Rituals are the superglue of communities in most cultures. In a time when Journalism is reimagining its relationship with the communities it serves, rituals can be a useful referent.

Rituals are the superglue of communities in most cultures. In a time when Journalism is reimagining its relationship with the communities it serves, rituals can be a useful referent.
Santa Cruz Local started Listening Sessions to create news that catered to the informational needs of Santa Cruz County residents. By listening to community feedback through online surveys and in-person listening sessions, they can report on issues that community members feel are most important to them.
During this Gather Lightning Workshop, attendees collaborated on a document that you can take back to your newsroom, including lessons learned from journalists who have incorporated texting as a regular part of their work.
Listen to and learn from the finalists of the 2022 OJA/Gather Award in Community-Centered Journalism, Medium/Large Newsroom category. Stefanie Ritoper of Southern California Public Radio and Jenny Stratton & Samantha Cabrera Friend of Catchlight share lessons from their community-engagement projects.
Listen to and learn from one of the finalists of the 2022 OJA/Gather Award in Community-Centered Journalism, Micro/Small Newsroom category. Adam Mahoney and John Thomason from the Grist share lessons from their community-engagement project.
journalists, media and nonprofit partners of the community. The organization prioritizes community storytelling and strives to gradually increase local readership amongst youth.
Decibel is an Austin PBS project working to engage underserved communities in central Texas. Each year, the staff chooses a new community to cover and work to bring the community into the story production process. They produce in-depth stories based on what the community tells them they care about at listening sessions.
The 2020 Election Roundtable was composed of twenty-four diverse voters from Pennsylvania. These individuals participated in a series of six open, virtual conversations about what is important to them. The prompt for each conversation was often inspired by the day’s news.
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.
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.
In a follow-up to this Ecosystems Toolkit, the author Fiona Morgan shares lessons from how she and others undertook aspects of news ecosystem assessments during the pandemic, and how this listening was itself an investment in communities. Via: How to listen during a pandemic and other lessons from recent local news ecosystem research.
The seven members, one for each Oakland district, will be reading the organization’s stories and giving feedback to ensure they stay true to their founding values. This paid group of community advisors is the heart of The Oaklandside’s Mission Metric initiative.