The Charity Commission has given a local news website charitable status, in what is believed to be the first time a UK public interest news provider has been recognised as a charity.
The Guildford Dragon News has been entered onto the charity register following a six-month application process.
Martin Giles, editor of The Guildford Dragon News, launched the site in 2012, working daily without pay.
Giles said: “We are very pleased that the Charity Commission has granted us charitable status and hope it will lead to us being able to attract enough funding to continue, but we fully appreciate that is not a given and much fundraising effort will be required.”
According to the site, the Guildford Dragon was started to increase civic pride and encourage an interest in the town’s past and future.
Giles said: “Those involved in local journalism and our [readers] know how important it is for the health of any community.
“I hope other local news publications might now be able to follow our example if they feel that the charity route is suitable for them.”
Jonathan Heawood, executive director of the Public Interest News Foundation, which provides grants and leadership training to independent news outlets that produce news in the public interest, said that as far as he was aware this was the first example of a news organisation being given charitable status.
“We’re delighted that the Guildford Dragon has got charitable status, and we hope that other indie news providers will go down this route if it feels right for them,” he said.
The PINF was granted charitable status in 2020.
Heawood said the move “sent an important signal that [our] work is for the public benefit”.
He said: “The Public Interest News Foundation itself isn’t a news provider.
“As an intermediary foundation, we build the capacity of indie news providers, research the impact of news on communities, and encourage policymakers, philanthropists and big tech platforms to support the sector.”
He added that being a charity was helping the PINF raise new funds for independent journalism from a “range of sources”.