A manifesto for greater community media
By Rhiannon Davies, 15 May 2026
Fellow's Profile
Rhiannon Davies
Fellow's Profile
Rhiannon Davies
Plugging the democratic deficit: civic engagement in local reporting
Fellowship
- Themes
- Focus
-
Preventing the decline of local democracy by encouraging local reporting
- Countries
- Fellowship year
-
2020
- Locality
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Scotland
Contact
Biography
I am the founder and editor-in-chief of a multilingual solutions-focused community magazine covering the Southside of Glasgow. I also work part-time as a teaching associate on the University of Strathclyde's journalism courses.
My Fellowship project aims to explore ways in which innovative news media projects in the USA and Canada are plugging the democratic deficit left by the reduced capacity of local newspapers – and then how these methods might be adopted by news publishers in the UK.
The problem that my project is designed to address stems from the decline of local news coverage and the impact that this has on local democracy, creating 'news deserts', widening informational divides and a growing disconnect between journalists and the communities they are supposed to serve.
I get excited by developments in the future of journalism and reimagining what news media could look like. If news producers in the UK could draw upon the lessons learned and the technology developed in the USA, the media in this country could also push forward, building trust in journalism and consequently strengthening both communities and local democracy.
Ideas
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
Ideas
A manifesto for greater community media
By Rhiannon Davies, 15 May 2026
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
