Launch community news site for Southampton
Donation protected
I believe that telling stories is an important part of holding local communities together, which is especially relevant at a time when many politicians seem to be trying to gain support by turning people on one another, dividing communities and creating suspicion and fear. Knowing our neighbours as people is an important part of building a caring and supportive neighbourhood, and reading stories about those people is a way to help achieve that and help us feel connected to where we live.
With the decline in local newspapers, local news is becoming increasingly focused on court, crime and other stories that will yield lots of clicks.
While this is valuable, the everyday stories of ordinary but interesting local people are increasingly being squeezed out.
I want to do something to help fill that gap by creating a community-centred magazine news website for Southampton and the surrounding areas, full of features and news articles on local people, whether they be artists, environmental protesters, volunteers at their local park, disability campaigners, those concerned about the privatisation of the NHS, poets, WASPI campaigners, sportspeople, charity fundraisers, medical fundraisers, roller derby skaters, those fighting inequality and prejudice, or just someone with an interesting story that they want to share.
Initially it will be run for love, but I hope to attract advertisers in the long run, so that writers can receive some payment, to help make it sustainable. However, advertising will only be accepted from advertisers which fit the site's ethics. I want to create an independent platform where writers are free from corporate influences and where stories are told because they matter.
The target is to cover the initial set up costs of building a website, hosting and a small amount of promotion. If any additional funds are raised, they will be go towards ongoing costs, and if sufficient, paying writers.
This is a grass roots fundraiser to set up a grass roots news platform, about and for local people and free of corporate influences. Any donation, no matter how small, will be an important step in allowing this to happen and will help to give you a stake in providing an alternative to corporate mainstream news.
This interesting recent article explores some of the issues caused by the decline in local news and highlights the need for people to step up and offer something to fill the vacuum in their communities:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/07/read-all-about-it-how-local-papers-decline-is-starving-communities-of-news?fbclid=IwAR3PeSkxTy3kxjxH3YHsw03nTJpj1pdgEFOQ_eucZGgBIaqYz30GdVcTedk
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sally
UPDATE
We have reached our initial fundraising target (£550) to pay for initial set up costs. The website is currently being built and is set to launch in late August, 2019. We are now fundraising to help with ongoing costs.
The website is run by a small unpaid team. We believe in the importance of a community news website to keep local people informed and to help strengthen our links with one another. To help us provide this free of charge, we greatly appreciate donations towards keeping the site running.
With the decline in local newspapers, local news is becoming increasingly focused on court, crime and other stories that will yield lots of clicks.
While this is valuable, the everyday stories of ordinary but interesting local people are increasingly being squeezed out.
I want to do something to help fill that gap by creating a community-centred magazine news website for Southampton and the surrounding areas, full of features and news articles on local people, whether they be artists, environmental protesters, volunteers at their local park, disability campaigners, those concerned about the privatisation of the NHS, poets, WASPI campaigners, sportspeople, charity fundraisers, medical fundraisers, roller derby skaters, those fighting inequality and prejudice, or just someone with an interesting story that they want to share.
Initially it will be run for love, but I hope to attract advertisers in the long run, so that writers can receive some payment, to help make it sustainable. However, advertising will only be accepted from advertisers which fit the site's ethics. I want to create an independent platform where writers are free from corporate influences and where stories are told because they matter.
The target is to cover the initial set up costs of building a website, hosting and a small amount of promotion. If any additional funds are raised, they will be go towards ongoing costs, and if sufficient, paying writers.
This is a grass roots fundraiser to set up a grass roots news platform, about and for local people and free of corporate influences. Any donation, no matter how small, will be an important step in allowing this to happen and will help to give you a stake in providing an alternative to corporate mainstream news.
This interesting recent article explores some of the issues caused by the decline in local news and highlights the need for people to step up and offer something to fill the vacuum in their communities:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/07/read-all-about-it-how-local-papers-decline-is-starving-communities-of-news?fbclid=IwAR3PeSkxTy3kxjxH3YHsw03nTJpj1pdgEFOQ_eucZGgBIaqYz30GdVcTedk
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sally
UPDATE
We have reached our initial fundraising target (£550) to pay for initial set up costs. The website is currently being built and is set to launch in late August, 2019. We are now fundraising to help with ongoing costs.
The website is run by a small unpaid team. We believe in the importance of a community news website to keep local people informed and to help strengthen our links with one another. To help us provide this free of charge, we greatly appreciate donations towards keeping the site running.
Organizer
Sally Churchy
Organizer
