The Bristol Cable

The Bristol Cable is an independent media company in Bristol, UK, founded in 2014.[1] It provides local news through independent investigative journalism,[2] in a quarterly print publication and website, both free.[3][4] The Bristol Cable is a cooperative, owned by its members, who pay a monthly fee.[4] The publication has a print run of 30,000 copies,[3] distributed throughout the city.[5]

As of December 2017 the co-op cost £1 per month to join, had 1,900 members who contributed on average £2.70 per month; and had six full-time staff.[4] Membership provides a means of funding the newspaper and gives members a say in strategic decisions about the co-op.[6]

The Bristol Cable was founded by Alec Saelens, Adam Cantwell-Corn and Alon Aviram.[4][5] It is part of the Global Investigative Journalism Network.

Stories broken by The Bristol Cable

The Bristol Cable has broken stories on workplace abuses in the catering sector (October 2014);[1] Bristol University's holdings in fossil fuels, which was used by people campaigning for its divestment and prompted a change by the University (June 2015);[1][5][7] ownership of property in the city by offshore companies based in tax havens (January 2016 and January 2018);[1] the Mayor and senior council officials hiding the potential for deep well fracking from councillors and the public, to prevent disruption to the sale of Bristol Port land (May 2016);[1][8] the use by local police of mass surveillance devices, known as IMSI-catchers or Stingray phone trackers, that eavesdrop on mobile phone and other devices,[9] which became a national news story (October 2016);[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] local companies' links to the arms trade (February 2017);[1] poor working conditions (March 2017);[17] racial bias in Immigration Enforcement officers' stop and checks of people on the street they suspect of immigration offences (October 2017, with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism);[18][19] and the small share of new property developments given over to affordable housing, in comparison with the official policy of Bristol City Council (March 2018).[5][7][20]

Other funding sources

To set up, produce its first issue, and launch citizen journalism workshops, it raised £3,300 in a crowdfunding campaign, was given £1,500 by Co-operatives UK and £1,600 by Lush.[6] In 2017 it received a grant of £40,000 from the Reva and David Logan Foundation to expand its capacity in the local community.[4][5] In 2018 it received a grant of £100,000 a year for two years from the Omidyar Network.[21]

References
  1. "The Bristol Cable: A community-run newspaper holding power to account". Huck Magazine. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  2. Harris, John (5 November 2015). "The Bristol conundrum: 'Gentrification is a danger – and if you're poor, you're really, really stretched'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-19 – via www.theguardian.com.
  3. "Journalism in the digital era: New thinking about communities and business". BBC. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  4. "Bristol Cable: the local investigative journalism co-op training citizens to hold power to account". The Independent. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  5. Harris, John (24 January 2016). "Bristol Cable founders: 'We're holding people to account for their actions'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-18 – via www.theguardian.com.
  6. Slawson, Nicola (14 November 2014). "A new breed of co-operatives is looking to redefine local media". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-18 – via www.theguardian.com.
  7. "Community clout: how the Ferret and the Bristol Cable are leading the rise of the UK's co-operative news media". The Drum. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  8. Morris, Steven (4 May 2016). "Bristol mayoral hopefuls sling 'elite' jibes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-19 – via www.theguardian.com.
  9. Pegg, David; Evans, Rob (10 October 2016). "Controversial snooping technology 'used by at least seven police forces'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-19 – via www.theguardian.com.
  10. "Why police forces need to be honest about mass mobile phone surveillance". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  11. Alexander J Martin 10 Oct 2016 at 14:11. "Confirmed: UK police forces own IMSI grabbers, but keeping schtum on use". www.theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  12. Cox, Joseph (30 May 2017). "More UK Police Put Cash Down for IMSI Catchers". Vice. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  13. Cox, Joseph (2 March 2017). "This Company Has Sold £1 Million Worth of Cellphone-Spying Devices to UK Police". Vice. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  14. Tannam, Ellen (8 August 2018). "UK privacy groups fight police over mobile phone spying technology". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  15. Moody, Glyn (11 October 2016). "Stingrays bought, quietly used by police forces across England". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  16. "Police forced to come clean after mobile hacking equipment detected at anti-Tory protest". The Canary. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  17. "Accused ice cream boss 'exploited staff'". 23 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-19 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  18. Gayle, Damien; Boutaud, Charles; Cantwell-Corn, Adam (8 October 2017). "One in five stopped by immigration enforcement is a UK citizen, figures show". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-19 – via www.theguardian.com.
  19. Booth, Robert; Cantwell-Corn, Adam (1 May 2019). "Home Office stopped thousands of Britons for immigration checks". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-19 – via www.theguardian.com.
  20. Gilling, Juliana (7 March 2018). "'We said it wasn't acceptable': how Bristol is standing up to developers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-19 – via www.theguardian.com.
  21. "The Bristol Cable secures funding to expand its approach to community-driven journalism". Journalism.co.uk. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 2019-12-19.



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