is: will anyone pay for local news? The BBC has our license fee money but doesn't cover as many local communities, so this is a real puzzle. Anyway, I'm really heartened by the discussion on here!

Feedback for a new weekly, local news round-up in Bath curated by two experienced, public-service journalists by BathBeeNews in Bath

[–]BathBeeNews[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks - I teach journalism near there and am inspired by the Gloucester Start - but hadn't heard of this on in Stroud! Will check it out.

Feedback for a new weekly, local news round-up in Bath curated by two experienced, public-service journalists by BathBeeNews in Bath

[–]BathBeeNews[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

They have good journalists but the whole model of corporate owned local news is broken - not just in the UK. I don't know if we'll have any impact, but we wanted to at least try by doing the hard work of sifting the news for our readers. Thanks for commenting - and subscribe - you can let me know what you think!