Shows
What Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 104: Katherine RowlandsDan and Ellen talk with Katherine Ann Rowlands, who runs Bay City News Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit that publishes journalism for the Greater San Francisco Bay Area at LocalNewsMatters.org and The Mendocino Voice. And by the way, this is the last podcast until September. Bay City News Foundation acquired The Mendocino Voice and took it nonprofit a little more than a year ago. Dan reported on the Voice for our book, "What Works in Community News," and was visiting in March of 2020 when ... well, you know what happened then. Rowlands also is owner and p...
2025-07-0940 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 103: Stacy FeldmanDan and Ellen talk with Stacy Feldman, founder and publisher of Boulder Reporting Lab. The Lab is a nonprofit newsroom covering Boulder, Colorado. She launched the Lab in late 2021 to fill critical gaps in news coverage in a state where newspapers have been gobbled up by Alden Global Capital, a secretive hedge fund. Alden is known for gutting papers, not growing them. Stacy was co-founder and executive editor of Inside Climate News, a Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit newsroom focused on the climate crisis. She developed her plans for the Boulder Reporting Lab during a fellowship at the University...
2025-06-2548 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 102: Rahul BhargavaDan and Ellen talk with Rahul Bhargava, a colleague at Northeastern University. Rahul is a professor who crosses boundaries: the boundaries of storytelling and data, the boundaries of deep dives into collaborative research and interactive museum exhibits and plays. He holds a master's degree in media arts and science from MIT, and a bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. But he also minored in multimedia production. He brings the power of big data research to the masses, through newsroom workshops, interactive museum exhibits, and more. Rahul has collaborated with groups in Brazil, i...
2025-05-2740 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 101: Carlene Hempel and Harrison ZuritskyDan and Ellen talk with Carlene Hempel and Harrison Zuritsky. Carlene, a journalism professor at Northeastern, recently led a reporting trip to Flint, Michigan. Harrison and other students produced a stunning internet magazine called Flint Unfiltered that takes a deep dive into the causes and effects of Flint's economic downturn and toxic water crisis. Since 2009, Carlene has been leading students on reporting trips, where they work as part of a traveling press corps. She has taken groups to many countries, including Egypt, Syria, Cuba and Panama. Harrison, a second-year student with concentrations in journalism and data science, j...
2025-05-1238 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 100 Tom BreenFor their 100th podcast, Dan and Ellen talk with Tom Breen, the editor of the New Haven Independent. Tom joined the staff of the Independent in 2018, and then became managing editor. Last November, he stepped up to succeed founding editor Paul Bass, who launched the Independent in 2005 and is still very involved. He's executive director of the Online Journalism Project, the nonprofit organization he set up to oversee the Independent, the Valley Independent Sentinel in New Haven’s northwest suburbs, and WNHH. He continues to report the news for the Independent and hosts a show on WNHH, and he sta...
2025-04-3040 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 99: John MooneyDan and Ellen talk with John Mooney, the founder of NJ Spotlight News, a digital nonprofit that's part of NJ PBS, the state's public broadcasting network. Mooney, who covered education for The Star-Ledger in Newark, took a buyout in 2008, put together a business plan, and launched their site in 2010 under the auspices of the nonprofit Community Foundation of New Jersey. While Spotlight was making a mark journalistically, it wasn't breaking even, and its sponsor, the Community Foundation, was getting impatient. After extensive talks, Mooney affiliated with NJ PBS. The name changed to NJ Spotlight News, and the m...
2025-04-1742 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 98: Neil BrownDan and Ellen talk with Neil Brown, a longtime journalist who is the president of the Poynter Institute. For listeners who might not know, the Poynter Institute is a nonprofit based in St. Petersburg, Florida, that is devoted to teaching best practices in journalism. It is named for Nelson Poynter, the bow-tie-wearing legend who led the St. Petersburg Times to national recognition. The paper is now known as the Tampa Bay Times. Poynter is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Dan has a Quick Take on President Trump’s bouncing tariffs. They’re on, they’re off...
