The Bristol Cable (England)

Summary

The Bristol Cable is a pioneering community media from Bristol (UK), organised as a cooperative which is owned by nearly 3,000 members. Since 2014 the Cable has been producing in-depth local journalism online and in a quarterly print edition.

The Bristol Cable’s mission has always been to democratise the media industry, facing a situation in the UK in which five large conglomerates have divided up the entire media landscape among themselves, right down to the local level.

The organisation as a cooperative, in which members not only make a financial contribution but also actively shape the company as shareholders, is regarded as an example of community journalism taken to its logical conclusion and has attracted worldwide attention in the media industry.

With the development of its own open source membership platform, The Bristol Cable has also set the tone for the media’s independence from large online platforms.

Name

The Bristol Cable

Website

https://thebristolcable.org/

Location / Location of coverage

Bristol, United Kingdom

Size of potential audience/ town region covered

472,000 population

Year they started publishing

2014

Language

English

Mission statement

Our four main principles are: creating Ethical Journalism and remaining Community Focused and, through that work, Holding Power to Account and Creating Change.

Founders

Alec Saelens, Adam Cantwell-Corn, Alon Aviram

Current management team

Board of directors which is staffed with 10 Cable members who were elected at the Annual General Meeting; Secretary of the Board: Elizabeth Mizon;

Team

Full-time employees: 7

Part-time employees: 3

Legal form of company

Cooperative / Registered Community Benefit Society, owned and supported by member-owners in Bristol

Tax status

non-profit

Main products

Website and quarterly print edition

Additional products

Podcast

Audience and community reach

Members: 2,500 - 3,000

Newsletter subscribers: ???

Social Media reach:

Facebook: 13,000 followers
Instagram: 4,000 followers
Twitter: 15,000 followers

Most important community engagement format

Callouts

Revenue streams

membership contributions (35%)
grants (60%)
non-corporate advertising (5%)

On the next pages you can read our in-depth portrait about The Bristol Cable. If you want to jump into a specific topic directly, here's the overview for you: