Words by Ed King / Pics courtesy of Erdington Local
On Tuesday 14th July, Erdington Local celebrates its first 100 days – reporting news, features, and stories from local people from across the constituency.
Launched on Monday 6th April 2020, Erdington Local has had a ‘huge response’ from thousands of readers every week – reaching over 32,276 people in June alone.
Reporting from across all the wards, Erdington Local’s current online readership figures show a projected reach of over 350,000 readers in its first 12 months. A further monthly print edition of the newspaper is planned for release in Autumn this year, with a copy issued to every resident in the constituency – from Stockland Green to Castle Vale.
Originally scheduled to go live in June/July this year, Erdington Local pushed forward its online content by several months to report on the coronavirus crisis.
Whilst other media titles were closing down or culling staff, Erdington Local established a hungry and hardworking news team – publishing articles that explored the affect of the COVID-19 pandemic from care homes to classrooms.
Now a member of the Erdington COVID-19 Taskforce, Erdington Local has been hosting the online address book and database of emergency support services since 7th May – as compiled by the Taskforce and the constituency’s strategic partners.
Offering vital links to food banks, financial services, education advice, housing organisations, and mental health and wellbeing support – the COVID-19 Local Support page alone has reached nearly 30,000 people across Erdington.
A partnership between Active Arts and Review Publishing, Erdington Local was set up to bring reliable local news back into the community.
With the major publishing houses relying more and more on syndicated news, Erdington Local prides itself on first hand reporting – shining a light on the issues that directly affect the lives of its readers, whilst challenging the attention grabbing ‘clickbait’ published by other news titles in Birmingham.
“We’ve had a huge response from people across Erdington,” tells Ed King – Erdington Local Editor-in-Chief, “with an immediate audience of almost 1000 people per day. It’s been an incredible welcome. But it also reflects the need for a reliable news source.
“Erdington Local is not going to hide from the more difficult stories, honesty and a tough skin are important in a newsroom. But our reporters live in Erdington, they grew up in Erdington. They know the hearts and souls of this community. And Erdington Local is here to represent this vibrant pocket of Birmingham – something that is long, long overdue from local media in the city.”
Claire Marshall, Project Director of Active Arts, adds: ““There has been so much that, until now, has gone unrecognised in Erdington – none of the major news outlets wanted to know.
“The chance to launch a newspaper, to provide a new voice to the people of Erdington, was an exciting opportunity. With Erdington Local we now have a prominent platform to celebrate all the achievements from this fantastic area of Birmingham.”
Erdington Local has been publishing stories online since 6th April, with plans to release its first monthly printed edition in October this year – circulating up to 25,000 tabloid sized titles across the constituency and beyond.
Both Active Arts and Review Publishing will be exploring further ‘Local’ titles in neighbouring areas, with plans to develop the newspaper brand across Birmingham in early 2021.
Erdington Local is proud to put local people at the heart of our stories – if you have something you want Erdington Local to know about, or if there is something you think our reporters should investigate, then get in touch.
To contact Erdington Local, click here for full details – or email the newsroom directly on [email protected]