A Semi-Automated Directory System for the UK Local News Landscape: Supporting Policy and Research

The UK local news landscape faces significant challenges, with declines in outlets, staffing, and relevance due to market pressures, digital disruption, and media consolidation. This crisis is compounded by the lack of a comprehensive, up-to-date directory of local news outlets, hindering research and policy interventions. Existing directories are often incomplete, outdated, and fail to capture the diversity of the local media landscape. To address this, the Public Interest News Foundation (PINF) has developed a semi-automated system leveraging open-source intelligence (OSINT) and computational workflows to maintain a comprehensive and current directory of local news outlets across print, digital, radio, and television in the UK. This system tracks closures, launches, ownership changes, and geographic coverage. Notable events are flagged for manual review. This research and review pipeline, combining computational analysis with human review, significantly reduces manual labor while enhancing data accuracy. Overall, the system offers a model for future initiatives aimed at tracking the health of local news ecosystems. The implications of this system for media pluralism, policy interventions, and the sustainability of local journalism are discussed, alongside suggestions for future research.