What communities actually need from journalism: lessons from Wales
What do people and communities actually need from journalism? New research in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, using theatre techniques and creative writing to go deeper than a traditional focus group, suggests the answer runs counter to much of the industry's received wisdom.
"How can we save journalism?" is the question the industry keeps asking. Newyddion i Bawb (News for All in Welsh) asked a different one. Through deep community listening and creative facilitation, it surfaced more open, honest insights than conventional research methods could, and the shared honesty built connection and understanding within the group and across the wider community. When trust is the existential challenge facing journalism, this approach is transformational.
What people said from that place of honesty cuts against many of the orthodoxies about what struggling communities want from media and from each other. The problem, they said, is not too little information but too much.
The project, led by Shirish Kulkarni of Media Cymru with support from AHRC Creative Communities, builds on the earlier News for All work in Cardiff, which had global reach and impact. That project took place in an urban, multicultural setting. Newyddion i Bawb took the same methodology to Blaenau Ffestiniog, a rural, white, Welsh-speaking community in North Wales. The two places could hardly be more different, yet people in both described strikingly similar experiences of where journalism has let them down and where it could do better.
It was delivered in partnership with the Welsh Government, S4C (the Welsh language public broadcaster) and a range of community groups, with the aim of opening the way for change in both policy and practice.
What the research found:
- The core problem is too much information, not too little. People want more connection, not more content.
- AI is seen as part of the problem, not the solution. People are already drowning in information, and nobody is asking for more, cheaper content.
- What people keep asking for is processing space: places where they can make sense of things together and work out who and what to trust. They want journalists to be facilitators, not gatekeepers.
- These spaces point beyond a narrow definition of journalism, towards bigger questions about democracy and social cohesion. Almost every participant said they felt both more willing and more able to take part in civic and democratic life as a result of being involved.
- Creative facilitation works. Theatre techniques and creative writing surfaced more open, honest and useful insights than a traditional focus group could. That shared honesty also built deeper connection and understanding, both within the group and across the wider community.
Read and listen!
The case study, policy paper and podcast set out the findings in full.
