Prime Minister Keir Starmer has given his backing to the News Media Association’s Journalism Matters campaign, which we are supporting, saying that journalism is “absolutely vital” while pledging to work with the local news sector to protect local journalism.
The Prime Minister has got behind the annual Journalism Matters week, organised by industry organisation the News Media Association to mark the importance of trusted news.
In a comment supporting the campaign today, the Prime Minister pledged his support for local news, saying: “It is said all news is local. It must remain so. That is why this government will always defend it, work with you and support what you do day in day out.”
Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch has also supported Journalism Matters, saying that the Conservative Party will “always defend” journalism.
Funded journalism
In a piece, she said:“Right now, good journalism is in peril. People have got used to reading stories for free on the internet, and free doesn’t pay for the sort of investigations and editorial that keeps our state in check.”
In a third show of support for the campaign today, Lisa Nandy highlighted NMA-commissioned research which found that trust in local news is rising.
“That is proof of just how much this industry matters,” the Culture Secretary said.
Journalism Matters launched on Monday with a Parliamentary event at which keynote speaker Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of The Guardian, called for some “healthy, human scepticism” from government about the promise of AI-driven growth at the expense of the creative industries.
Public vote
The Making a Difference vote for the best local and national campaigns of the past year will run until 5pm tomorrow (Thursday).
We have two finalists in the running for the journalism impact award, decided in a public vote.
Organised by the News Media Association, the Making a Difference award is billed as a “showcase of agenda-setting investigations, campaigns and scoops from national, regional and local news brands demonstrating the power of original news content”.
The annual award sees the public vote for their favourite campaign from the past year during Journalism Matters week, organised by the News Media Association to mark the importance of trusted news.
We have two of the 16 finalists for the favourite local and regional media campaign, Our Healthcare Desert by the Cambrian News along with our partnership with the food redistributor charity, FareShare.