Forum topic: Europe comes to the aid of our local community press

Enfield Dispatch, the borough's community newspaper, will be among the news providers to benefit from grants from the European Journalism Covid-19 Support Fund, which is being provided jointly by the European Journalism Centre (EJC) and Facebook Journalism Project.

The announcement from the EJC came on 14th March, listing 57 news organisations from across the continent that will benefit from the first tranche of grants (there were a total of 988 applications for assistance). Walthamstow-based Social Spider CIC will receive €25,000 to help the Dispatch and sister London community papers survive the reduction in advertising revenue caused by the lockdown.

In response, editor James Cracknell tweeted his thanks:

In common with most independent news media across the UK, the Dispatch has fallen through the cracks in the UK government's Covid business support schemes. While support is now being provided to the national press, the government appears unconcerned about the fate of the new sources of local news that have sprung up in the last two decades in response to the withering away of the country's traditional local press.

While £35m has been allocated to the ‘newspaper industry’ in order to save lives by providing essential information to the public, and support the press, not one penny has reached the independent news sector. [...]

(Independent Community News Network - ICNN)

The Independent Community News Network (ICNN) is continuing to lobby the government to support its members' "true frontline key workers".