Mill Media
Newsletter-based local news publisher Mill Media has received a £100,000 boost from the Postcode Lottery which will fund 1,150 subscriptions for people aged 16-25.
Since launching in Manchester in 2020, some 200,000 people have now registered to receive Mill Media’s email newsletters while 15,000 people pay for full access to its titles.
It now employs 25 journalists across the The Manchester Mill , Sheffield Tribune , The Post in Liverpool, Birmingham Dispatch , Glasgow Bell , The Exchange in Leeds and The Londoner .
David Miller, communications director at Postcode Lottery Group, said: “Strong communities need strong journalism. People should be able to understand what is happening where they live and have access to information they know they can trust. That’s particularly important for young people at a time when misinformation can travel incredibly quickly and AI is changing the information landscape.
“Postcode Lottery has a long history of supporting organisations and initiatives around the world that strengthen independent media, advance media freedom and improve access to accurate information.
“Mill Media stood out because its model puts local communities at the heart of its journalism. It started with a belief that people still value properly reported local news and its growth from one publication in Manchester to six more across the country shows there is a real appetite for it.
“We want more young people to experience quality local journalism, but we recognise that paying for a news subscription may not be a priority when you’re 16 or 20. This partnership gives more than a thousand young people the opportunity to discover its value and, we hope, develop a relationship with trusted journalism that lasts well beyond the year.”
Joshi Herrmann, editor-in-chief of Mill Media, said: “We know that great reporting brings a community together. And we know that young people care about what’s happening where they live. But many can’t afford a news subscription.
“That’s why we’re so excited to partner with Postcode Lottery to put our deeply reported journalism into their hands, helping them build a news reading habit to last a lifetime. Who knows? Some of these young readers might become the great journalists of the next generation.”
Postcode Lottery said it has a wider commitment to supporting independent journalism, media freedom and access to reliable information as part of its work to strengthen civil society.
More than £20m in funding raised by Postcode Lottery players has been used to support a free and independent press over the last 20 years in the UK. This includes £6.5m to the Thomson Reuters Foundation and £400,000 to BBC Media Action.
Postcode Lottery is sponsoring this year’s British Journalism Awards for the second year running, supporting the News Provider of the Year prize.
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