Rachel Hamada & Vicky Gayle, The Bureau Local, on getting out of the newsroom

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The wheels of the news industry never quite stop spinning, or do they? What happens when a newsroom stops its production line and instead gets out into the community to talk to local people. 

That's what this week's podcast delves into with a spotlight on The Bureau Local's new Local Week project. Bureau Local, part of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, is known for having reporters spread out across the UK, in Portsmouth, Brighton, Manchester, Birmingham, Scotland and so on.

As part of their Local Week the publication sent seven of its reporters across the UK out into their local communities to engage with grassroots groups and everyday people with one theme in mind: the cost of living crisis. There was no pressure to file stories, just a clear mandate to gather insights on the impacts that are being felt and what work is being done to counter the crisis.

The idea for Local Week came after reflecting on how isolating times have been during the pandemic. Reporters stuck inside their own homes have become detached from their local communities, and as a result are losing the habit of getting out on their patch.

Polarisation politically and socially more generally seems to be on the rise and ways to tackle it are important for journalism, as one of our interviewees, Vicky Gayle, discussed in a panel on the topic during the Newsrewired conference in May.

In this week's podcast, we speak to two of the Bureau Local reporters Vicky and Rachel Hamada. They’ll share with us their advice on how to talk to your audience and communities with an open mind and the good it will do to your news coverage.

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