The ''Bedford Independent'' is a free

hyperlocal Hyperlocal (also reckoned Hyper-local) is an adjective used to describe something as being "limited to a very small geographical area", and in particular, to anything " tremely or excessively local", in particular with regard to media (commu ...

online

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

based in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The publication covers the

Borough of Bedford Bedford, or the Borough of Bedford, is a Districts of England, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Bedford Borough Council, ...

and some villages on the border with

Central Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire is a Districts of England, local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Central Bedfordshire Council, a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority. It was created ...

and

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

. It is owned and operated independently by Progress Publishing Ltd.

History

The ''Bedford Independent'' was launched on social media on 13 August 2018 initially only publishing articles on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. Reaching "in excess of 250,000" people on social media, it launched a dedicated news website on 28 November 2019 and also launched a presence on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented Social networking service, social network. It was launched on May 5, 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly. Since December 2016, LinkedIn has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. ...

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. Initially, the ''Bedford Independent'' also published a short print version of their most read stories each month in their sister publication ''The Bedford Clanger'', but printing ended during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and ''The Bedford Clanger'' was moved online as part of the ''Bedford Independent's'' main website. The publication is run by Paul Hutchinson, former Chiltern FM deputy news editor; Erica Roffe, founder of local arts and culture magazine the ''Bedford Clanger;'' and commercial director Julia Course-Crofts, who has worked for titles including ''

Bedfordshire on Sunday ''Bedfordshire on Sunday'' (BoS) was a free local newspaper published in Bedfordshire, England. It was distributed as two editions, one covering the Borough of Bedford, the other edition serves Central Bedfordshire. The gross distribution was ar ...

'', ''MK on Sunday'', ''Affinity Magazine'' and ''The'' ''Bedford Clanger''.

Style

The editorial style is politically independent and articles are neutral in their presentation. Their editorial policy takes an active stance against

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emoti ...

, clickbait and fake news. They follow a 'reader first' approach and a broadcast media style of reporting through video from the scene of stories.

Notable stories

Notable stories include the "'North Wing' Bedford Hospital fire", which was picked up by national media and the confirmation that

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

had bought land in Bedford Borough to be used as a possible Universal Studios theme park.

DCMS inquiry into the sustainability of local journalism

In 2022 the ''Bedford Independent'' gave written evidence to the UK Government's Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee for their investigation into the sustainability of local journalism. As a result of this, they were invited to give oral evidence to the committee during a hearing at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture. The ''Bedford Independent'''s evidence both written and oral was then used by the DCMS Committee to write their report into the sustainability of local journalism and make various recommendations to the UK Government.

Regulation

The ''Bedford Independent'' is regulated by independent press regulator

IMPRESS Impress or Impression may refer to: Arts * Big Impression, a British comedy sketch show *'' Impression, Sunrise'', a painting by Claude Monet Biology * Maternal impression, an obsolete scientific theory that explained the existence of birth de ...

. They are also a member of the Independent Community News Network (ICNN). Co-managing editor Paul Hutchinson also sits on the IMPRESS Standards Code Committee

References

{{reflist

External links

Bedford Independent

The Bedford Clanger
Newspapers published in Bedfordshire Newspapers established in 2018 2018 establishments in England