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James Harding: BBC wants to work with regional press to ‘drive the revival of local journalism’

By William Turvill

BBC director of news and current affairs James Harding (pictured) wants the corporation to help “drive the revival of local journalism”.

Speaking at the Revival of Local Journalism conference in Media City, Salford, Harding described job losses and economic pressures in the sector as “calamitous”. But he added that “pessimism around local journalism is overdone” because the public retains a strong interest.

He said that the regional press should blame Facebook, Google, Zoopla and Gumtree for commercial problems, with classified and local advertising business hit, and added: “To my mind, the squabbles in recent years between the local press and the BBC are getting us all nowhere. We have looked like a circular firing squad.”

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