Local Democracy Reporting Service

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is an initiative in the United Kingdom funded by the BBC. The scheme pays for the employment of journalists by local independent news outlets, in order to improve the coverage of issues relating to local democracy. Its core purpose is stated as being "to provide impartial coverage of the regular business and workings of local authorities in the UK, and other relevant democratic institutions such as mayoralties, combined authority areas, P&CCs, quangos, etc."