2025-04-0444 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 97: Marta HillDan talks with Marta Hill, an extraordinary young journalist who he got to know during her time at Northeastern. Marta is currently a graduate student in the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting program at New York University, where she’s also the editor-in-chief of Scienceline. In that role, she works with her peers at NYU to produce what she describes as “an accessible, down-to-earth science publication.” Marta is originally from Minneapolis, which makes it almost a tragedy that Ellen, a fellow transplant from the Twin Cities, couldn't be here. (Ellen will be back for our next podcast). At Nort...
2025-03-2030 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 96: Mike BeaudetDan and Ellen talk with Mike Beaudet, longtime investigative reporter for WCVB-TV and a multimedia professor at Northeastern's school of journalism. Mike has won many awards for his hard-hitting investigations and leads a project aimed at reinventing television news. On March 21 - 22, he'll lead a conference at Northeastern called "Reinvent: A Video Innovation Summit." Mike's students are producing content for everything from Instagram, YouTube to TikTok. Dan has a Quick Take about the National Trust for Local News. Co-founder Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro exited the nonprofit suddenly last month. That came amid reports that the P...
2025-03-0632 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 95: Erica HeilmanDan and Ellen talk with Erica Heilman, who produces a podcast called Rumble Strip. Heilman's shows air monthly on Vermont Public and other NPR stations, as well as the BBC. Rumble Strip can also be found on all the usual podcast platforms. Her episodes range in length from a few minutes to, well, as long as they need to be! As Chelsea Edgar wrote in a profile in Seven Days Vermont, "She wants to make meandering, kaleidoscopic stories about the stuff of ordinary Vermont life." In 2020, Heilman produced a memorable pandemic miniseries, "Our Show." It...
2025-02-1830 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 94: Matt DeRienzoDan and Ellen talk with Matt DeRienzo, the new director of SciLine. SciLine was founded seven years ago to make it easier for reporters to get in touch with scientists on deadline and to dig into research. And facts. The program is part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a 150-year-old organization that publishes the widely respected journal Science. Most recently, Matt has been serving as temporary executive editor of Lookout Santa Cruz, the digital daily that won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2024. He joins SciLine at an important time...
2025-02-0338 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 93: Alison BethelToday we're talking with Alison Bethel, chief content officer and editor-in-chief for State Affairs. State Affairs is a digital-first media company that is focused on covering state governments throughout the country. She was vice president of corps excellence at Report for America. She was also executive director of the Society of Professional Journalists, where she was only the second woman and the first person of color to serve in that capacity in 110 years. Dan has a Quick Take on a harrowing situation in Grand Junction, Colorado. A young Colorado television reporter was reportedly chased by a...
2025-01-2442 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 92: Bill and Linda ForryDan and Ellen talk with Bill and Linda Forry, co-publishers of the award-winning Reporter Newspapers in Boston. Bill serves as editor, and Linda focuses on business development and strategic partnerships. The Reporter Newspapers include the weekly Dorchester Reporter as well as Boston Irish and BostonHaitian.com. The publications and their websites are part of a media business owned and operated by the Forry family since 1973. The Forrys were recently in the news. The Reporter is one of 205 news organizations in the U.S. to win an inaugural Press Forward grant to expand coverage of Boston’s...
2025-01-1045 min
Read Beat (...and repeat)"What Works in Community News" by Dan Kennedy and Ellen CleggYou already know about the local news crisis. The proof is probably not in your hands with the demise of so many newspapers. The terms “ghost paper” (a publication with an old masthead and little else) and “news deserts” (areas without local news coverage of any kind) are part of the vernacular these days.Communities have had to be inventive to replace the local news they once took for granted, says Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University in Boston and co-author of What Works in Community News with Ellen Clegg, a former editor on the Boston G...
2024-12-2123 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 91: Jeffrey SchwanerEllen and Dan talk with Jeffrey Schwaner, executive editor of Cardinal News, a nonprofit digital news outlet covering Southwest Virginia. It also covers something called Southside Virginia, which is an area south of the James River, near Richmond. Since we're taping this in Boston, we'll ask him to explain their coverage area in more detail. Jeff joined Cardinal News in September after nine years as a storytelling and watchdog coach — including five years as editor — of Gannett’s two Virginia newsrooms, the News Leader in Staunton and The Progress-Index in Petersburg. Dan has a Quick Take th...
