Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this episode, Fergus and Tom talk to Micah Gelman and Lauren Saks from Local News International, the poster kids of the independent news brand universe. Founded mid-2025 when Dave Jorgenson, Lauren and Micah all left the Washington Post, LNI is a creator-led newsroom built on video, newsletters and direct audience relationships.

Gelman spent a decade as the Post's Head of Video, winning Pulitzers, Emmys, Murrows and Webbys; Saks, as Deputy Head of Video, built Washington Post Universe and its TikTok/YouTube operation. In just under a year, LNI has pulled in 375,000 YouTube subscribers and a “one-to-one relationship” with their 15,000 newsletter subscribers. Theirs is a two-pronged business: Jorgenson’s “artful, custom” daily video posts and the company’s work in helping other organisations to develop in-house talent and build a meaningful audience. Their big lesson? Being independent means you can’t ever stop - it's a non-stop push to move forward. Side quest - what’s the worst kind of slop? Find out within.

If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.

Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.

Produced by Rob Fitzpatrick

Edited by James Bullock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this episode, Fergus and Tom consider Australia’s Social Media Ban, toxic spaces, resourceful teenagers, the limits of parental guidance and the real impacts of a reduced news diet.

Social Media is the pathway to news, so how will these restrictions affect young people’s ability to access verifiable, quality news? How do you build a news brand without the big platforms? And even if you are a news geek, how do you get to want to be a journalist if you don’t really see journalists? To answer this question, Fergus also talks to Sue Brooks, the chair of the National Council for the Training of Journalists, who considers the seismic shifts in the news industry, how journalism has become "an elite sport", where the future leaders will come from and, crucially, who will pay for it.

If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.

Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.

Produced by Rob Fitzpatrick

Edited by James Bullock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Signal, hosted by Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard. In this extra episode, Fergus and Tom consider where audiences are heading, the repurposing of content, efficiency vs creativity and future-casting. Sidenote: is it jif or gif?

If you want to understand how the news is being created and distributed, how AI is - and can be - used in newsrooms, insights from media leaders and practical thinking on the future of journalism - as well as honest conversations about what’s working, and what isn’t - then subscribe and follow to stay close to The Signal.

Fergus and Tom will be here every week. Find The Signal on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.

Produced by Rob Fitzpatrick

Edited by James Bullock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.