Local Democracy Reporting Service

{{short description|UK local journalism service}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022 }}

{{Use British English|date=June 2022}}

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is an initiative in the United Kingdom funded by the BBC. The scheme pays for the employment of journalists by local independent news outlets, in order to improve the coverage of issues relating to local democracy.{{cite web |title=Local Democracy Reporting Service |url=https://www.bbc.com/lnp/ldrs |publisher=BBC |access-date=25 June 2022 }}{{cite web |title=Local Democracy Reporting Service: A model for public broadcasters? |first1=Harry |last1=Lock |url=https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/local-democracy-reporting-service-a-model-for-public-broadcasters/ |publisher=Public Media Alliance |access-date=25 June 2022 |date=2 November 2021}}{{cite web |title=Local Democracy Reporting Service |url=https://www.radioexe.co.uk/news-and-features/ldrs-in-devon/ |website=Radio Exe |access-date=25 June 2022 }}{{cite web |title=Local democracy reporters aid transparency |url=https://themj.co.uk/Local-democracy-reporters-aid-transparency-/212212 |website=The Municipal Journal }} Its core purpose is stated as being "to provide impartial coverage of the regular business and workings of local authorities in the UK, and other relevant democratic institutions such as mayoralties, combined authority areas, PCCs, quangos, etc."

The scheme launched in 2017. As of the 2021 contracting round, 165 Local Democracy Reporters (LDRs) were employed by eighteen participating organisations, ranging from large bodies including DC Thomson, Reach plc, Newsquest and the Evening Standard, to smaller outlets such as Radio Exe and Social Spider, a community interest company which publishes three north London community newspapers.{{cite web |title=New Local Democracy Reporting Service contract holders revealed |url=https://www.bbc.com/lnp/ldrs/2021_contracts/ |publisher=BBC |access-date=25 June 2022 }}{{cite web |title=853 and the Local Democracy Reporting Service |url=https://853.london/about/853-and-the-local-democracy-reporter-scheme/ |website=853 |access-date=25 June 2022}}

Stories written by LDRs are pooled and can be used at no cost by over a thousand participating news organisations, including the BBC. LDRS stories have featured on national BBC radio and television news programmes. In the first four years of the scheme almost a quarter of a million stories were filed, with a peak of 1,321 in a seven-day period in September 2021.{{cite news |last1=Linford |first1=Paul |title=Local Democracy Reporting service 'has become template" says Davie - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage |url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2021/news/local-democracy-reporting-service-has-become-template-says-bbc-dg/ |access-date=25 June 2022 |work=Hold the Front Page}}

The scheme has been replicated in New Zealand and Canada.