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What Works in Community News

Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate

Author Ellen Clegg, Dan Kennedy
Ebook
Beacon Press
On sale Jan 09, 2024 | 256 Pages | 9780807010198
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A groundbreaking study of the journalism startups that are solving the local news crisis one community at a time

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. However, local news is in crisis. According to one widely cited study, some 2,500 newspapers have closed over the last generation. 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, and 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.
Ellen Clegg spent more than 3 decades at The Boston Globe and retired in 2018 after 4 years of running the opinion pages. In between stints at the Globe, she was deputy director of communications at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She is a member of the steering committee for the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship at the International Women’s Media Foundation. Ellen is co-founder and co-chair of Brookline.News, a nonprofit startup news organization in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Dan Kennedy is a professor in the School of Journalism at Northeastern University and a nationally known media commentator. He was a panelist on the GBH News television program Beat the Press (1998–2021) and also served as a weekly columnist for the network. He was also a columnist for The Guardian from 2007–2011. Dan is a recipient of the Yankee Quill Award from the New England Academy of Journalists and the James W. Carey Journalism Award from the Media Ecology Association.

Follow Ellen and Dan online at whatworks.news and on Twitter at @whatworks_nu.
Ellen Clegg View titles by Ellen Clegg
Dan Kennedy View titles by Dan Kennedy
INTRODUCTION
The Local News Crisis Will Be Solved One Community at a Time

CHAPTER ONE
New Jersey: A Digital Innovator Joins Forces with a Public Television Powerhouse

CHAPTER TWO
Minneapolis, Minnesota: How Heated Competition Is Reviving Local News

CONVERSATIONS
Steven Waldman:
The president of Rebuild Local News outlines his vision for revitalizing community journalism.

CHAPTER THREE
Bedford, Massachusetts: A Homegrown News Site Comes into Its Own

CHAPTER FOUR
Denver, Colorado: The Sun Rises over a Complex Media Landscape

CONVERSATIONS
Kara Meyberg Guzman:
A former Alden editor talks about her reinvention as a publisher and her work as a local news advocate.

CHAPTER FIVE
Memphis, Tennessee: A Digital Newsroom Holds Power to Account

CHAPTER SIX
Mendocino County, California: A Rural Startup Seeks to Find Its Footing

CONVERSATIONS
Meredith Clark, PhD:
What does the future of local news look like? More diverse, with an emphasis on social change.

CHAPTER SEVEN
New Haven, Connecticut: A Longtime Digital News Project Takes to the Airwaves

CHAPTER EIGHT
Storm Lake, Iowa: A Print Newspaper with a Voice Fights for Survival

CONVERSATIONS
Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, PhD:
A scholar and serial entrepreneur looks to the future.

CHAPTER NINE
Texas: A High-Profile Behemoth Prepares for Its Second Act

EPILOGUE
The Future Is Already Here

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
“For readers who despair at the collapse of traditional media nationwide, this survey is a bolster; for journalists looking to create such viable news sources in their own communities, it’s a highly useful road map.”
—Booklist, Starred Review

“A fresh, optimistic, and necessary exploration of what really works in the crucially important realm of local news.”
—Margaret Sullivan, author of Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy

“A great and important book . . . Provides great hope that the field is full of passionate, brilliant people who are going to figure this out.”
—Steven Waldman, founder of Rebuild Local News and cofounder of Report for America

“A valuable reference book for entrepreneurs and a compelling read for anyone interested in saving and reviving local news.”
—Penelope Muse Abernathy, author of Saving Community Journalism: The Path to Profitability

“Pulls together in one place innovative approaches from across the country to stave off growing ‘news deserts.’ You can’t help but find this book nourishing if you care about preserving local news—and our democracy.”
—Gregory L. Moore, former editor of The Denver Post

“Crackling with insights and richly detailed, this sharply written book is essential reading for anyone interested in journalism’s future and the democracy it serves.”
—Victor Pickard, author of Democracy Without Journalism? Confronting the Misinformation Society

“A comprehensive history and analysis of major news ecosystems in the emerging digital media landscape.”
—Anne Galloway, VTDigger founder and editor at large

About

A groundbreaking study of the journalism startups that are solving the local news crisis one community at a time

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. However, local news is in crisis. According to one widely cited study, some 2,500 newspapers have closed over the last generation. 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, and 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.

