Celebrating The Ink - a new beginning for journalism in Swindon

Dozens of Swindon's most influential people gathered to hear about a watershed moment in the history of local news reporting as The Ink held its official launch on Monday evening at Swindon’s Pick-Up Point.

Figures from the worlds of business, charity, politics, the arts, culture and heritage were invited to Old Town restaurant Pick Up Point to hear about something fresh and new which represents a new dawn in Swindon journalism.

More importantly, it represents not just a pledge to make reporting better but a pledge to make the community proudly served by that reporting a better place for all.

As a reader, you are part of that new dawn right at this moment.

The Ink has set itself the task of providing the high quality journalism a superb town deserves. When you read an Ink story about an issue affecting your community, you can be certain that the person who wrote it is a fellow member of your community.

There will be no advertising, no clickbait, no stories without any relevance to Swindon produced by people hundreds of miles away who couldn't point to the town on a map, no lists of dreary nonsense accompanied by the message that number seven will amaze you.

What there will be are stories which are honest, measured, fearless, utterly without any form of political or other bias and completely concerned with things you care about.

We shall demand that those in a position to change things in this town for the better do so - and we shall hold ourselves to the same standard.

As editor Jamie Hill noted in his speech at the official launch, local news coverage in Swindon, like local news coverage throughout the country, has suffered in recent years 

He said: "Local newspapers just did not know how to deal with the rise of digital. The rise of the internet. And now, although they still have their place, the local newspaper industry is a shadow of its former self.

"In a lot of cases they’ve been forced to move out of their central locations to an anonymous industrial estate, editors now edit four or five other publications, and the number of actual journalists have been slashed to a fraction of the number that were there when I joined the industry in the late 90s.

"And now these local newspapers survive on clickbait national stories from a central source with each of those irrelevant stories to the local populace eroding the public’s trust with the newspaper."

The Ink is something different entirely, an ambitious and exciting new journalism project for the town.

It’s a paid-for news subscription service where curated news is sent directly to your inbox. It’s something new that has never been done before in Swindon.

Jamie said: "I am passionate about journalism. And so is everyone who works with me.

"The main job of journalism is to inform. To let you know what is happening. To hold those in power to account. To analyse. And to raise awareness of issues.

"Though it may be interesting or even entertaining, the foremost value of news is as a utility to empower the informed. The purpose of journalism is thus to provide people with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments."

Jamie also heads the team at Swindon Link, which for the best part of half a century has held a special place in the heart of Swindon. It provides micro-community news that is important, and joins the fabric of disparate new neighbourhoods throughout the town.

However, as a monthly printed magazine, it can only do so much under constraints including limited space and the inability to break major stories as they happen.

The Link team are proud of their work and want to see the magazine thrive for decades to come, but Swindon needs something more.

Something like The Ink.

Every person who signs up for the paid-for subscription service will enable us to take on more reporters and to make journalism in Swindon better.

It costs £5.99 a month. Which is about £1.50 a week.

There is a free version every Friday but if you only sign up to that you will definitely be missing out. 

For that £1.50 a week, you will get 12 curated news bulletins a month sent directly to your email. That’s three a week. They will come to you on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 3pm like clockwork.

Apart from simply news in association with Swindon Link, you will get analysis, a look under the bonnet of what makes Swindon tick, as well as columnists that will make you think, laugh and cry. 

We have Tyler Ody, whose column The Autistic Journalist informs and breaks down barriers.

We also have a weekly cultural round-up on a Friday written by Jessica Durston.

You will also get exclusive looks at The Link magazine archive. There’s 45 years of history just sitting there waiting for you to discover.

You will also be a member of a community. You will be able to interact directly with us and we will be holding quarterly exclusive members events where we will have different speakers at each one talking to you about stuff that really matters to Swindon. 

And it will grow and grow. One series of articles we want to introduce, Your Swindon, will ask members of the town’s community to talk about the good and the bad of Swindon and what it means to them.

The idea of The Ink is to put together proper insightful, investigative pieces about Swindon. Looking at the issues. From the dark side of our borough to the light.

We really want to make a difference in Swindon. We want to put a spotlight on the good but also bring the bad out of the shadows, as it is only when we are properly informed that we can make a real change.

As the editor said: "Swindon is a great town. It has so much potential. It has a rich culture and an amazing heritage that should be celebrated and protected.

"But it also needs to change. As a town that is something that we all desperately need. We have such a great community here. 

"The Ink is about championing all of you."

To subscribe to The Ink click here