The BBC has announced plans to roll out an improved method for linking to the best stories provided by local newspapers across the country, from BBC website Local Live streams.
The news follows successful pilots in West Yorkshire and the North East where local newspapers send a link to their strongest stories, which then feature on the BBC News website.
The spat between the regional press and the BBC over content rights and fair attribution has been long-running.
In a speech delivered in June, the BBC’s director of news and current affairs, James Harding, said the “squabbles” in recent years between the local press and the BBC are “getting us all nowhere – we have looked like a circular firing squad.”
However, the latest announcement signals a greater commitment from the BBC to contribute to a healthy local journalism sector.
A national roll-out will begin region by region, starting in Birmingham, with the aim of having a new system up and running across England by the middle of 2016.
BBC Local Live streams provide short form updates and will now incorporate local press and ‘hyperlocal’ links into a feed allowing users to choose onward online journeys to external media, original BBC journalism and user-generated content.
In the pilot areas up to a quarter of the daily news content on the BBC’s Local Live streams are curated links to other local news providers.
By enabling publishers to freely choose the links they want to promote on the BBC and using clear branding this approach is enabling audiences to find the best local stories and point BBC users to external news sites.
David Holdsworth, controller of BBC English regions, said that both audiences and local newspapers should benefit from the improved linking as a wider choice of material becomes available and papers have control over choosing the best external stories.
“Local newspapers serve audiences across England and publish thousands more stories than the BBC every week,” said Holdsworth.
“It is natural and healthy that journalists want to compete for stories, but this an example of a way the BBC can also contribute to a thriving local news market.”
In 2014 the BBC’s Local news websites across England generated an average of 2.5 million external link clicks per month, which equates to a click-through rate of around 2.4%.
BBC Local news stories account for 45% of external link clicks for the BBC News website in the UK, up 13% year on year.
Speaking at Media Playground last year, Ashley Highfield, CEO of regional publisher Johnston Press, said that he had met with BBC director general Tony Hall to try and work out a more “collaborative” approach that would see a “two-way flow of traffic” that benefits both the BBC and local papers.
“A lot of local stories would benefit from having BBC content [particularly video] on our websites, and in return we could help bring a much bigger audience to the BBC,” said Highfield.
“It’s not in the BBC’s interests to do it because it is measured by the traffic to its products and assets – so it doesn’t get properly credited for people consuming the BBC off the BBC.
“But there needs to be a change in the measurement so that we can get BBC content spread more widely across the web. We want a more collaborative approach.”
