On Monday 28 September, newsrooms on every continent mark World News Day. Here's what it is, why a community-led, non-profit newsroom in Staffordshire has signed up, and what you can do to keep local news alive.
On Monday 28 September, more than a thousand newsrooms across every continent will say the same thing on the same day: facts matter, and so do the people who gather them. The Staffordshire Signal is officially one of them.
What's new: The Staffordshire Signal has registered as an official participant in World News Day 2026, the global campaign for fact-based journalism run by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
By the numbers: In 2025 the campaign brought together more than 1,000 news organisations in 108 countries and 17 languages. Disinformation is estimated to cost the world economy between 350 and 510 billion US dollars every year. Funding healthy public interest media would cost around 0.1% of global GDP, roughly 15 days of global military spending.
Why it matters: Every AI summary, every chatbot answer and every "news" post on your feed is built on reporting somebody had to do first. If local newsrooms disappear, so does the raw material. Staffordshire has a community-led, non-profit newsroom of its own. Whether it survives is up to the people it serves.
What is World News Day?
World News Day is a global awareness campaign, held every year on 28 September, to highlight the value of fact-based journalism. It is run by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers, and the World Editors Forum, alongside Project Kontinuum.
The idea is simple. On one day, newsrooms of every size, from national broadcasters to hyperlocal titles, put aside competition and speak with one voice about why reporting people can trust is worth defending. Editors publish op-eds, cartoonists draw, newsrooms show readers how the work is done, and the whole thing runs under one message:
Know the facts. Understand what matters. Choose trusted journalism. Because it's #YourRightToKnow.
In 2024, 800 publishers took part. In 2025 it was more than 1,000, across 108 countries. This year, for the first time, a small county newsroom in Staffordshire is on the list.
The film: AI cannot outlive the journalism it feeds on
The short film above was made for this year's campaign, and it's worth three minutes of your time.
A year ago, 11 leading economists sounded the alarm, urging governments to invest in public interest journalism in the age of AI. Their argument was that every part of society, from the economy to health, education and defence, depends on the production of factual, robust information. Twelve months on, AI is faster and more sophisticated, and it can spread misinformation at a scale nobody has dealt with before. At the same time, journalism is in a worsening financial crisis almost everywhere.
The film sets out two roads. On the first, newsrooms keep closing, nobody is left on the ground to report the flood as it happens or uncover the next scandal, and the gap is filled by private interests, authoritarian states and AI-generated content. On the second, reliable journalism does what the evidence already shows it does: stabilises markets, exposes fraud, uncovers corruption, and saves lives in a crisis.
The line that stuck with us is the title. AI cannot outlive the journalism it feeds on. Every automated summary of your town is built on a real person sitting through a council meeting, reading a planning file, knocking on a door and checking the facts. Take that away and the machines have nothing left to learn from except each other.
Why a Staffordshire newsroom is part of a global campaign
Because the problem in that film is not abstract here. It is the reason The Staffordshire Signal exists.
Most local news in Britain is owned by a handful of large companies headquartered a long way from the places they cover. Titles have been merged, offices closed, reporters cut, and what's left has to chase clicks to survive. The result is a county where good things happen every day and hardly anyone hears about them until afterwards, if at all.
We set up The Staffordshire Signal in 2025 to do it differently, and the difference is structural rather than a slogan:
- Community-led. Readers send us the tips, the events and the people worth writing about. Our What's On calendar is filled by the community. Our MP's Voice column gives elected representatives a platform to speak directly to constituents, and our readers hold them to it.
- Non-profit. We are a community interest company. There are no shareholders and no dividends. Every pound that comes in from readers and local businesses goes back into telling Staffordshire's stories.
- Regulated and accountable. We are a member of IMPRESS, the independent press regulator. Every story is fact-checked by real people, and if we get something wrong there is a proper complaints procedure and a corrections page.
- Free to read. Local news on this website, a monthly print magazine you can pick up around the county, The Staffordshire Signal Weekly email newspaper every Wednesday, and Signal TV. No paywall between you and your county.
- Training the next generation. T Level media students from the City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College are already filming, editing and interviewing with us, and our first Signal TV documentary, on the miners of Foxfield Colliery, is nearly ready. Journalism only carries on if somebody teaches it.
World News Day asks newsrooms to show readers what goes into the work and why it's worth defending. That's a question we're happy to be asked, because the answer is the whole point of us.
How to support local news in Staffordshire, and why it makes a difference
Here's the honest bit. A newsroom like this runs on very little, and every one of the things below is something we've built without a corporate owner behind it. None of them costs you more than a few minutes, and most cost nothing at all.
1. Subscribe to The Staffordshire Signal Weekly. It's free, it arrives every Wednesday, and it's the single most useful thing you can do. Every subscriber is a reader we can reach directly, without an algorithm deciding whether you see us. Sign up here.
2. Become a Signal Supporter. For £2 a month you get the weekly, the digital magazine, first look at Signal TV films and a say in what we cover. More importantly, it's a regular, predictable income that pays for reporting rather than adverts. Join here.
3. Support us through the crowdfunder. Our Crowdfunder is still open in "always on" mode. Anything you give goes towards expanding Signal TV, building the Signal app and podcast, and equipment for the students and volunteers who work with us. Donate here.
4. Play the community lottery. Half of every ticket bought through our page on the Staffordshire Moorlands Community Lottery comes straight to the Signal, and you might win something. Play here.
5. If you run a business, advertise with a newsroom rather than a tech giant. Our magazine, website, Signal Weekly and Signal TV reach readers who actively want to support local businesses and struggle to find them. Every advert keeps a local reporter reporting. Find out more.
6. Send us a story. Something happening in your town that nobody is covering? An event, a person, a decision that affects your street? Tell us. That is what community-led actually means.
7. Pick up the magazine, and pass it on. It's free in venues across the county. Read it, leave it in the staff room, give it to a neighbour.
8. Share this article. The simplest one of all. If you think your county deserves its own newsroom, tell someone.
Local news should belong to the people it's about
Ours does. On Monday we'll stand with newsrooms in 100 countries and say so out loud. The rest of the year, we'll be here doing the work.
Know the facts. Understand what matters. Choose trusted journalism. Because it's #YourRightToKnow.
The Staffordshire Signal is an official participant in World News Day 2026. Find out more at worldnewsday.org.
Support local journalism
Help us grow the Signal
Every tip goes towards expanding what we cover, more reporters, more events, more of Staffordshire's stories told properly. If this was worth reading, help us do more of it.
Every contribution supports reporting, photography, and storytelling across the county.
Join The Staffordshire Signal on WhatsApp
Never miss a single breaking update, local news story, community event, or deep dive. See everything happening in Staffordshire first, straight to your phone!
Get Instant Updates
M6toll Proudly Supports Birmingham Dogs Home with New Enrichment Paddocks
Fulford Primary School pupils praised for kindness and community spirit in Ofsted report
VisitEngland Advisory Board Applauds Staffordshire's £2.84 Billion Visitor Economy and Growing National Profile
Man fined £500 after woman saw him fly-tipping in Stafford Borough village
Castle Classics adds People’s Choice award and new prizes for October car show
