Calls for Knighton residents' views on traffic enforcement
Plus: Covid-19 Public Inquiry finds that UK was 'failed' by government’s Covid response that saw Leicester locked down the longest.
The Great Central Gazette is an independent, not-for-profit newspaper in Leicester, written by and for local people.
The Gazette was launched in March 2023 by a team of local journalists to give Leicester a different kind of news coverage. We were fed up with the way local journalism was in our city, so decided to do something about it.
We believe in the power of good quality reporting over chasing clicks and advertising revenue — in fact, we're funded by readers like you. We set up as a co-operative, a type of business model that has no big shareholders or billionaire backers. Instead, people who can afford to support our work join for £2 per month and in return, they become co-owners of the newspaper. This allows members to steer the paper's editorial direction, vote at the annual general meeting (AGM) and elect the board of directors.
Alongside our hard-hitting investigative journalism and solutions-focused approach, we publish a weekly newsletter — Inside Leicester. Our free mailing list delivers fascinating local stories and great recommendations to your email inbox every Monday at 6am.
We also support and mentor people of all ages to be active citizens in today's world. We do that through workshops and events that teach people valuable media skills. Not only that, but we also take on interns and offer work experience to train the next generation of local journalists to the highest standards.
"The Gazette's co-operative, not-for-profit model is breaking new ground and working to fill the gap left by the decline of traditional media" – Nick Carter, ex-Leicester Mercury editor
The Gazette is made free by members. We publish original, high-quality journalism on our website every week, plus the free weekly newsletter on Monday. Gazette members get an extra newsletter on the first Tuesday of the month — and the top section is free to read on our website.
Members pay anything from £2 per month (or £21.60 if they subscribe for a year) and can take part in important decision-making and vote for the board of directors. Members also get access to commenting and can join our member-only WhatsApp group. Many contribute to our reporting through callouts and support our growth beyond paying the monthly member contribution.
We're a small, volunteer team with a shoestring budget. Most of our funding comes from membership contributions and grants. A tiny amount comes from newsletter sponsorships, website services, donations and our modest shop.
We're excited about where we're going — and we want to be more than just a publisher of local journalism. A great example of this is our events calendar, where anyone can submit an event or explore what's going on in the city, for free.
A question we're so often asked is: why just Leicester and not Leicestershire too? It's simple, really — we wanted to start small. There's only three volunteer staff members, working the hours we can spare. In the near future, we hope to launch into the county and bring high-quality journalism to everyone living in the region. After all, we're called the “Great Central” Gazette, a reference to the heritage railway line that runs between Leicester and Loughborough.
Our editor is Emma Guy, who is both a brilliant writer (read her compelling story on the family who endured seven years of abuse inside their own home) and a dedicated media trainer. Emma works across editorial but also teaches our interns and those on work experience the ropes. She edits our free weekly newsletter, Inside Leicester.
Rhys Everquill is our community lead, who works across fundraising, community engagement, daily operations and some editorial work too. His career as a journalist, writer, and community organiser has seen him publish exposés in Private Eye and work for organisations like Hacked Off, the Independent Media Association, and the Public Interest News Foundation. His incredible interview with Leicester's mayor was one of the first pieces we published when we launched.
Heading up communications is Megan Lupton, who is currently doing a PhD in podcast ethics, if you can believe! She has written some fantastic and creative features, including one on the long-forgotten suffragette Lilian Lenton. She makes sure our work has an impact in Leicester and beyond by taking charge of social media, media relations, graphic design and marketing.
We are joined by local democracy reporters Hannah Richardson, Tess Rushin, and Julia Breens who cover Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council, and the district and borough councils for the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a BBC-funded scheme.
And of course, we are supported by a network of talented freelancers, the board of directors, volunteers, interns and those on work experience.
Journalism is vital to our democracy. And we believe it should be free and accessible to everyone. That's why we do not have a hard paywall on our sit or clutter our articles with advertising that has nothing to do with our community.
By relying on membership contributions from individuals to cover the costs of journalism, our newsroom is constantly reminded of whom it ultimately serves: YOU, the reader.
Fascinating local stories and great recommendations to your email inbox every Monday at 6am.