2024-12-1242 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 90: Scott BrodbeckDan and Ellen talk with Scott Brodbeck, founder and CEO of Local News Now. Many of the news entrepreneurs on this podcast lead nonprofits. Local News Now is a for-profit. Scott owns and operates local news websites in three big Northern Virginia suburbs: Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County. Dan has a Quick Take about a corporate newspaper owner that is making a big bet on growth at a major metropolitan newspaper. In Georgia, Cox Enterprises is making a $150 million bet that it can transform The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. If Cox is successful, it might serve as...
2024-11-2535 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 89: Sonal ShahDan and Ellen talk with Sonal Shah, the CEO of the Texas Tribune, a pioneering nonprofit newsroom. Shah, a Houston native and first-generation immigrant, took over as CEO in January 2023 after co-founder Evan Smith decided to move on. Shah is part of a major transition at the Tribune, and brings broad experience in government, the private sector, and philanthropy. She is a trained economist who worked on the Obama presidential transition team, she worked in philanthropy for Google, and she was national policy director for Pete Buttigieg's run for president. Dan has a Quick Take...
2024-11-1238 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 88: April AlonsoDan and Ellen talk with April Alonso, co-founder and digital editor of Cicero Independiente outside of Chicago. Cicero Independiente and MuckRock won the 2024 Victor McElheny Award for Local Science Journalism, awarded by MIT's Knight Science Journalism Program, for an investigation of air quality called "The Air We Breathe." April has an extensive background as a multimedia content creator. She was a multimedia fellow for the Chicago Reporter, and served as a multimedia content creator for La Verdad, a bilingual podcast. Dan has a Quick Take about a town north of Vancouver, in British Co...
2024-10-1834 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 87: Sophie CulpepperDan and Ellen talk with Sophie Culpepper, a staff writer at NiemanLab who focuses on covering local news. She co-founded The Lexington Observer, a digital local news site covering Lexington, a town of 35,000 outside Boston. For two years, she was the nonprofit news outlet's only full-time journalist. She covered public schools, local government, economic development and public safety, among other subjects. Ellen has a Quick Take on Sewell Chan, the former editor of The Texas Tribune who has just started his new job as executive editor of Columbia Journalism Review. Ellen interviewed Sewell in Austin for the...
2024-09-3037 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 86: Mark HendersonDan and Ellen fall into their third season of What Works with an interview with Mark Henderson, an old friend of the pod and a pioneer in online media. Mark is a journalist and technologist with decades of experience in news. He is the founder and CEO of The 016, a first-of-its-kind news publisher and distributor focused on Worcester, Massachusetts. Mark worked at the Telegram & Gazette from 1990 to 2014. He spent 19 years in the newsroom, rising to the position of assistant sports editor before being named deputy managing editor for technology in 2005. In 2009, he was named digital director, where h...
2024-09-1844 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 85: Dan and EllenToday we're talking to ... ourselves. There's lots happening in the local news space, and we want to hit some highlights. We also have a programming note: This will be our final podcast this summer. We're going to make like the French and take August off. Before signing off, we discuss the state of play for newsletters (who knew email is the killer app); podcasts (we're still free and we still do it for love, not money); and advertising (some newspapers are charging a fee if you'd like your digital feed served with no advertising.) Ellen has a remembrance of...
2024-08-0623 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 84: Larry RyckmanDan and Ellen talk to Larry Ryckman. Ryckman is editor of The Colorado Sun, the subject of a chapter that Dan wrote for our book, "What Works in Community News." The Sun was founded by journalists who worked at The Denver Post, which had been cut and cut and cut under the ownership of Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund that the Post staff called "vulture capitalists." The Sun was founded as a for-profit public benefit corporation. A PBC is a legal designation covering for-profit organizations that serve society in some way. Among other things, a PBC...
2024-07-1836 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 83: Peter Bhatia Today Dan and Ellen talk to Peter Bhatia. Bhatia is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor who is now chief executive officer of the Houston Landing, a nonprofit, non-partisan, no-paywall local news site that launched in spring of 2023. He has also been editor and vice president at the Detroit Free Press, from 2017-2023, and served as a regional editor for Gannett, supervising newsrooms in Michigan and Ohio. His resume includes helping lead newsrooms that won 10 Pulitzer Prizes. He is the first journalist of South Asian heritage to lead a major daily newspaper in the U.S...
