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What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate
A groundbreaking study of the journalism startups that are challenging status quos across the country, from an activist video feed in Minneapolis to a watchdog news site in Memphis
A must-read for activists, entrepreneurs, and journalists who want to start local news outlets in their communities
Local news is essential to democracy. Meaningful participation in civic life is impossible without it. Studies show that voter participation is lower and corruption more pervasive in “news deserts”—places that lack reliable coverage.
Local news is in crisis. According to one widely cited study, some 2,500 newspapers have closed over the last generation, gutted by plummeting ad sales, the new economics of online content, corporate news chains, and predatory hedge funds. And it is often marginalized communities of color who have been left without the day-to-day journalism they need to govern themselves in a democracy.
Veteran journalists Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy cut through the pessimism surrounding this issue, showing readers that new, innovative journalism models are popping up across the country to fill news deserts and empower communities. What Works in Community News examines more than a dozen of these projects, including:
--Sahan Journal, a digital publication dedicated to reporting on Minnesota’s immigrant and refugee communities;
--MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a nonprofit news outlet in Memphis, TN, focused on poverty, power, and public policy;
--New Haven Independent / WNHH / La Voz Hispana de Connecticut, a digital news project that expanded its reach in the New Haven community through radio and a Spanish-language partnership;
--Storm Lake Times Pilot, a print newspaper in rural Iowa innovating with a hybrid for-profit/nonprofit model; and
--Texas Tribune, once a pioneering upstart, now one of the most well-known—and successful—digital newsrooms in the country.
Through a blend of on-the-ground reporting and interviews, Clegg and Kennedy show how these operations found seed money and support, how they hired staff, forged their missions, and navigated challenges from the pandemic to police intimidation to stand as the last bastion of collective truth—and keep local news in local hands.
A must-read for activists, entrepreneurs, and journalists who want to start local news outlets in their communities
Local news is essential to democracy. Meaningful participation in civic life is impossible without it. Studies show that voter participation is lower and corruption more pervasive in “news deserts”—places that lack reliable coverage.
Local news is in crisis. According to one widely cited study, some 2,500 newspapers have closed over the last generation, gutted by plummeting ad sales, the new economics of online content, corporate news chains, and predatory hedge funds. And it is often marginalized communities of color who have been left without the day-to-day journalism they need to govern themselves in a democracy.
Veteran journalists Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy cut through the pessimism surrounding this issue, showing readers that new, innovative journalism models are popping up across the country to fill news deserts and empower communities. What Works in Community News examines more than a dozen of these projects, including:
--Sahan Journal, a digital publication dedicated to reporting on Minnesota’s immigrant and refugee communities;
--MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a nonprofit news outlet in Memphis, TN, focused on poverty, power, and public policy;
--New Haven Independent / WNHH / La Voz Hispana de Connecticut, a digital news project that expanded its reach in the New Haven community through radio and a Spanish-language partnership;
--Storm Lake Times Pilot, a print newspaper in rural Iowa innovating with a hybrid for-profit/nonprofit model; and
--Texas Tribune, once a pioneering upstart, now one of the most well-known—and successful—digital newsrooms in the country.
Through a blend of on-the-ground reporting and interviews, Clegg and Kennedy show how these operations found seed money and support, how they hired staff, forged their missions, and navigated challenges from the pandemic to police intimidation to stand as the last bastion of collective truth—and keep local news in local hands.
264 pages, Hardcover
Published January 9, 2024
20 people are currently reading
1570 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 28, 2023
I received this book through a goodreads giveaway and am so glad I did! As a social work student, I am always attempting to learn about community assets and trying to understand various perspectives. The news is a community assest and one of the ways we are educated on different perspectives. That is not to say it is always unbiased, however, there is great value in the news. I had no idea there were so many news deserts. This book educated me on the challenges news is facing, furthered my understanding of its role in democracy, and was a source of inspiration! I loved this read!
April 19, 2024
What does the news and information community do when economic strife and the onset of digital silos bombard the industry? What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate addresses just that.
From the late 1990s to today we've seen struggles in traditional newsrooms, from print news to broadcast journalism, those charged with information-gathering, government accountability, education, community outreach, and more have had to innovate how to reach their audiences. What Works covers a half dozen or more startups who have changed the way the community gets its information as well a traditional outlets who had to pivot to keep readers and maintain their small businesses.
The stories, each and every one, show the passion and commitment journalists and communications professionals put toward their craft. More than story-tellers, these intelligent men and women take the day-to-day community news and make it accessible. From City Council meetings to high school sporting events, as well as the truth-telling necessary to keeping our democracy afloat, these stories make the connections lost in an age of digital silos and ever-growing new desserts.
For anyone who's interested in news, journalism, communications, or simply innovation of digital communications, this is a great book to add to your list. I'd advise picking it up in hard copy as listening to the audio book, I lost some of the nuance of the strategies behind some of the stories. While rewinding is always easy, dog-earing the page is more effective for this old news hound.
From the late 1990s to today we've seen struggles in traditional newsrooms, from print news to broadcast journalism, those charged with information-gathering, government accountability, education, community outreach, and more have had to innovate how to reach their audiences. What Works covers a half dozen or more startups who have changed the way the community gets its information as well a traditional outlets who had to pivot to keep readers and maintain their small businesses.
The stories, each and every one, show the passion and commitment journalists and communications professionals put toward their craft. More than story-tellers, these intelligent men and women take the day-to-day community news and make it accessible. From City Council meetings to high school sporting events, as well as the truth-telling necessary to keeping our democracy afloat, these stories make the connections lost in an age of digital silos and ever-growing new desserts.
For anyone who's interested in news, journalism, communications, or simply innovation of digital communications, this is a great book to add to your list. I'd advise picking it up in hard copy as listening to the audio book, I lost some of the nuance of the strategies behind some of the stories. While rewinding is always easy, dog-earing the page is more effective for this old news hound.
January 28, 2024
A great resource if you care about democracy and the changing landscape of the fourth estate. The death of local and hyper local community news organizations plays an enormous role in our current decline in civic engagement and the increase in divisive counterfactual narratives. Clegg and Kennedy do a wonderful job of laying out a comprehensive history of the news arena in the US, and highlighting innovative approaches being tried in various locales to stave off, or remedy, news deserts. While their book is inspirational and full of portraits of wonderful people and the organizations they have formed, or saved, it always comes down to money, and connections. I have a dream of a hyper local digital news source in a small NH town, but the financial aspects and lack of journalistic connections, is daunting.
January 29, 2024
In these days where we are worrying about our Democracy surviving, it is good to have a new book published about communities who are working together to create local news. Having a trusted and available news source is one of the foundations of a democracy. The authors write about cities and towns who miss having a trustworthy print source for civic dialogue.
I am biased as chapter 3 talks about how our town of Bedford, Massachusetts and how our online newspaper The Bedford Citizen came about when our local newspaper was no longer relevant to our town. Ten years later the Citizen is a robust publication that publishes stories about the town, the governance of it, the events at the schools and other information that draws in readers.
Want to begin a source of local news, then this is the book for you.
I am biased as chapter 3 talks about how our town of Bedford, Massachusetts and how our online newspaper The Bedford Citizen came about when our local newspaper was no longer relevant to our town. Ten years later the Citizen is a robust publication that publishes stories about the town, the governance of it, the events at the schools and other information that draws in readers.
Want to begin a source of local news, then this is the book for you.
March 24, 2024
This is the first book in a long time that's made me bust out Post-It notes. Not exactly a how-to guide, but something akin to it. So many of the books in my field show histories and pitfalls, how arrogant leaders mismanaged their ways into crushing defeat or simply lacked the foresight to keep providing their valuable products. This showed futures — not just one but multiple paths that could work, with the right circumstances and the right people's elbow grease.
Felt really worth my time as a journalist, also, specifically to remind myself of why many of the currently looming-large models WILL be failing soon enough, even if they haven't yet. Scheming ways to gift it to old newsroom managers without burning bridges.
Felt really worth my time as a journalist, also, specifically to remind myself of why many of the currently looming-large models WILL be failing soon enough, even if they haven't yet. Scheming ways to gift it to old newsroom managers without burning bridges.
March 30, 2024
Democracy depends on robust local news organizations. Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy give us reason to hope in their new book, "What Works in Community News." Clegg and Kennedy profile dedicated journalists across the country who are doing this essential work, and they show why it matters. Their examples offer blueprints for how local journalism can thrive. An informative, essential and inspiring read.
January 20, 2024
Great Media information unlikely to find elsewhere
March 14, 2024
This book gives me hope and increases my commitment to support local journalism
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews