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BBC to introduce regional press content-sharing deal across England

A content-sharing deal between the BBC and regional newspapers is set to be introduced across England.

As previously reported on HTFP, newspapers in Yorkshire and the North-East of England are currently involved in trial schemes which have seen the BBC’s local news websites display links to stories carried by participating titles in the area.

The newspapers themselves are free to choose which stories they want to be linked from the BBC’s ‘Local Live’ web feed, which updates readers on breaking news throughout the day.

The scheme will now be extended to the Birmingham area initially, with the new system expected to be up and running across the whole of England by the middle of 2016.

An example of the BBC Tyne & Wear live feed, featuring today's Northern Echo front page

An example of the BBC Tyne & Wear live feed, featuring today’s Northern Echo front page

Newcastle sister dailies The Chronicle and The Journal, the Shields Gazette, Sunderland Echo, the Hartlepool Mail and the Darlington-based Northern Echo are among those to have taken part in the pilots.

The BBC says stories curated from external sites in the participating regions currently account for up to a quarter of the content featured on its feed.

The scheme has been agreed following talks between the BBC and representatives of “many” local news organisations.

Controller of BBC English Regions David Holdsworth said: “Both audiences and local newspapers should benefit from this improved linking.

“Now a wider choice of material will be available across England from not only inside – but outside the BBC – with the best external stories selected by the papers themselves.

“Local newspapers serve audiences across England and publish thousands more stories than the BBC every week.

“It is natural and healthy that journalists want to compete for stories, but this an example of a way the BBC can also contribute to a thriving local news market.”

At November’s Society of Editors conference James Harding, the BBC’s director of news, pledged to help lead what he termed the “revival” of local journalism in a speech to delegates.

Regional editors have long campaigned for the BBC to accredit local newspapers when it uses their stories, with some suggesting that they should pay for content.

8 comments

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  • April 21, 2015 at 1:31 pm
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    Ha! Very kind of the BBC, seeing as it’s been nicking local content from papers for years. Chap at one BBC radio station used to Tweet my stuff word for word.

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  • April 21, 2015 at 2:32 pm
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    “The BBC says stories curated from external sites in the participating regions currently account for up to a quarter of the content featured on its feed.” Nice use of ‘curated’.

    Thing is, beyond press releases, the BBC local sites don’t actually produce anything. They can and do ‘share’ our (local newspaper) content but that doesn’t change the fact that the don’t actually find anything themselves barring opening an email.

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  • April 21, 2015 at 2:59 pm
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    Harsh that cbronson

    What about ‘A BBC Investigation found…’

    Otherwise known as FOIs in some circles.

    That’s what happens when your entire workforce is related to the same trustee.

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  • April 21, 2015 at 4:54 pm
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    Analyse local BBC coverage over a year. The majority of lead stories are crime and crashes, hand fed by the police, who are also feeding the local press, who also mainly major on crime and court and crashes.. So what’s to be gained? Should be a hoot watching and reading it all.

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  • April 21, 2015 at 5:26 pm
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    Why would newspaper groups be interested in this defeatist nonsense? One of the few remaining pleasures in newspapers is sticking it to the opposition, whether that’s the Beeb or your rival daily/weekly.
    I’d rather go down fighting than beg for the scraps from our state-sponsored media Goliath.
    On second thoughts, our Dear Leaders are more than happy to freely promote the two platforms which have nearly finished us off anyway so what’s the harm in planting another leech on the carcass of the regional press?

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  • April 22, 2015 at 9:52 am
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    I don’t like the fact that the license fee is being used to aid the media giants that have effectively killed the local press. Over the years, it has all been about cuts and no investment. I would rather the BBC employed more journalists from those made redundant to bolster their own news teams, creating healthy competition and hopefully forcing the local press to raise its game with more support for their own journalists. Idealist? Perhaps.

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  • April 22, 2015 at 10:57 am
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    Scraps is what you will get North Country Boy if regional tv news is your yardstick. You might recognise some of the stories three days after going to press!

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  • April 22, 2015 at 11:22 pm
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    I love all the usual carping about ‘the BBC are nicking our stories’, have you visited a local news website recently and seen how many stories are lifted almost directly from buzzfeed, reddit or the daily mail?

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