Mag North and the team of creatives behind it have a drive to highlight and champion a new cultural narrative for the North of England. That sounds very wordy and worthy - but what does it actually mean?
It's online now that most of us are accessing the news and journalism we want to hear and read about. While it's clearly democratising to be able to pick up your phone and find out instantly what's happening around the world - and around the corner, much of what is really important is often lost behind a barrage of information and advertising that can be homogenous and in danger of locking us all into an echo chamber that really isn't fit for purpose.
"So you're challenging a traditional narrative and undertaking a postmodern experiment?"
Er…No.
We're not about 'Slow News' - or being an antidote to the often chaotic world we're all part of. Our journalists definitely have their fingers on the pulse of their respective Northern communities, but you won't find Mag North people rushing to report on horrendous events: We're much more interested in talking about what individuals and communities are doing every day - away from the short-term glare of the transient media circus.
People and Place have been central to what we stand for since our launch in 2022 - and that commitment only gets stronger with every utterly amazing person and place we encounter across our patch.
'The North of England' with it's three unique and distinct statistical regions: the North East, the North West and the Yorkshire and the Humber - along with the 15.5 million inhabitants and the 14.5 thousand square miles of land, represent our people and our place.
Our North stretches from the Mersey to the Humber - and up to the Scots border.
The North's southern border is constantly debated, and there's ongoing controversy in defining what geographies or cultures precisely constitute the 'North of England', but as far as we're concerned - if what's happening in the North matters to you - you've got a home at Mag North.
And our journalism is broadly divided into three distinct subject areas: Social, Natural and Cultural.
If Social Action is all about people getting together to improve their lives and tackle the problems and issues that are important in their communities - then we're seeing that week-in-week-out from organisations like Rochdale's Breaking Barriers, Scarbrough's ARCADE and Wigan's Brick. At Mag North, we get that it's the social action taking place at a grass-roots level across our part of the world, that has a far greater impact than anything being pointed at us by experts in Whitehall.
Natural means something different to all of us - and we love that. Whether the exquisite view from the top of Malham Cove is your connection with our natural environment - or you're interested in reading about Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's efforts to reintroduce native oysters to the Humber estuary, then Mag North is your place. Natural to us also means tackling the climate emergency, ensuring that our outdoor spaces are places that all of us can access and enjoy - and championing initiatives and the people who are working to conserve and sustain our green spaces.
Everything we do is 'Cultural' - it's the social behaviour of our society. We're incredibly lucky to work with some fantastic Northern partners who also value culture as much as we do. We've joined folk music summer camps with Gateshead's Glasshouse International Centre for Music. We've watched actors bring the very best productions to Keswick's Theatre by the Lake and we've been proud to contribute to literature festivals in places like Burnley and Durham.
So Mag North is a very broad church: We're consistently examining our socio-political landscape in a fiercely independent way. We are a platform for voices that otherwise sometimes struggle to be heard. We understand the Levelling Up agenda might be an abstract concept that makes you roll your eyes, so we focus on the incredible stuff that is constantly happening across the North, being brought to you by Northern people.
You rely on us to be impartial, accurate, honest, entertaining, realistic, sometimes slightly irreverent - and a champion for our part of the world. We exist to be all of these things - and be them in a way that places our readers front-and-centre in the process. We aim to inspire - and what is more inspiring than the lives and efforts of real people?
We passionately believe that if we show what (Northern) people and places can do, we'll broaden what is actually considered Social, Natural and Cultural, at the same time as making 'taking part' more accessible to anyone who might have previously felt excluded, or simply not known how to ‘break in’. If you're reading this - you are Mag North every bit as much as we are.
And as we talk about Bolton and Bridlington, Selby and Seahouses - we’ll laugh…because if we can’t have some fun bringing you the best bits of the North, then we’re not doing it right!
Colin Petch, Editor:
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