Last week, I had the privilege of attending the press conference in Cardiff Bay, where the leaders of the three devolved UK nations, along with the president of Sinn Féin and the leader of the opposition in the Irish parliament, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work towards constitutional change.
My biggest takeaway wasn’t political; it was about communication and information sharing.
Michelle O’Neill, First Minister of Northern Ireland, is acutely aware of the need to consider the views of people with opposed political positions, in some cases going back generations.
She spoke passionately about the need for an honest conversation and the sharing of facts and information on the independence debate. Her words weren’t just relevant to independence; the same could be said about immigration, the economy, health and education.
Over the past two decades, public-interest news has eroded dramatically as traditional business models, advances in technology, and people’s changing news habits have created a challenging environment for news providers.
Social media, AI and the proliferation of bad actors have seen a rise in misinformation and disinformation. This has led to rising mistrust and news avoidance.
The need for quality, trusted and accessible Public Interest News provision has never been greater. The challenges facing its provision have never been greater.
So, what’s the answer?
A starting point we can all agree on.
Public interest news as critical infrastructure.
Democracy depends on people having reliable information about the decisions that affect their lives. To make informed choices, question those in power and shape their communities, citizens need to understand who is responsible, what is being proposed and what the consequences could be. Education gives us the skills to understand and question the world, while independent public interest news helps us use those skills throughout our lives. Making trustworthy news accessible to everyone strengthens accountability, helps people recognise misleading claims and gives every citizen a fairer opportunity to have their voice heard.
We don’t rely on the market to educate our children and young people; we don’t rely on the market to ensure our roads are safe, yet public interest news currently relies, by and large, on the market.
Most news providers in Wales, except the BBC, are commercial entities, and their failure to adapt their business models to a changing world has driven public interest news to decline at an alarming rate.
Only two decades ago, the weekly local newspaper was a staple in homes across the South Wales valleys; news from the local council and how national government decisions affected the daily lives of thousands of Welsh citizens had high visibility. Fast forward to today, and those papers’ circulation has fallen by an eye-watering 99%.
And what has filled that void? The answer, in all honesty, is very little. People increasingly get information from unverified social media sources. Recent research by the Social Market Foundation shows that disinformation around elections in the UK has increased at an alarming rate, with Facebook cited as a major concern.
As part of its Media Nations 2026 UK Report, Ofcom conducted specific research on the Senedd Elections in May. One of its most interesting findings was the high reach of physical leaflets. 74% of respondents said political leaflets delivered to their homes were a major source of information about the elections, reflecting strong engagement with tangible, offline campaign materials.
While Ofcom’s data shows where voters went for news, parallel research by Cardiff University, highlighted a massive challenge regarding what they understood.
In Wales, radical action is needed; throwing limited amounts of cash at a few online news outlets every year isn’t the answer, as recent Welsh Government interventions show.
The “Of and For Wales” report published in 2023 is already hopelessly out of date, and rival organisations keep jockeying to protect their vested interests instead of focusing on the priority: serving the people of Wales.
The people of Wales need the public interest news provision they deserve and provision that can help them partake fully in civic society.
There is no easy answer; it will require a multitude of solutions based on both place and people.
Public interest news provision must be embedded in communities; it needs to be visible, accessible, and, of course, trustworthy.
We are way beyond the “working group”, “expert panel” and “deep dive” stage.
The research is done and ongoing; the evidence is there. We now need to put their findings into action through a series of pilots whose outcomes can be measured and the successful ones replicated.
Let’s do it.