South West Durham News, publisher of the Ferryhill & Chilton Chapter, Shildon & District Town Crier, the Bishop Press and Spennymoor News is celebrating a successful first week of its June crowdfunding campaign.
So far, readers have given over £700 in both cash and online donations across the four communities SWDN supports.
“We visited Ferryhill Market during Indie News Week last Friday,” said Managing Editor, Archie MacKay, “and we received a warm and generous response.
“Some popped over out of curiosity and others because they had read about our campaign and had their change – and notes – at the ready to drop in our bucket.
“One visitor, while donating, said that they would miss the Chapter if it was gone, which was very heartening to hear.”
SWDN’s crowdfunding campaign is being supported by the Public Interest News Foundation (PINF), who have pledged to match all funding raised in June up to £2,000.
Indie News Week, which they hope to develop into an annual event, was launched this year with the slogan ‘No news is bad news’.
The messaging communicates numerous things simultaneously: namely that journalism is in crisis; that investigating and communicating news costs money; that without community-based journalism, more news deserts will start to appear; that without journalists, who will hold power to account and how will communities stay informed of issues that affect them?
Mr MacKay added: “As long as you have a local independent news source in your area, your community can stay informed – but sadly, far too many news providers aren’t able to cover their costs and have to shut down.
“Please support us today from as little as £2 by donating here or giving us a call and help us keep your community in the know. No news is definitely bad news for us all.”
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
