What we do
We support people to build healthier media ecosystems, through developing sustainable community-centred media.
What is community-centred media
Community-centred media is an approach to meeting communities’ needs for information and connection. It is different to traditional journalism through being deeply rooted in listening to and understanding the needs of communities, particularly marginalised groups, centring their voices and concerns, and ensuring the media reflects and serves them.
As well as focusing on listening and building strong relationships with communities, it often goes beyond this through co-creation and active participation. It ultimately aims to build community connection, resilience, and power to make positive change in their lives and communities.
Why we focus on it
Journalism is in need of a radical rethink. The decline of local media and the rise of misinformation has left communities increasingly uninformed, polarised, and disengaged. With traditional business models failing, the media is failing them. But when built around the needs of the people it serves, media can help those communities to thrive.
We believe in the power of media to inform and uplift communities. At its best, it is essential social infrastructure which informs citizens, unites communities, and drives change. Communities have the potential to reclaim power through storytelling, and shape their own narratives. When listened to, their voices can drive transformation in the places where they live.
The values, ethos, and practices needed to make that a reality are embodied in community-centred media. It recognises the social function and community value of media, and the importance of listening to, and involving communities in the process of helping them to be better informed, connected, and empowered.
We created Greater Community Media to drive the development of this approach. Through enabling individuals, organisations and communities to create and sustain community-centred media projects, we can nurture healthier information ecosystems, build stronger, more resilient communities, and empower them to drive positive change.
Our approach
We enable communities to develop 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.
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We can help individuals and organisations launch – and sustain – their own media projects.
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We can provide support to become more community centred.
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We can provide community reporter training to support to take a community-centred media approach to raise awareness, build empowerment and meet the information needs of the communities they support.
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We can provide training on community-centred journalism, and start-up support for those looking to launch their own projects.
Our Services
Consulting
We provide hands-on consulting for individuals and organisations looking to launch, develop, or refine community-centred media projects.
Our approach is designed around your needs, ensuring that the support we offer is both practical and strategic. Whether you need help designing your initiative, strengthening your strategy, or overcoming specific challenges, we bring expertise and capacity to guide you through the process.
This could be anything from community engagement and community needs research, to product strategies, business development, and impact measurement.
We start by understanding your goals and challenges, then work with you to create a clear plan that aligns with your vision. Our consulting process is collaborative, giving you the tools, knowledge, and frameworks to build a strong foundation while ensuring you have the support needed to put your ideas into action. Whether you require short-term input or longer-term strategic guidance, we help you move forward with confidence.
Coaching
We offer dedicated coaching and mentorship for individuals leading community-centred media projects, providing a space to reflect, problem-solve, and gain strategic clarity. Whether you’re at the early stages of developing an idea or working to sustain and scale an existing initiative, we’re here to support you.
Through coaching and mentoring, we make sure you’re not alone in navigating the questions, challenges, and opportunities that arise as you build your project. We act as a sounding board, offering fresh perspectives, practical advice, and encouragement to help you move forward with confidence.
These are one-on-one sessions designed around your needs and can be booked as a one-off consultation or as part of an ongoing support plan, with regular meetings such as fortnightly or monthly check-ins. Sessions take place online, making them accessible wherever you are.
Training & workshops
We deliver training and workshops designed to help develop your community-centred knowledge, practices and strategies. We can help you 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.
We cover topics such as community-centred journalism theory and practice, theory of change development, impact and evaluation development, value proposition development, and community reporting skills. We can design workshops around your team’s needs.
These can be single or multi-day workshops which 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.
How we can help you
We provide consulting, coaching, training and workshops, which we can combine and adapt based on your exact needs.
We prefer to co-design where possible to create an approach that takes into account your circumstances and tailors support to your needs.
We offer a range of options to suit different budgets.
Community information needs assessment
We can help you to evaluate the specific information needs of your community to ensure your media project addresses their priorities effectively.
Asset mapping
Taking a community development approach we help identify local strengths, resources, and opportunities to build a solid foundation for community-centred media projects that are appropriate to the context and circumstances.
Business model development
We can assist in designing a sustainable business model that align with your mission and puts the needs of your audience at its core. bringing our deep experience with reader revenue models and fundraising for values-driven journalism.
Theory of change and impact tracking
We can work with you to create a roadmap for achieving your goals and measuring the impact of your media project. We can also carry out impact assessments for you.
Audience & community research
We can conduct research into your audience or community to help you understand them better, and help you make use of the insights we uncover.
Membership programme development
We can help you develop your membership programme whether it’s a new idea or a well established programme. We support with all aspects of making a successful programme, from value proposition research and design, to communications strategies, conversion funnels, and engagement workflows.
Engagement workflows & practices
We can help you build processes for meaningfully engaging your community, from helping you design roles and build teams to designing projects and practices and helping you implement them in your organisation.
Community strategy
We can help you develop a new community strategy which allows you to more effectively involve and engage your community.
Community reporter training
We are experienced trainers and can provide training to community members to help develop journalistic skills needed to to produce high-quality, solution-focused content.
Coaching
We provide personalised coaching to build your confidence and leadership skills, helping you to realise the vision for your media project, and bring your team and community along with you. This can be accessed as one off, ongoing or ad hoc support.
Brand development & graphic design
We can help shape your brand identity to resonate with your community and genuinely reflect your mission.
We can also help you create compelling visuals and materials, and provide you with templates for print publications if required.
Ongoing support
We offer continued guidance to help your media project grow and adapt to changing needs and challenges with access to our workshops training and guidance;
Access to community of practice
We will also be building a community of practice around community-centred journalism to create peer learning networks, skill shares and support.
These are some of the ways we can support you, but we are of course open to other projects depending on what support you need.
If you’re interested in working with us, or have any questions about how we might be able to help, we’d love to hear from you.