Jonathan Heawood reflects on and celebrates the first five years of the Public Interest News Foundation!
Since 2019, PINF has been working hard to ensure that everyone in the UK has access to public interest news that speaks to them, for them and with them.
Five years ago, a group of us got together to talk about the future of independent news in the UK. We were inspired by the Cairncross Review of public interest journalism, which had recommended a new Institute for Public Interest News (IPIN), but disappointed by the Government’s refusal to create this institute.
We were determined to ensure that indie news providers should not be left out of any future plans by policymakers, philanthropists and big tech platforms.
And so, rather than wait for someone else to create IPIN, we launched our own organisation: the Public Interest News Foundation. PINF was registered as a company on 18 November 2019 and became a charity the following year.
As an independent foundation, PINF is not dependent on the government or the legacy news industry for support. Instead, we have raised funds from more than 20 generous individuals, companies, trusts and foundations. This has given us the freedom to form our own vision of the future, to build support for this vision around the UK and across the world, and to launch a range of innovative programmes.
Turning five years old has given us an opportunity to reflect on our work so far and celebrate our (many) achievements. Although the road ahead is long, we're immensely proud of what we've done so far.
So, what have we achieved?
We've supported more than 100 indie news providers across the UK through our Leadership Programme, holding lively Indie News Forums across the country in 2022, 2023 and 2024, hosting our ever-growing Whatsapp community and with our regular Skillshares.
We've led original research into the sector and its impact. We've published the PINF Index for four years in a row, along with our Local News Map, Local News Plans and Disinformation Dynamics.
We've engaged policymakers across the political spectrum, running our News For All campaign and setting up a brand new Local News Commission this year, as well as engaging with select committees and the Media APPG.
We've banged the drum for the sector in the UK and around the world with our weekly newsletter, showing up at international conferences, providing media commentary and, of course, our flagship Indie News Week!
We’ve injected at least £735,000 of new money into the sector, starting with the Covid-19 Emergency Fund, and continuing with fiscal sponsorship and this year's Indie News Fund.
These achievements have only been possible because of our thriving network of indie news providers, funders, researchers and journalism support organisations in the UK and beyond. This review is dedicated to all of you who have been part of the PINF story so far.
Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from PINF.