2024-06-2745 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 83: Peter BhatiaToday Dan and Ellen talk to Peter Bhatia. Bhatia is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor who is now chief executive officer of the Houston Landing, a nonprofit, non-partisan, no-paywall local news site that launched in spring of 2023. He has also been editor and vice president at the Detroit Free Press, from 2017-2023, and served as a regional editor for Gannett, supervising newsrooms in Michigan and Ohio. His resume includes helping lead newsrooms that won 10 Pulitzer Prizes. He is the first journalist of South Asian heritage to lead a major daily newspaper in the U.S. He has also b...
2024-06-2745 min
The AdditionThe Projects Saving Local Media – with Dan Kennedy and Ellen Clegg (part 2)As promised, MORE podcasts from The Addition.
Today's episode is the second part of my conversation with Dan Kennedy and Ellen Clegg. Once again, we discuss the importance of local news and the types of projects trying to rebuild it and tackle news deserts. Towards the end of the episode, we discussed blogging, something Dan has been doing for over 20 years. He is certainly sceptical about whether such sites can still make money.
Listen to the first part of the conversation here.
Dan Kennedy on Threads
Media Nation Blog
What Works Website and Podcast
Ellen Clegg on Threads
Charlotte Henry...
2024-06-2721 minThe AdditionThe Projects Saving Local Media – with Dan Kennedy and Ellen Clegg (part 1)Exciting news! There are going to be MORE podcasts from The Addition. I'm going to try and post episodes most days of the week. The Wednesday one will remain a big setpiece interview or conversation, potentially split into two parts if they are longer discussions. There may be more of those in the week too. On other days, it will just be me chatting about a subject for a few minutes. I hope you enjoy them and do leave comments letting me know what you think!
Today's show is part one of a conversation with Dan Kennedy and Ellen Clegg...
2024-06-2618 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 82: Johanna DunawayDan and Ellen talk with Johanna Dunaway, a professor of political science at Syracuse University. She is also research director of the university's Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship in Washington D.C. Dan got to know Johanna when they were both Joan Shorenstein Fellows at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2016. Dan wrote part of his book about a new breed of wealthy newspaper owners, “The Return of the Moguls.” Johanna wrote a paper that examined how mobile technology was actually contributing to the digital divide between rich and poor. She recently received a $200,000 grant from...
2024-06-1144 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 81: Joshua Macht and Ronnie RamosDan and Ellen talk to Joshua Macht and Ronnie Ramos. Both are leading an expansion by the MassLive Media Group, which operates MassLive.com. Macht, the president, previously led the digital transformation of the Harvard Business Review. Ramos is the vice president of content and executive editor of MassLive. Ramos comes to Massachusetts after leading newsrooms in Miami, Indiana, Memphis, and Chicago. In Quick Takes, Dan discusses an announcement Google made last week that could prove to be pretty harmful to local news publishers. Essentially Google is going to merge its search engine...
2024-05-2342 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 80 | Anne EisenmengerToday Dan and Ellen talk to Anne Eisenmenger, who is president of Beaver Dam Partners and publisher of several weekly newspapers in southeast Massachusetts, including Wareham Week and Sippican Week. Anne has a laser focus on developing and operating hyperlocal for-profit newspapers. Anne lives in Wareham, and she founded her community news company there in 2010 with the launch of Wareham Week. And, yes, it's an actual print newspaper, with a for-profit business model, and it's packed with ads. Dan dives into one of the best newspaper stories in the country, which is right here in o...
2024-05-1032 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 79 | Mike BlinderDan and Ellen talk to Mike Blinder, the publisher of Editor & Publisher Magazine, which is now much, much more than a magazine. It's a cutting-edge multimedia source of information on innovation in our industry. Mike hosts E&P's weekly Vodcast series, "E&P Reports." And much more. He’s been a guest on this podcast previously, and today’s he’s back to talk about a new venture. Blinder has a new vertical on public media, called Public Pulse. It's newsy and filled with insider information. It aggregates the latest on stories like conflict ignited by Uri Berlin...
