You’ll often hear me complaining about the quality of local news websites, in particular my local Birmingham Mail. So I was pleased to discover that a new online title is launching next month, with a focus on “quality, not quantity”.
“The Dispatch” is hosted on Substack from where subscribers will receive articles via email.
“Delivered in newsletter format to the recipient’s email inbox, The Dispatch will offer three heavily researched pieces a week on local matters of political and cultural importance. In an epoch where so much local “news” takes the form of celebrity clickbait, salacious crime round-ups and video clips repurposed from social media, the new title is surely meeting a need.”
— Ian Burrell, columnist in the i paper and one of the country’s leading media commentators
I couldn’t agree more with what he says about ‘local news’!
Starting on November 1st, we will be publishing thoughtful, rigorous, independent journalism about this wonderful city and the West Midlands more generally.
You will find that The Dispatch is a new kind of local newspaper — focusing on quality rather than quantity and giving you the context you need to understand what is really going on without wading through any irritating pop-up ads or mindless articles about celebrities. We’re not trying to cover everything: every week we will pick a few stories about local politics, culture, business and social affiars that we think really matter and then dig into them properly.
All you need to do is join our free mailing list to start getting our news briefings, long reads and local recommendations in your inbox.
“The Dispatch is coming soon” – Birmingham Dispatch, 22nd October 2023
“The Dispatch” is the brainchild of Kate Knowles, a former Local Democracy Reporting Service reporter for the Birmingham Mail, who wanted to start writing more in-depth articles to try and ‘connect the dots’ regarding local issues, and was becoming frustrated with the direction that local news has taken.
I’m looking forward to receiving my first newsletters next week, and will see how it goes!
Any readers from Birmingham who are interested can find out more and subscribe for free at The Dispatch website.
