Behind Local News

14/07/2025

Our latest newsletter is out - featuring news about NationalWorld, Southwark News, MyLondon and more:

Read it here - and don't forget you can sign up too!

Plus: Spending analysis leads to council scoops, new editorial boss at National World and the shortlist for the Future of Journalism Awards announced

29/08/2024

When in Manchester, focus on the ... Mancunians! It sounds like an obvious statement, but for ManchesterWorld, it's an approach they think helps them stand out in a competitive field.

Plus: Praise for local court reporting after the riots, the end of the Lincolnite - and a bumper haul of local news jobs going now

10/08/2024

After a week many people will never forget, we've rounded up the front pages from around the UK:

It is a week that will long in the memories of anyone residing in towns or cities blighted by violence.

21/04/2024

Yes, we're biased (a little) but we don't think you can overstate the importance of journalists campaigning on behalf of their communities. That was so clear in the campaign of the year category at the The Regional Press Awards recently, where Western Morning News, Manchester Evening News, The Inverness Courier, The Northern Echo and Chroniclelive competed for the top honour.

From fighting for better homes following the death of a child, to improvements to a danger road, keeping railway ticket offices open to demanding action on knife crime - these campaigns are ones to make the industry proud.

A campaign which began with a shocking investigation uncovering the scandalous death of a two-year-old in a mold-ridden flat and ultimately…

13/04/2024

Our Saturday Special is out! The publishers taming AI and algorithms - we look at the newsrooms being celebrated for their innovative streaks: https://behindlocalnews.substack.com/p/saturday-special-the-publishers-taming

07/04/2024

Our Monday newsletter has a brilliant feature this week from the architect of a campaign to give a lost generation of would-be property owners a voice in local journalism around the UK. Sign up to get it tomorrow at 8am: https://behindlocalnews.substack.com/

06/04/2024

The hunt for April Fool's Day jokes was harder than we thought: https://open.substack.com/pub/behindlocalnews/p/saturday-special-the-perils-and-pitfalls?r=29bc7d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

28/03/2024

A new newspaper for Blackpool - with ones to follow in other northern cities around the North:

200,000 newspapers are to be distributed in towns and cities across the North of England as an email news service moves into print.

24/03/2024

What should you do when a police force tells you to sign an NDA before getting access to information? That's what happened in Nottingham, and this week's Behind Local News newsletter looks at what happened next. Sign up now to make sure it lands in your inbox tomorrow!

Natalie Fahy on why she stood up to a local police force, plus a round-up of other stories from local journalism and the latest vacancies in the regional press too

17/03/2024

Our newsletter is back - and hopefully better than ever. Sign up here for a weekly dose of what's going on in local journalism:

Celebrating and exploring what's going in in local news. Click to read Behind Local News, a Substack publication. Launched a year ago.

29/06/2023

New on site: What MPs had to say about the BBC's plan to massively reduce local radio services in the UK:

In-depth: Behind Local News watched MPs debate the BBC’s plans to slash local radio services. If the BBC were watching too, it would have…

26/03/2023

At first, the Facebook claims seemed horrifying - but as the team at the NNorth West Evening Mailbegan investigating, something even worse was to emerge. The challenge was: What to do when people don't believe you?

The Mail in Cumbria’s chief reporter Dan Taylor reveals how the Newsquest title was caught up in an Asian grooming gang scandal that was…