Wrexham Dotcom gets £34,436 to build AI story-flagging tool

Wrexham Dotcom Limited is set to receive £34,436 from the UK Government’s Local News Fund to develop an artificial-intelligence tool for identifying possible local stories. The system will scan publicly available information and flag developments that may merit reporting or further investigation.

The proposed tool is intended to support newsgathering rather than make editorial judgments. Decisions over which leads to pursue and what to publish will remain with journalists, according to coverage of the award by Tomorrow’s Publisher.

The grant is part of £90,526 awarded to two north Wales media organisations for new approaches to finding and delivering local journalism. Coast Community Radio and Media CIC, operator of Bayside Radio in Colwyn Bay, received the remaining £56,090 for a separate project focused on partnerships and publishing across platforms.

The Wrexham funding comes from the £6 million Local News Fund, a component of the Government’s Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan. The government announced grants of up to £125,000 for 50 local-news providers in England and Wales, alongside infrastructure awards for seven organisations.

The action plan frames the funding around digital transition, financial sustainability, audience engagement and stronger public-interest newsgathering. It notes that at least 293 local newspapers have closed since 2005, while employment at the three largest local-news publishers fell from about 9,000 journalists in 2007 to about 3,000 in 2022.

The plan also cites the growth of online local-news use: 39.5 million people in the UK accessed local news online in November 2025, equal to 75% of adult internet users. The awards do not, however, establish how effectively the Wrexham tool will expand its audience or improve the outlet’s financial resilience.