The Centre for Community Journalism has called for public funding of community and hyperlocal news publishers to help revive local journalism.

Centre Manager Emma Meese, giving oral evidence at the National Assembly for Wales’s consultation into news journalism, said: “There is still profit to be made from local journalism, just not enough to satisfy the large companies that increasingly dominate the Welsh news landscape.

“That is why start-up funding, targeted at community and hyperlocal journalism could have a large catalytic effect for the sector.

“These publications tackle issues that matter. They report on all aspects of civic life, including courts and council meetings. These micro businesses are agile and entrepreneurial and are vital to ensuring a thriving news sector in Wales.

“We need to ensure that smaller run organisations such as these are no longer disadvantaged in that they cannot access the same level of funding and support as the large traditional newspapers, which have a monopoly across Wales.”

Read the full article here, or click here to watch the webcast from the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee.