Matthew O'Toole

Matthew O'Toole, a former No. 10 Downing St Brexit spokesperson, now works for communications agency Powerscourt and is a political commentator based in London.

Losing local media means losing a platform for communities "to hold people in power to account"

While COVID-19 has made it next to impossible for local and regional media to pay for itself – with both advertising and sales revenue collapsing – the crisis has also illustrated the centrality of community to our lives.