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You and Yours: Gap Finders - Joshi Herrmann

Gap Finders - Joshi Herrmann

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Gap Finders - Joshi Herrmann

How Joshi Herrmann, founder of digital news service The Mill, found a gap in the market.

How Joshi Herrmann, founder of digital news service The Mill, found a gap in the market to form a company that brings in-depth local news to your inbox.

Today's guest is the Founder of digital news service, The Mill, Joshi Herrmann.

Raised in Sussex, Joshi studied at Cambridge University and first began developing his journalistic skills at the Surrey Mirror, before moving on to some of the UK's biggest publications including the Guardian and the Evening Standard.

Before founding the Mill in 2020, Joshi had developed a passion for long form writing and wanted to find a way of fighting what he saw as a decline in local journalism. 

Every week day the digital start-up sends out a newsletter email to its paying members, spawning similar ventures in other UK cities. The Mill’s sister newsletter, the Sheffield Tribune, acquired more than 300 paying members in its first month. A third title, The Post has also launched in Liverpool. The three newsletters are all based on the Substack newsletter platform and the Mill was the only UK organisation to be awarded a share of Substack Local's $1m journalism grant.

Speaking in a submission to The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee in April this year, as part of an inquiry into the sustainability of local journalism, Joshi called for the creation of a £100m innovation fund, run by a respected independent group, that can help hundreds of journalists to start organisations like The Mill. 

We explore the ways in which Joshi wanted to disrupt the journalism market, expand his work to further UK cities, and the hopes he has for the future of local journalism.

PRODUCER: LINDA WALKER

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

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