The U.K. Looks to Take a Step Forward for the Future of Public Interest News

A so-called “action-research” project into the future of public interest news in the United Kingdom by the Media Innovation Studio (MIS) at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is taking an unusual approach to its research. The project, called News Futures 2035, will lead participants in a series of roundtable events on "how [to] secure the supply of trustworthy, public-interest news in the UK" by directly involving the public.

75 journalists, academics, policymakers and media-development actors will meet across the three events. "This is a unique opportunity to bring people together from across the industry, and beyond, to talk about the things that really matter – high-quality journalism, the public interest, and how we can find new models of news that truly serve society,” said Jonathan Heawood, Executive Director, Public Interest News Foundation and associate researcher for News Futures 2035.

Participants will be presented with a short summary of the guided topics for the day before the discussion begins. "Each of the three linked roundtables will progressively take us closer to agreeing on the key issues or drivers, and agreed future scenarios - those we want, those that are perhaps likely and those that we might want to avoid," explained Dr François Nel, the researcher driving the project, adding:

“There are widespread concerns about the rise of misinformation and disinformation at the very time that the industry on which we’ve relied to supply trustworthy news in the public interest is struggling. And while there have been many interventions from media and development actors to shore-up today’s industry, we are yet come together to imagine the futures we want to create tomorrow – and to work together to make it happen.”

The ultimate goal of the project is to help both the public and the struggling news industry, who faced a scathing review in the UK by Dame Francis Cairncross in 2018. Matt Cooke, Head of Google News Lab, said: "Everyone, everywhere, benefits from a healthy news industry and access to great local journalism. We're pleased to support UCLan's independent research to further strengthen British journalism, and consider how people across the country will access information and public interest news in 2035 and beyond."

While it’s unclear yet how these roundtables will truly unfold, the hope for a focused and clear conversation about the media’s future is a refreshing one. Newsrooms continue to decline and close worldwide, and problems have compounded since Cairncross’s review, including cost of living, COVID-19, and climate disasters. The media finding a unified beat with the public will restore public trust in the media and hold other news sources accountable for their own conduct and reporting practices.