Brighton and Hove News wins BBC contract
Brighton and Hove News has been awarded a three-year contract by the BBC to employ a local democracy reporter.
The contract is part of the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service which is intended to ensure local coverage of councils and other local public-sector organisations.
The BBC said: “Local democracy reporters provide vital scrutiny of decisions made on the public’s behalf, with more than 200,000 stories delivered since the launch of the service in January 2018.
“The journalism they produce is made available for free to the BBC and more than 1,000 individual news titles or outlets across the country.”
For the past three years Brighton and Hove News has employed a reporter to cover Brighton and Hove City Council under the scheme as a sub-contractor.
From July, Brighton and Hove News becomes a contractor in the scheme in its own right, along with 17 other publishers.
The BBC also said: “The Local Democracy Reporting Service is part of the Local News Partnership, a strategic agreement with the News Media Association which sees the BBC fund journalists cover the work of local councils and other local public bodies.
“The BBC has recommitted to the Local News Partnership until the end of its current Charter in 2027.”
Jo Wadsworth and Frank le Duc, who run Brighton and Hove News, said: “We are delighted to be part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service again.
“Our local democracy reporter, Sarah Booker-Lewis, has written well over a thousand stories over the past three years.
“These have helped shed a light on council debates and decisions and have informed the public about what is being done in their name, funded by the taxes they pay.
“Our website started more than 11 years ago and this partnership will help us as we continue to share some of what’s happening day in day out with our many thousands of readers.”
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“The BBC said: “Local democracy reporters provide vital scrutiny of decisions made on the public’s behalf, with more than 200,000 stories delivered since the launch of the service in January 2018.”
Where has the local scrutiny been lately? Unwanted cycle Lanes, unwanted i360, unwanted Valley Garden work, 150+ year old green wall hacked away and BHCC know nothing!?!
Come on!
All that is hardly the fault of Brighton and Hove News.
Which has been punching well above its weight in these dismal times.
And who deserve congratulations on the contract.
Great to hear this is too continue. Brighton and Hove News has been the first paper to pick up scandals around the RISE contract and the fiasco over Home to School Transport. It’s also given a fair mouthpiece to both sides of the OSR cycle lane debacle.
congrats in order! =
Congratulations.
It is still frustrating though that even with scrutiny and publication, it seems to have no effect on the actions of BHCC.