2024-04-2648 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 78 | Josh StearnsDan talks with Josh Stearns, the senior director of the Public Square Program at Democracy Fund. The Democracy Fund is an independent foundation that works for something very basic and increasingly important: to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges. Josh leads the foundation's work rebuilding local news. The Democracy Fund supports media leaders, defends press freedom, and holds social media platforms accountable. (Ellen was stuck in traffic somewhere on the Zakim Bridge in Boston for the duration of this show, but she'll return next episode!) In our Quick Takes, Dan poaches in E...
2024-04-1136 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 77 | Kyle MunsonDan and Ellen talk with Kyle Munson, president of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation. The foundation was launched in August 2020, during the heart of the pandemic. It was a challenging time for newspapers. As Dan and Ellen wrote in their book, "What Works in Community News," the Storm Lake Times Pilot saw a real collapse in local advertising. Art Cullen, the editor, was worried about survival. The foundation is set up as a nonprofit, so it can receive tax-free donations and philanthropic grants. In turn, it has doled out grants to small papers in western Iowa, including t...
2024-03-2837 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 76 | Emily RooneyDan and Ellen talk with Emily Rooney, the longtime host of the award-winning show on WGBH-TV, "Beat The Press." Dan was a panelist on "Beat the Press," which had a 22-year run but was canceled in 2021 by GBH. The show, which is much missed by many former viewers, had a brief second life as a podcast. Emily has got serious television news cred. She arrived at WGBH from the Fox Network in New York, where she oversaw political coverage, including the 1996 presidential primaries, national conventions, and presidential election. Before that, she was executive producer of ABC’s "Wo...
2024-03-0832 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 75 | Teri Morrow and Wayne BravermanDan and Ellen talk with Teri Morrow and Wayne Braverman of The Bedford Citizen in the Boston suburb of Bedford, Massachusetts. Wayne is a longtime journalist who is now serving as the managing editor of the Citizen. Teri, the executive director, has lived in Bedford since 1996, and has been active in local government. Dan wrote the chapter on this homegrown, grass-roots news site in "What Works in Community News." In the book, he tells the story about how the free digital site grew out of co-founder Julie McCay Turner's desire to find a home for information on a church...
2024-02-2237 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 74 | Laura PappanoEllen talks with Laura Pappano, an award-winning journalist who has written about education for more than 30 years. Laura has a new book out from Beacon Press. The title is "School Moms: Parent Activism, Partisan Politics, and the Battle for Public Education." By the way, Beacon also published our book, “What Works in Community News.” Dan and Ellen are recording their segments separately, because Ellen was travelling. So, don't worry, they're not breaking up. Ellen has a Quick Take on a philanthropic gift from Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, that is designed to cover full tuition for many gradu...
2024-02-0827 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 73 | Wendi C. ThomasWe talk with Wendi C. Thomas, the editor and publisher of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Thomas founded MLK50 in 2017 as a one-year project designed to focus on the antipoverty work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King had traveled to Memphis in April of 1968 to support striking sanitation workers who were fighting for safer working conditions and a living wage. But MLK50 became much more than a one-year project. She and her staff have gone on to produce journalism that has changed the dialogue, and changed lives, in Memphis. Her work has garnered numerous awards. In 2020, s...
2024-01-2726 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 72 | Norma Rodriguez-ReyesDan and Ellen talk with Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, the president of La Voz Hispana de Connecticut. La Voz started circulating in New Haven in 1993, but fell on hard times. Norma helped take charge of the paper in 1998 when it verged on bankruptcy. Under her direction, the newspaper has grown into the state’s largest-circulation Spanish-language weekly. It reaches more than 125,000 Spanish speakers across Connecticut. Norma is among the folks highlighted in Dan and Ellen's new book, “What Works in Community News,” which, at long last, will be out by the time you hear this podcast. In addition to her wor...
2024-01-0841 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 71 | Andy and Dee HallDan and Ellen talk with Andy and Dee Hall, co-founders of Wisconsin Watch. Wisconsin Watch was launched in 2009 as the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. It's nonprofit and nonpartisan, and it has grown a lot over the last 14 years. Andy is retiring on December 31 of this year, and is helping the new CEO, George Stanley, with the transition. Dee Hall, co-founder and former managing editor of Wisconsin Watch, is also moving on, and is now editor-in-chief of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom with a clear mission: Floodlight investigates "the powerful interests stalling climate action." Floodlight partners with local an...
2023-12-1440 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 70 | Bob SpragueDan and Ellen talk with Bob Sprague, a pioneer in hyperlocal journalism and the founder of yourArlington. Bob, who has lived in Arlington since 1989, was not only the founder: he was the editor of the website until July 1 of this year, when he retired. The new editor is Judith Pfeffer. Bob was an Arlington Town Meeting member in 1994, and was also a journalist. He has been a reporter and an editor at The Boston Globe and Boston Herald, among other publications. He founded the town's website in 1998, but also recognized a need for an independent, nonpartisan source o...
2023-11-3031 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 69 | Pri BenganiDan and Ellen talk with Priyanjana Bengani, a fellow in computational journalism at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia. Her work focuses on using computational techniques to research issues in digital media. Her most recent project, published in the Columbia Journalism Review, focused on uncovering networks of “pink slime” local news outlets. There have been several iterations of pink slime sites over the years, such as the North Boston News. (There's no such place as "North Boston," by the way.) They get their name from the pinkish beef paste that is added to hamburger meat.
2023-11-1630 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 68 | Meg HeckmanEllen and Dan talk with Meg Heckman, a colleague of ours at Northeastern University's school of journalism. Meg is an associate professor and author. She had a long career as a journalist. She spent more than a decade as a reporter and, later, the digital editor at the Concord (NH) Monitor, where she developed a fascination with presidential politics, a passion for local news and an appreciation for cars with four-wheel drive. Her book, “Political Godmother: Nackey Scripps Loeb and the Newspaper That Shook the Republican Party,” documents the lasting impact of New Hampshire publisher and conservative acti...
2023-11-0144 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 67 | Jason PramasDan talks with Jason Pramas, executive director of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and editor-in-chief of a new project called HorizonMass. (Ellen expects to return for the next episode.) Jason is a co-founder of BINJ, which partners with community publications on investigative stories and civic engagement initiatives, and offers training programs to promising young journalists. Now Jason is making a bold bet on the future of news by training a new generation of journalists. He's launching HorizonMass, a statewide digital news publication with a focus on public interest journalism. At HorizonMass, college interns work as reporters, d...
2023-10-121h 25What Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 66 | Catherine TumberDan and Ellen talk with Catherine Tumber, who was a former colleague of Dan's at The Boston Phoenix, a longtime friend, and a source for his 2013 book, "The Wired City." These days she’s an independent scholar and journalist who’s affiliated with the Penn Institute for Urban Research. She’s also a fellow at the MassINC Gateway Cities Innovation Institute and a contributing editor for The Baffler. She is the author of "Small, Gritty, and Green: The Promise of America's Smaller Industrial Cities in a Low-Carbon World." She holds a PhD and a master's degree from the Uni...
2023-09-3048 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 65 | Paul BassEllen and Dan talk with Paul Bass, the founder and former editor of the New Haven Independent. Bass is originally from White Plains, New York, but he arrived in New Haven in the late 1970s to attend Yale, and he has been reporting on all the quirks and glory of his adopted home town ever since. Bass was the main subject of Dan's 2013 book, "The Wired City," and is one of the news entrepreneurs featured in our forthcoming book, "What Works in Community News." Bass launched the New Haven Independent in 2005 as an online-only nonprofit. L...
2023-09-1442 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 64 | Nicci KadilakEllen and Dan talk with Nicci Kadilak, an educator, author, mom, and founder of the Burlington Buzz. The Buzz is a hyperlocal online news site serving Burlington, Massachusetts, a town of 26,000 people north and west of Boston. Kadilak created the Buzz in early 2022, when a town election was on the horizon and the local Gannett weekly, the Burlington Union, switched to regional coverage. In the 1980s, Burlington was covered by two weekly papers and The Daily Times Chronicle of Woburn, where Dan worked for quite a few years. Nicci uses the Substack platform, and charges a range of...
2023-08-1037 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 63 | Walter RobinsonEllen and Dan talk with Walter Robinson, a longtime investigative journalist and editor of The Boston Globe's Spotlight Team. Robby, as he is known, was instrumental in uncovering the clergy sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in Boston and beyond. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003. The team's work was captured onscreen in the movie "Spotlight," where Robby was played by the actor Michael Keaton. Robby is a former colleague – he was a distinguished professor of journalism here at Northeastern. He was also a 1974 graduate of Northeastern's journalism program, and participated in...
