Reasons to be a little bit optimistic about local news - and local, in general.
Continued from the Wise Economy Telescope, first week of May
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This article from Poynter gave me a little happy rush. It documents some early experiments in strengthening local media, which I’m more and more concluding has an essential role in resilient and healthy local communities. Some of those promising models include:
The Colorado Media Chain, a partnership of a B Corporation newspaper and the National Trust for Local News that has saved 24 local weeklies in small towns,
Sustaining grants for four independent local and regional media organizations from the American Journalism Project,
300 new journalists supported nationwide by Report for America, and
10 new newsrooms coming out of the Google News Initiative Startup Lab,
Plus a few more.
Some of you may know that I started my professional life as a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Ohio, so yeah, I’m probably a little biased. And I know that even back in those supposed good ol’ days, local reporters often misunderstood and mis-reported complex local stories. I know I did. And later in life, I sometimes watched friends in local government deal with the impacts of bad reporting. Click-based journalism didn’t help, but “if it leads it bleeds” probably dates back to the French Revolution. Or before.
One thing I love here is that a lot of these initiatives are focused on reporting on specific issues, such as the environment, which allows reporters to develop a depth of expertise on a topic that will enable more informed reporting than a generalist may be able to do. And the security of sustained support, and a public purpose/responsibility, should help local reporters build something like the kinds of relationships between reporters and newsmakers that allow for better understanding of what’s actually important.
So as part of building a resilient local economy in the places you care about, I’d encourage you to look at the role of newsrooms and news-producers in your community, whether they’re new or old, digital or still quasi-print. And think about ways that your community can support or get support for professional, high-quality reporting on the issues that matter most.