Summary

The number of local newspaper offices in Sweden is declining, leading to an increasing number of people in rural areas feeling that their life and everyday surroundings are not covered by the media. Kristianstadsbladet wanted to change this centralising trend in news reporting, and decided to engage locals from villages outside the city.

The project has engaged, trained and organised a large number of ‘local correspondents’ who with the guidance of the project leader write articles about their neighbourhood.

Results

Local correspondents have published 300 articles (totalling around 100 pages) from the areas outside the main city. Some were published online while and others in the print-form of the newspaper.

The office’s network for receiving news tips has broadened.

The newspaper now reaches out to readers that previously they didn’t engage. The initiative has highlighted readers’ interest in stories about their villages.