Darren Lewis: 'Content journalism is on the rise to give a voice to the forgotten'
Talented exponents have stopped looking to national broadcasters for the help to amplify stories that quite simply isn't going to come. They are doing it themselves.
The Rise of Creator Journalism
You've probably not heard of Deborah Turness. So let me help you out. She's the former head of BBC News who last week warned that traditional mainstream news is under serious threat from 'creator journalism'. Too late, Deborah. It is already here. The case of the Brighton beach tragedy – three women pulled from the sea there this month – is an example of why.
The vast digital landscape has handed experienced, celebrated journalists, skilled at social media, the chance to cater for their individual audiences by telling important stories and excelling in areas where national broadcasters have failed them.
Those journalists provide depth, detail and the interviews that the mainstream don't have the TV or radio airtime for. Or – sadly, in some cases – the will.
You can apply your own explanation for the lack of sustained urgency around the distressing Brighton beach news. It brings to eight, the number of Black women inexplicably found dead in bodies of water across the UK in just six years.
We've had two Black men too, both in 2021. Twenty-year-old Olisa Odukwe, pulled from Bristol Harbour, and 19-year-old Richard Okorogheye, recovered from a lake in Epping Forest. You have your head in the sand if you can't see why the pattern is causing concern.
The police watchdog found officers provided 'an unacceptable level of service' to Richard's family after he went missing. Ngozi Fulani, chief executive of the award-winning domestic and sexual violence charity Sistah Space, sounded the alarm on the Brighton beach deaths last week with statistics to back up her fears.
In the mainstream, the Mirror has led the way on it. There was a time, when the dots joined on such concerns, that the broadcast media would amplify it massively. Instead, the BBC coverage, together with certain other national platforms, has been minimal.
No wonder talented colleagues are doing it themselves. The excellent, digital BlackCurrent News platform, led by the brilliant Nadine White, has correctly articulated the fears of women, girls, parents and communities across the country.
The Brighton beach victims were sisters, Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31. The others were Blessing Olusegun, 21, found on Bexhill beach in East Sussex in 2020.
South London mum Taiwo Balogun, 53, was found in a lake in Kent in 2022. Kayon Williams, 24, was found in the River Thames that same year. Samaria Ayanle, 19, was pulled from the Thames in 2024. And two months ago, 31-year-old student Edna Mmbali Ombakho was found in a river in Berkshire. If you have never heard of them, then you've underlined my point.
Especially if the names of the likes of Suzy Lamplugh, Genette Tate, Nicola Bulley, Sarah Everard, Madeleine McCann – all of who remain etched into the public consciousness, as they should – are familiar to you.
That's why creator journalism is on the rise. BlackCurrent News, Nadine White and other leading exponents rightly refuse to accept there is nothing to see, just because the police say there is no evidence to suggest third-party involvement.
Ask the reporters whose persistence led to missing 24-year-old nurse Owami Davies being found in 2022. It took police seven weeks, despite receiving reports of 117 sightings. A CCTV image police released was actually of another Black woman.
The anger and the story was only picked up by the broadcast media once it went viral. That's why content journalism is on the rise. Talented exponents have stopped looking to the Beeb and other national broadcasters for the help to amplify stories that quite simply isn't going to come. They are doing it themselves. They know that lives depend on it.