2023-07-1230 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 62 | Sue CrossEllen and Dan talk with Sue Cross, the veteran journalist who will step down as executive director and CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) by the end of 2023. Sue has led INN since 2015, and has overseen a period of tremendous growth. There were 117 nonprofit newsroom members listed in the INN's 2015 annual report. This year, INN has 425 member newsrooms. She has also been a driving force in the NewsMatch program, a collaborative fund-raising project that has helped raise more than $270 million for emerging newsrooms since its launch in 2016. Before joining INN, Cross was a journalist and executive at...
2023-06-2656 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 61 | Andy ThibaultEllen and Dan talk with Andy Thibault, editor and publisher of the Winsted Citizen in Connecticut. The Citizen is a monthly print newspaper serving Litchfield County and the surrounding area. The only digital presence is the Winsted Citizen Blog. But that's about to change, Thibault says. He's going digital. Starting a news organization is never easy, but the Citizen hit a brief speed bump. A speed bump named Ralph Nader. But according to Andy, everything is moving ahead just fine. Jack Walsh, a graduate student in Northeastern University's journalism program, joins Dan and Ellen to t...
2023-06-1637 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 60 | Brant HoustonDan and Ellen talk with Brant Houston, who is hard to describe in one sentence: he's an author, an educator, an investigative journalist, an expert in data-based reporting, and a co-founder of the Global Investigative Journalism Network and the Institute for Nonprofit News. His new book, "Changing Models for Journalism," chronicles the history of change, disruption, and reinvention in our industry over the past two decades. These are themes we explore on this podcast, and in our own forthcoming book. Brant takes us back to the early days of digital, and recounts the early optimism, and the...
2023-06-0246 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 59: Howard Owens of The BatavianDan and Ellen talk with Howard Owens, the publisher of The Batavian, a digital news organization in Genesee County, New York, way out near Buffalo. When Dan first met Howard, he was the director of digital publishing for GateHouse Media, which later morphed into Gannett. Howard launched The Batavian for GateHouse in 2008. In 2009, GateHouse eliminated Howard’s job, but they let him take The Batavian with him, and he’s been at it ever since. The Batavian’s website is loaded with well over 100 ads, reflecting his belief that ads should be put right in front of the rea...
2023-05-1851 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 58 | Lara Salahi, Endicott CollegeDan talks with Lara Salahi, a professor of journalism at Endicott College, where she teaches a range of courses, from feature writing to digital journalism. She has also been a digital producer for NBC Universal, and a field producer for ABC News. Salahi has also done some consulting and writing on science and health projects. She was executive producer on a podcast called Track the Vax, which ran during the height of the pandemic. And she collaborated with Pardis Sabeti, a systems biologist and Harvard professor who researches infectious diseases like Ebola and Lassa virus. They wrote a...
2023-05-0340 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsLinda Shapley, Colorado Community Media publisherLinda Shapley, the publisher of Colorado Community Media, describes herself as a longtime denizen of the state's media ecosystem. Indeed, she was at Colorado Politics and worked for 21 years for The Denver Post. “I’ve been a lieutenant for a lot of really great generals," she once said. "This is my opportunity to be a general.” CCM is a group of about two dozen weekly and monthly newspapers in the Denver suburbs. They were saved from chain ownership two years ago when they were purchased through a deal led by the National Trust for Local News. Last August...
2023-04-2054 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 56 | Mark HistedDan and Ellen talk with Mark Histed, a researcher at the Democracy Policy Network. DPN is a network of policy organizers who have a simple mission: Sustaining democracy. That work takes place largely at the local level. Mark and others at DPN do research and provide deep-dive policy kits that help local citizens and legislators champion big ideas. Mark leads the Local News Dollars effort and recently wrote a report on how states can establish a system where residents are issued vouchers they can use to subscribe or donate to the local journalism outlet of their choice. D...
