Eighteen news organisations that have successfully bid to employ Local Democracy Reporters for a three-year period from July 2021 have now been named.
All 10 companies that currently employ LDRs have retained contracts, while eight new organisations 鈥� including a local television station - have won contracts for the first time.
The new companies to successfully bid for contracts are Brighton and Hove News, Caerphilly Media, DC Thomson, Iliffe Media, Newbury News & Media, Notts TV, Radio Exe and Social Spider CIC, which publishes three community newspapers in north London.
They are joined by Archant, Citizen News & Media, JPI Media, KM Media Group, London Evening Standard, Newsquest, Radio Manx, Reach Plc, Shetland News and Stonebow Media.
From July the scheme will be expanded to include an additional 15 extra journalists, taking the total to 165 across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Every local authority area in the United Kingdom will be covered including - for the first time 鈥� Orkney, the Scottish Highlands and Newry, Mourne and Down in Northern Ireland.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service is part of the Local News Partnerships, a strategic agreement with the News Media Association which sees the 大象传媒 fund journalists to cover the work of local councils and other local public bodies.
LDRs 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 大象传媒 and more than 1,000 individual news titles or outlets across the country.
The 大象传媒 has recommitted to the Local News Partnership until the end of its current Charter in 2027.