This report showcases the findings from research conducted for the Future News Pilot Fund.

This report explores the news, media and journalism landscape using multiple datasets.

Key findings:

• Journalism-related employment in the UK is very geographically concentrated. Despite a notable decline in the past decade, newspaper publishing remains the largest employer in the sector (in absolute numbers).
• News and journalism make up a small fraction of nonprofit activity in the UK (less than 1 per cent), and although projects and initiatives are spread throughout the UK, London remains a hub of activity.
• Academic research on misinformation and disinformation has grown in both scale and scope since 2016 when the focus shifted from medicine towards politics, internet privacy, and fake news.
• A small but growing number of public interest news companies are adopting emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain.
• Relative to other countries, the UK is under-specialised in ‘inclusive news’ (news relating to underserved or marginalised groups).
• The analysis showed gaps in the data. More work is needed to collect and make available robust data on the news, media and journalism landscape within the UK.
• More research is needed to understand what these trends mean for democracy and for the strength of institutions.