Local news outlets adapt as cuts, AI and TikTok reshape reporting

Local news in the UK is under pressure from job cuts, shrinking print titles and competition from social media, as government support and new digital models are tested. A government fund is intended to help local outlets adapt, but reporting on the ground shows a sector still searching for a sustainable future.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it is supporting local news with a fund to help news organisations adapt to changing audience habits, innovate and secure new revenue streams. The scale of the challenge is stark. According to the Public Interest News Foundation, over 4 million people in the UK live in so-called news deserts, places that lack dedicated news providers. One think tank estimate says 46% of Brits get local news through social media. A report from the Social Market Foundation found that places with local elections had a spike in fake news postings on Facebook.

A TikToker with more than half a million followers, Andrew Barton, investigated local news for a feature. He covers UK news from his home in Rotherham in short social videos that reach millions each month, and says he needs local news to make his videos but has watched it fade. He visited the Cheltenham Post, a free fortnightly paper that is the only title dedicated to the town. Its founder, Mark, started it about six or seven years ago after seeing the popularity of free pick-up papers in London. He said people still want to read court reports, sport, school plays and restaurant reviews, and that crime boosts pick-up. He also warned that a newspaper cannot be deleted like a social media post.

In Somerset, Andrew Lee runs Somerset Confidential, an online Substack that has published for four years and goes out to about 3,000 people. It does old-school reporting, attending council meetings and holding local figures to account. The title covered a by-election after a Green Party councillor resigned, with no other journalists visible at the count and little coverage for voters in Frome West. Lee said the local newspapers in Somerset have been hollowed out and that he would prefer to face more competition. He added that most of his readers would not go on TikTok for a one-minute video. Barton said his audience is mainly in its mid-20s and that younger viewers are often more interested in something crazy happening nearby than in the journalism itself. He wants to move into more serious analysis.

Academics warned that if local journalists do not collate news according to journalistic values, others will fill the gap. The Southport stabbings were cited as an example of what can happen when not enough information is released and people take it upon themselves to spread claims.

In Greater Manchester, regional media was described as haemorrhaging money and staff as it competes for advertising with AI-written websites and TikTokers who attract attention without doing the hard graft of on-the-ground reporting. Sarah Lester, editor of the Manchester Evening News, said its publisher Reach runs more than 120 titles and had announced cuts to more than 200 editorial roles. She blamed AI in part, saying one campaign was entirely summarised by AI on Google, which reduces the reason to click through. She insisted local news is not dead and not dying, but said society needs journalists in regional areas to challenge leaders.

The decline is long-running. Between 2005 and 2022, at least 271 local print newspaper titles were lost across the UK, leading to news deserts in 38 areas. As audiences move to digital and video-led platforms, editors are commissioning more content and seeing some of it stolen or lifted on social media.

Joshi Herrmann, editor of The Mill, said his outlet does old-school local journalism in a modern way, using email newsletters, online subscriptions and no print edition. He said content creators have a real role because many young people do not consume conventional news, but they cannot replace reporting. Reporting, he said, is a complicated, slow process of speaking to people, checking facts, making sure stories are legally watertight, getting documents and attending court cases. That work, he argued, can only really be done by professional journalists who are paid to do it.

At the University of Salford, journalism students said they get news mainly on their phones, through Instagram, apps and TikTok. They described it as increasingly difficult to find real news and said their generation is addicted to phones. Their tutors stressed that the principles of journalism have not changed: getting out, knocking on doors, talking to real people and building connections. Local journalism, they said, remains the heart of the system because stories build from local to regional, national and international. If the BBC will not knock on someone's door in Eccles, they might. Adaptability could be the best skill for those entering the industry.