By John Baron
Local news reporting encourages people to take part in the democratic process. It fosters a sense of community and allows an exchange of ideas. It also creates a sense of pride and galvanises communities.
Here at WLD we proud to highlight local issues like the future of the TV Harrison ground in Wortley, the campaign to sort out the Newlay Weir eyesore, the fight to save Little Owls nurseries and last year’s battle to restore benches at Bramley Shopping Centre.
You can’t ignore that negative things happen in our communities like crime and anti-social behaviour – it’s simply not realistic to do so.
But we also like to highlight the positive things in West Leeds.
From sports coverage to business openings, community fundraisers, people’s achievements, a what’s on guide or writing about everyday heroes, publishers of local news champion the great and good on their pages too.
Indie News Week is a chance for us to share the importance of ‘good news’ to make good things happen. We’ve created a ‘positive news’ section, highlighting the good stuff that’s happening in our communities.
We’re running two events this week where you can come along and tell us your good news.
On Wednesday we are holding a fun and informal community quiz night at the Owl in Rodley (8pm start) – all welcome to attend, it’s free!
And on Thursday our community newsroom at Bramley Lawn Social Centre will be open 5-7pm where you can come and meet me over a cuppa for a chat about what’s happening in West Leeds, perhaps to tip us off about a story we should be covering. Or maybe you would like to get more involved as a volunteer at WLD?
More details of both events can be found here. We’d love to see you!
How to support genuine community led news
- Sign up for our daily email newsletter.
The days of a daily paper delivered to your door may be gone, but you can still have your daily dose of news delivered directly to your inbox every day at 7am.
No need to even get out of bed, just open your eyes, open your e-mails and there it is.
- Make a donation – become a WLD supporter and help secure our future.
If you like what we do, then we would love it if you could make a regular donation to support and help us continue our work. We ask for either £5 or £10 a month to support our work. You can also set up a standing order or make a one-off donation directly to us, simply e-mail accounts@westleedsdispatch.com for more details. Imagine what we could achieve with more resources!
In May WLD had almost 140,000 age impressions on our website and distributed 5,000 copies of our print edition, but we would love to be able to reach more people. Please share our links on your street’s WhatsApp group or on Facebook, help an older neighbour sign up for our daily e-mail, or give a friend a physical copy of WLD.
By far the best way to spread the word in West Leeds about your organisation or business is to become a Partner (like Farsley’s Sunny Bank Mills, see below)! Our partnerships come with amazing benefits for you and your business as well as offering you discounts on any further advertising/advertorials you would like.
Indie News Week – let’s keep local independent news rolling!
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