The First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford MS has praised the hyperlocal sector for its work during the Covid Crisis.
In answer to a question put to the First Minister by Welsh Labour’s Hefin David MS last month about support for the hyperlocal sector, he had this to say:
“There are two different sums of money that are available through the Welsh Government.
“There is the Welsh Public Interest Journalism Fund. [So far] nine (sic) awards have been made from it already and the Caerphilly Observer was one of the beneficiaries of it along with organisations like Llanelli Online and Wrexham.com all of which were very regular participants in the series of news conferences which were held in the covid crisis and which did a very good job indeed of keeping their readers informed of those hyperlocal issues.
“There is another sum of £100,000 set aside as a result of the Cooperation Agreement.
“As Hefin said, there is a group working on the best way that money can be deployed.
“I know that they are looking at how through combining purchasing power more money from the Welsh Governments advertising budget can be drawn down towards them.”
These remarks follow discussions that representatives from ICNN and Welsh independents have had with Golley Slater, an advertising agency in Cardiff, to direct advertising revenue to hyperlocals.
The Welsh Public Interest Journalism Fund is being facilitated by Ping! News CIC – a community interest company run by the Independent Community News Network (ICNN) and Bristol-based developer Omni Digital. Ping! aims to support sustainability in the independent community news sector.
So far, there have been eight successful grantees of the Welsh Public Interest Journalism Fund, including one new entrant to the sector. Xcellence magazine – a publication celebrating black and ethnic cultures in Wales was launched in September following support from the fund.
ICNN has given its support to an extension of the Welsh Public Interest Journalism Fund and is awaiting approval from the Cooperation Team.
Hefin David MS said: “…The £100K the Welsh Government has put on the table this year; I think that could be directed not at the likes of Newsquest or Reach who already have a national conglomeration; I think it would be better targeted to hyperlocal organisations like the Caerphilly observer.”