Author

Ellen Clegg spent more than 3 decades at The Boston Globe and retired in 2018 after 4 years of running the opinion pages. In between stints at the Globe, she was deputy director of communications at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She is a member of the steering committee for the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship at the International Women’s Media Foundation. Ellen is co-founder and co-chair of Brookline.News, a nonprofit startup news organization in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Dan Kennedy is a professor in the School of Journalism at Northeastern University and a nationally known media commentator. He was a panelist on the GBH News television program Beat the Press (1998–2021) and also served as a weekly columnist for the network. He was also a columnist for The Guardian from 2007–2011. Dan is a recipient of the Yankee Quill Award from the New England Academy of Journalists and the James W. Carey Journalism Award from the Media Ecology Association.

Follow Ellen and Dan online at whatworks.news and on Twitter at @whatworks_nu.
Ellen Clegg View titles by Ellen Clegg
Dan Kennedy View titles by Dan Kennedy

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
The Local News Crisis Will Be Solved One Community at a Time

CHAPTER ONE
New Jersey: A Digital Innovator Joins Forces with a Public Television Powerhouse

CHAPTER TWO
Minneapolis, Minnesota: How Heated Competition Is Reviving Local News

CONVERSATIONS
Steven Waldman:
The president of Rebuild Local News outlines his vision for revitalizing community journalism.

CHAPTER THREE
Bedford, Massachusetts: A Homegrown News Site Comes into Its Own

CHAPTER FOUR
Denver, Colorado: The Sun Rises over a Complex Media Landscape

CONVERSATIONS
Kara Meyberg Guzman:
A former Alden editor talks about her reinvention as a publisher and her work as a local news advocate.

CHAPTER FIVE
Memphis, Tennessee: A Digital Newsroom Holds Power to Account

CHAPTER SIX
Mendocino County, California: A Rural Startup Seeks to Find Its Footing

CONVERSATIONS
Meredith Clark, PhD:
What does the future of local news look like? More diverse, with an emphasis on social change.

CHAPTER SEVEN
New Haven, Connecticut: A Longtime Digital News Project Takes to the Airwaves

CHAPTER EIGHT
Storm Lake, Iowa: A Print Newspaper with a Voice Fights for Survival

CONVERSATIONS
Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, PhD:
A scholar and serial entrepreneur looks to the future.

CHAPTER NINE
Texas: A High-Profile Behemoth Prepares for Its Second Act

EPILOGUE
The Future Is Already Here

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

Praise

“For readers who despair at the collapse of traditional media nationwide, this survey is a bolster; for journalists looking to create such viable news sources in their own communities, it’s a highly useful road map.”
—Booklist, Starred Review

“A fresh, optimistic, and necessary exploration of what really works in the crucially important realm of local news.”
—Margaret Sullivan, author of Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy

“A great and important book . . . Provides great hope that the field is full of passionate, brilliant people who are going to figure this out.”
—Steven Waldman, founder of Rebuild Local News and cofounder of Report for America

“A valuable reference book for entrepreneurs and a compelling read for anyone interested in saving and reviving local news.”
—Penelope Muse Abernathy, author of Saving Community Journalism: The Path to Profitability

“Pulls together in one place innovative approaches from across the country to stave off growing ‘news deserts.’ You can’t help but find this book nourishing if you care about preserving local news—and our democracy.”
—Gregory L. Moore, former editor of The Denver Post

“Crackling with insights and richly detailed, this sharply written book is essential reading for anyone interested in journalism’s future and the democracy it serves.”
—Victor Pickard, author of Democracy Without Journalism? Confronting the Misinformation Society

“A comprehensive history and analysis of major news ecosystems in the emerging digital media landscape.”
—Anne Galloway, VTDigger founder and editor at large

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