GREATER COMMUNITY MEDIA
WHEN COMMUNITIES ARE
INFORMED & CONNECTED
GOOD THINGS HAPPEN
We are a team of community media pioneers, dedicated to supporting the development of community-centred media
Our approach
Community-centred media is a fundamental shift from a top-down, extractive model for journalism to an approach centred around deep, inclusive listening, and building relationships and trust.
We enable communities to build and sustain healthy media ecosystems that are built on care, understanding, and meeting community needs.
Recognising the need for a community response to community challenges, we collaborate with a broad range of partners: from community groups and values-driven entrepreneurs, to nonprofits and charitable organisations.
Our approach has three main strands – all with a strong focus on capacity building:
Supporting communities to launch – and sustain – their own media projects.
Supporting existing media organisations to be more community-centred.
Supporting non-media organisations to take a community-centred media approaches to meeting the information needs of the communities they want to support.
How we can help you
Consultancy
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We provide dedicated advice and support for individuals leading the development of community-centred media projects. Through coaching and mentoring we make sure you’re not alone in navigating the questions, challenges and opportunities which come up as you implement your project.
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You want to launch or develop a project, but want to bring in our expertise and capacity to help design or deliver it.
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We will create a plan built around your needs.
Coaching
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We provide dedicated advice and support for individuals leading the development of community-centred media projects. Through coaching and mentoring we make sure you’re not alone in navigating the questions, challenges and opportunities which come up as you implement your project.
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You’re leading the development of a community-driven media project and want ongoing advice and support.
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Regular video calls, for example fortnightly, or monthly.
Training & workshops
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We deliver training and workshops designed to develop your community-centred knowledge, practices and strategies. We cover topics from community-centred journalism theory and practice, theory of change development, impact and evaluation , value proposition development, and community reporting skills.
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You want to carve out time and space for your team to learn and develop, with the support of a facilitator to guide you through a process or training.
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Single or multi-day workshops can be delivered online or in-person, with the option of follow-up support for practical implementation. We also provide some longer training programmes such as 10-week Community Reporter Training.
Who we are
Rhiannon Davies
Rhiannon is the founder of the multi-award winning Greater Govanhill magazine, co-founder of The Community Newsroom in Glasgow and founder of The Scottish Beacon local news collaborative that brings together 24 publications across Scotland.
She has a BA(Hons) in Humanities, an MSc in Journalism, Media and Communications as well as a PG Diploma in Journalism Innovation and Leadership. She was a member of the Scottish Government public interest journalism working group and is on the Women in Journalism Scotland committee.
Awards she has won include: Regional Magazine of the Year' - News Awards UK 2021; 'One to Watch' - Social Enterprise Scotland Awards 2021; Launch of the Year' - PPA Scotland Awards 2021; 'Local News' - Scottish Refugee Festival Media Awards 2022; 'Editor of the Year - Highly Commended' - PPA Scotland Awards 2022; ‘Culture: Changemaker’ - Big Issue 2023; 'Georgina Henry Award' - British Journalism Awards 2023; ‘Reporting Communities’ - Regional Press Awards 2024; ‘Best Limited Series’ - Publisher Podcast Awards 2024.
Lucas Batt
Lucas is an independent media consultant with over nine years experience developing and supporting trailblazing independent media projects. He was a founding paid staff member of the Bristol Cable, a community-owned investigative newspaper, where he led on membership, fundraising and HR. He has since worked with dozens of independent public interest media publishers across Europe to develop sustainable organisations which meet community needs. He has delivered workshops and presentations from Berlin to Budapest.
He has received training on product development for small newsrooms from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at City University New York, he has a BA(Hons) in Philosophy from Bristol University, and is a Director of grassroots community project the Stokes Croft Land Trust.
As part of the Bristol Cable, awards he has won include: ‘ICNN Independent Community Newspaper of the Year - Highly Commended’ - The Newspaper Awards 2023; ‘Local outlet of the year’ - Independent Media Awards 2022; ‘Most innovative print publication’ - Independent Media Awards 2022; ‘Best Local/Regional News Site, Highly Commended’ - Drum Online Media Awards 2017; ‘Top 100 Changemakers’ (The Bristol Cable) - Big Issue 2019.