Local News With Your Listicles? The Future of BuzzFeed UK

BuzzFeed UK’s explosive expansion continues.

Job ads for 14 new editorial posts have gone up. Four of those posts are for “regional beat reporters” to cover the north of England, Scotland and Wales.

It’s the first time BuzzFeed has hired outside of London and shows the intention of new Editor-in-chief Janine Gibson – newly arrived from The Guardian – to compete toe-to-toe with the regional Press. 

The job ad blurb states “the reporters must be deeply embedded in their areas with a strong understanding of the different communities who live there”.

It’s a sign of things to come – yes, BuzzFeed still loves a listicle but now it’s also increasingly about  hard news gathered by reporters on the ground – and how long before they’re in every town?   

The new hires will bring the total of BuzzFeed UK editorial staff to 65 with most in news.  It’s a huge jump from the three editorial staff it began with in London just two years ago.

The rapid expansion of BuzzFeed UK is in marked contrast to the shrinking regional paper industry in Britain which has seen around 5,000 people axed over the past decade according to the BBC’s Future of News report.

That same report also claimed that the move of five Johnston Press titles from daily to weekly publication in 2012 was proof local journalism had become “one of the biggest market failures in the last decade”.

 For regional papers across the UK, BuzzFeed’s move onto their turf signals yet more competition in an already incredibly tough market. In particular, BuzzFeed’s unrivalled traction with younger readersmeans the next generation ofeyeballs might sidestep the online output of local news outlets completely.

And with BBC News facing Government wing-clipping – particularly in its local online news offering – the time is ripe for BuzzFeed to expand unfettered into the regional news market.