The UK’s local news landscape faces a crisis that demands a creative solution. The Local News Commission's new comprehensive report, written on its behalf by the Public Interest News Foundation (PINF), came up with some well-thought-through recommendations for regenerating local journalism - and a figure needed to make it happen.

The current state of local news is bleak. Over four million people now inhabit "news deserts" - communities fundamentally disconnected from local reporting. This is not merely an industrial decline, but a potential structural threat to democratic engagement.

The Big Tech does not help. Initiatives that once sought to stimulate local news have been wiped out, and social media platforms are less keen on fact-checking and moderation than they once were.

According to the report, the only way forward is to create a Local News Stimulation Fund that would distribute £15m a year for the next 10 years to local news providers. The objective is to create or boost sources of high-quality, local news, lessen dependency on social media for information, and stimulate democracy and civic engagement.

Jonathan Heawood, executive director of PINF, said:........

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