A new report, The Local News Playbook: Creating Value for a Sustainable Future, produced by FT Strategies in partnership with the Knight Foundation, explores what it takes for local news organisations to thrive. Drawing on research with news leaders, funders and partners, the study rejects one-size-fits-all solutions and instead maps how value is created and sustained across the ecosystem.

Key findings include:

  • Community connection is not just a "nice to have" — it is a structural growth advantage that directly drives trust, engagement, and revenue.
  • Owned relationships (e.g. forums and newsletters) now matter more than reach; resilience comes from depth, not scale.
  • Uniquely local utility beats commoditised news every time — relevance, not volume, is what people will engage with and pay for.
  • Reader revenue is less about money and more about signal: if people won’t pay or donate, the value proposition isn’t working.
  • There is no single winning model, but every sustainable outlet gets the same basics right: mission clarity, diversified revenue and disciplined reinvestment.

The report aims to help local news leaders make sharper strategic choices and guide funders and policymakers to where their support can have the most impact.

Read the full report for more.

This article was drafted by an AI assistant before it was edited by a human.

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Written by

Jacob Granger
Jacob Granger
Jacob Granger is the community editor of JournalismUK

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