"In today’s climate, we see the larger titles centralising their resources more and more,” Emma Meese, Project Lead for Value My News, explains, “so the fact that we have the equivalent of patch reporters across the UK makes our service even more valuable than we first realised.” The Value My News project, from a collaboration between Cardiff University, the University of Central Lancashire and Omni Digital, built Ping! as the first product in a suite of tools to help hyperlocal journalists monetise their work.

Ping! allows national and regional news media to access its database of content provided by the Independent Community News Network (ICNN), a network of 125 UK hyperlocal news websites through the sale of licenses. These can be purchased for access to all stories or just a particular topic eg, health, or a specific geography. The news providers will receive a share of the licence fees weighted to their specific contribution.

Currently the team is working with the UK’s largest regional and national publisher, Reach, to ensure the service develops in the way that’s most useful to all parties. They are also in talks with the major broadcasters and plan to roll out several add-on services during 2021 including the ability for national news providers to commission original work from the network.