Local News Accelerator Programme

The International Press Institute (IPI) is excited to open its global call to the newest edition of its Local News Accelerator to help local media organisations take meaningful steps toward financial and editorial sustainability.

The local news accelerator programme is open to local media organisations from around the world, as long as your target audience is a specific community, locality or niche serving users with high quality independent journalism.

What you will receive as a local news accelerator participant?

• Successful applicants will take part in a programme of intensive training, personalised advisory services to test and build an editorial or business product or service, and group coaching, speaker sessions, networking and access to an e-learning platform.
• The curriculum has been designed by IPI’s media innovation and sustainability team based on the extensive work with local and regional media. It will cover topics such as identifying and realising revenue opportunities, learning from and building news products with your audience, what you need in your tech stack for a sustainable, engagement-first media business and how to pitch your media to partners, funders and donors, and more.
• Training will be delivered by IPI’s in-house experts and weekly training and speakers who are currently working in pioneering local newsrooms around the world. You can expect to learn from people with a deep understanding and direct experience of the challenges facing local media.
• By joining the accelerator, you will also be part of a global cohort of newsrooms pursuing similar goals, as well as an active community of practice with alumni from IPI’s innovation support activities.

Application guidelines

For more information about this opportunity and to apply, please click here. The deadline for applications is 7 July, 2024.