The Bristol Cable is an independent media company in Bristol, UK, founded in 2014.^[2] It provides local news through independent investigative journalism,^[3] in a quarterly print publication and website, both free.^[4][5] The Bristol Cable is a cooperative, owned by its members, who pay a monthly fee.^[5] The publication has a print run of 30,000 copies,^[4] distributed throughout the city.^[6]

The Bristol Cable was founded by Alec Saelens, Adam Cantwell-Corn and Alon Aviram.^[5][6] It is part of the Global Investigative Journalism Network.

As of December 2017 the co-op cost £1 per month to join, had 1,900 members who contributed on average £2.70 per month; and had six full-time staff.^[5] Membership provides a means of funding the newspaper and gives members a say in strategic decisions about the co-op.^[7]

In 2019 The Bristol Cable won the Press Gazette British Journalism Award for Local Journalism, noting its five year investigation into modern day slavery by a local employer.^[8][9] In 2021 the Press Gazette again noted the investigative journalism and successful development of The Bristol Cable, with membership at 2,600.^[10]

The Bristol Cable has broken stories on workplace abuses in the catering sector (October 2014);^[2] Bristol University's holdings in fossil fuels, which was used by people campaigning for its divestment and prompted a change by the University (June 2015);^[2][6][11] ownership of property in the city by offshore companies based in tax havens (January 2016 and January 2018);^[2] the Mayor and senior council officials hiding the potential for deep well fracking from councillors and the public, to prevent disruption to the sale of Bristol Port land (May 2016);^[2][12] the use by local police of mass surveillance devices, known as IMSI-catchers or Stingray phone trackers, that eavesdrop on mobile phone and other devices,^[13] which became a national news story (October 2016);^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]} local companies' links to the arms trade (February 2017);^[2] poor working conditions (March 2017);^[20] racial bias in Immigration Enforcement officers' stop and checks of people on the street they suspect of immigration offences (October 2017, with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism);^[21][22] and the small share of new property developments given over to affordable housing, in comparison with the official policy of Bristol City Council (March 2018).^[6][11][23]

To set up, produce its first issue, and launch citizen journalism workshops, it raised £3,300 in a crowdfunding campaign, was given £1,500 by Co-operatives UK and £1,600 by Lush.^[7] In 2017 it received a grant of £40,000 from the Reva and David Logan Foundation to expand its capacity in the local community.^[5][6] In 2018 it received a grant of £100,000 a year for two years from the Omidyar Network.^[24]