How do you sustain digital local journalism beyond the nation’s big cities? Ask Richland Source. Launched nine years ago in America’s rust belt, Richland Source has earned its reputation as one of the strongest local news services rooted in “flyover country.” How did they do it?
We hear from two people who have been building state “ecosystems”: Rashad Mahmood, from the New Mexico Local News Fund and Stefanie Murray, from the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University.
The New Mexico Local News Fund brings news organizations across the state together to harness their collective reporting and fundraising power and tell regional or statewide stories that one outlet could not fully cover on its own. The organization is building on a collaborative mindset already in place among New Mexico’s journalists and providing them with resources and training to enhance their reporting.
Mariana Dale facilitates a conversation with Ernesto Aguilar (KQED), Michelle Billman (KUNR), and Madeleine Bair (El Tímpano) on local news organizations’ strategies reaching and engaging Spanish speakers and bilingual audiences.
The organization works in collaboration with its audience to engage in two-way reporting via text message. This model replaces things like Facebook groups, which can fuel the spread of misinformation and amplify political polarization within communities. El Tímpano provides its audiences with access to the information they need from a source that’s earned their trust.
KQED’s three-phase research project revealed many of the core principles of community-centered journalism — people want to see news coverage and programming that is empowering, inspiring and demonstrates an understanding of cultural heritage.
The Recording Inclusivity Initiative (RII) from All Classical Portland is a project that addresses the gap of classical compositions written by composers from communities historically excluded in classical music. This initiative prioritizes compositions that have never been professionally recorded.
Frank Mungeam, Chief Innovation Officer with the Local Media Association share key insights from LMA’s inaugural Lab for Journalism Funding, including essential elements of a successful philanthropy pitch, mistakes to avoid, and case study examples from publishers. Larry Lee, CEO of the Sacramento Observer shares his story of fundraising for his family’s historical Black newspaper.
National Trust for Local News (NTLN) recently engineered the purchase of a family-owned newspaper chain in Colorado in order to sustain its irreplaceable local journalism. Is this business model a viable strategy to prevent vulture capital acquisitions of local media and closure of local papers across the country?
WFAE embarked on an ambitious journey to look and sound like the community it is licensed to serve. WFAE leaders Ju-Don Marshall and Joe O’Connor explain how they are reaching beyond the traditional “core” audiences of public media to understand and meet the information needs of people in their region.
