We've launched, and we're on TV

A few weeks ago, Local News Port Talbot began uploading content to a news website for Port Talbot. It's at www.lnpt.org - please check it out and let us know what you think.

Over the coming months, we aim to establish ourselves as a news hub for Port Talbot, pointing readers to the best places to find Port Talbot news. We will also be providing exclusive content, and we aim to build on the amount of original content as the site grows.

We've had a great boost to our endeavour tonight; we featured in an ITV Wales documentary about the local news crisis in Port Talbot.

The programme makers wanted to know how a local community is affected by the closure of its local newspaper. They concluded that there is a serious threat to the voice of the people, their identity and even their mark in history.

You can read more about the issues here and the TV programme here.

Let us know what you think.

Hands up. Yes, it's been some time since we last updated our blog, and as blogs were invented just for the purpose of providing regular updates, we thought it might be time to rectify the situation.

Our blog may have lain idle since March, but rest assured, we have not. Local News South Wales has now spent more than twelve months making contacts, fundraising and planning the launch of a news service in Port Talbot.

Here are some of the headlines:
- We now have a website. We are putting the final touches to our plans, but the aim is to launch the news service early in the new year - 2011.

- We have made some great contacts. We held a public meeting in September, and were thrilled when so many people turned up to let us know how much a news service is needed and wanted in the area. We hope to work closely with members of the community when we start our website, and so this is a vital link in the chain.

- One of our Board Members, Rachel Poucher (aka Rachel Howells), has been selected to carry out a KESS-funded PhD researching the news provision in Port Talbot, and coming up with a sustainable business model. She started in October, and will be spending three years working with Cardiff University, the Media Standards Trust and Local News Port Talbot to try to bring something exciting to Port Talbot.

- We are planning a very exciting collaboration with the National Theatre of Wales' production of The Passion, coming to Port Talbot in Easter 2011 - more details on our website after the launch.

We are still looking for volunteers and contacts, and anyone can become a member of our co-operative, so if you'd like to get in touch, please email us at localnewsporttalbot@googlemail.com. If you have any comments or suggestions about the news service, please post them here.

We look forward to hearing from you - and we will blog again soon. Promise.

Getting started

Hello and welcome to Local News South Wales - a project taking a fresh approach to quality local journalism.

LNSW is a not-for-profit co-operative, which aims to provide local news coverage for areas of South Wales the traditional media doesn't or isn't able to cover. We don't intend to compete for business with existing news providers, or for the work of existing freelances - we're aiming to provide something new, exciting and additional.

Starting in Port Talbot, with premises secured and under a board of seven experienced journalists who have strong local connections, LNSW is on track to launch online and, it is hoped, in print.

Over the coming weeks, we'll be posting regular updates on our progress, so keep checking back for the latest.

If you'd like to know more now, or want to get involved, we'd love to hear from you. Leave us a comment, or email us on: