'Reasons to be optimistic': UK startups boost local news scene

The Slice is a local magazine and a family of four hyper-local online news websites which serve the east London borough of Tower Hamlets -- one of the UK's most diverse, but deprived, neighbourhoods. While local newspapers have been closing across the country, The Slice is "all about developing a model of local journalism that is financially sustainable in areas of deprivation", explained founder and editor Tabitha Stapley. The Slice and its websites are owned by a non-profit organisation started by Stapley, a former fashion journalist.