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Owner Martin Childs on why his title, Shropshire Live, chose to be independently regulated.

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This interview is part of a series featured in Hacked Off's new report:

Ten Years of Press Freedom.

Ten years after the phone hacking scandal there has been a revolution in Britain's media landscape, with the creation of the first ever independent press regulator IMPRESS - which is now even more popular than the national press' industry-controlled complaints-handler, IPSO. Despite attacks from Government and the national press, the Leveson system of independent regulation is thriving.

This report, with research and interviews with journalists, investigates the media standards revolution, and the pioneering publishers leading the way.

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[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Shropshire Live, a local news platform based in Shropshire, was launched by Martin Childs and his business partner Chris Pritchard in 2009. Having previously worked in local radio, and seeing the impact of local programming becoming networked, Martin wanted to provide an alternative source of news for his community - other than the well-established local newspaper.

Martin says,

“The internet was becoming the new source for information, and we wanted to create something that was truly local and independent, that covered not just local news but all things of interest to the local community.”

However, setting up an alternative platform to legacy media also comes with responsibilities, as Martin explains.

He says,

“With the public being bombarded with information, it is imperative that the source is legitimate, trustworthy and follows the guidelines of good journalism and is accountable for its actions”.

“Trusted and local news is so important and so being a member of IMPRESS is important to us and gives our readers confidence in our content.

Martin says they were encouraged to join because of the true independence of the regulator and its ‘ethos to help smaller publishers’.

“The team at IMPRESS have been extremely helpful to us on our journey, and being regulated keeps us focused on our standards at the highest possible level, but with the reassurance that we have a professional body at hand if required.

"[IMPRESS] were able to understand our position as a smaller publisher and offered valued support with access to resources, training and keeping the process of being regulated straightforward.”

Martin adds,

“I think when you live in the community you serve, you want to make sure that you are supplying quality content and trustworthy news. We are not a faceless corporate media empire – we are here to provide a service that we hope the community appreciates.

"And having a formal complaints policy and procedure in place is not only important for the publisher, but also for the public too.”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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