2023-03-2035 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 55 | Greg MooreEllen and Dan talk with Greg Moore, former managing editor at The Boston Globe and longtime editor of The Denver Post. During his 14 years at the Post, the paper won four consecutive Pulitzer Prizes. He's led coverage of major stories, including the Aurora movie theater shooting in Colorado and the case of Charles Stuart in Boston. Greg is now editor-in-chief of the Expert Press, which helps connect specialists with media. He's still in Denver. As one of the most senior Black journalists in the country, Greg has been at the forefront of advocating for more diversity in t...
2023-02-2640 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 54 | Victor PickardEllen and Dan talk with Victor Pickard, a professor of media policy and political economy at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Before he was at Penn, he taught media studies at NYU. He is the author of "Democracy Without Journalism," among other books. Pickard has contributed to the debate about the local news crisis in many different settings. He worked on media policy in Washington at the New America Foundation, and he served as a policy fellow for former US Congresswoman Diane Watson. Dan has a Quick Take on two p...
2023-02-1235 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 53 | Anne LarnerDan and Ellen talk with Anne Larner, a civic leader in Newton, Massachusetts, a city of nearly 90,000 people on the border of Boston. Anne is on the Board of Directors of The Newton Beacon, an independent nonprofit news outlet covering Newton. Anne has a long track record of civic engagement in Newton and in Massachusetts. She moved to Newton in 1973, and has served on the School Committee, the Newton League of Women Voters, and has been a PTO president, among many roles. She also served 15 years at the MBTA Advisory Board, a public watchdog agency. Newton is...
2023-01-3149 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 52 | Adam GaffinDan and Ellen talk with Adam Gaffin, founder of the Universal Hub and inventor of the French Toast Alert System). Dan wrote a profile of Adam for CommonWealth Magazine in 2008. Adam has been a local connector since the earliest days of digital self-publishing — well before blogging, putting he put together a directory of websites called New England Online in the early ’90s and then morphing that into Boston Online. Ellen has a Quick Take on a young journalist who lost her job at West Virginia Public Broadcasting after she reported on alleged government abuses in the state's foster...
2023-01-2143 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 51 | Mike BlinderDan and Ellen talk to Mike Blinder, the publisher of Editor & Publisher, the once and future bible of the publishing industry. Mike also hosts E&P's weekly vodcast series, "E&P Reports." Blinder has interviewed everyone from Richard Tofel, founding GM of ProPublica, to Jennifer Kho, the new executive editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, to professor and media critic Jeff Jarvis. Blinder probes important issues like government support for community journalism, the role of platforms, and the impact of chain consolidation. Dan has a Quick Take on the failure of two bills in Congress that would have pr...
2023-01-1257 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 50 | Margaret LowEllen and Dan talk with Margaret Low, the CEO of WBUR, one of Boston's two public radio stations. Margaret started as CEO in January 2020. She has had a 40-plus-year career with NPR, and started as an overnight production assistant at Morning Edition. At NPR, Low rose through the ranks and ended up in the top editorial job, where she oversaw 400 journalists worldwide, covering events like the Arab Spring, the re-election of Barack Obama, and the Boston Marathon bombing. She led a digital transformation of her newsroom. She turned Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, the Saturday morning quiz show, into a...
2022-12-0238 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 49 | Crystal GoodDan and Ellen talk with Crystal Good, the founder of Black by God, the West Virginian. She's a sixth-generation West Virginian, and she's a storyteller and poet. She has also been a model and an advocate. She describes Black by God as an "emerging news and storytelling organization centering Black voices from the Mountain State." She wants to provide a more nuanced portrayal of Black residents in the Appalachian region. Dan and Northeastern graduate student Dakotah Kennedy first heard Crystal Good speak in September at the Radically Rural conference in Keene, New Hampshire — not from the stage but...
2022-11-1948 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 48 | Mary Margaret WhiteDan and Ellen talk with Mary Margaret White, the CEO of Mississippi Today, a nonprofit digital news outlet that has been covering the state for more than six years. The staff has a robust presence at the statehouse in Jackson, and provides cultural and sports coverage, as well. Mary Margaret is a Mississippi native. She has a bachelor’s in English and journalism and a master’s in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. She also spent almost 10 years working for the state, with jobs in arts and tourism. Her work has appeared in The Listening Post...
2022-11-1229 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 47 | Nancy WestDan and Ellen talk with Nancy West, executive editor of InDepthNH.org. Nancy was an investigative reporter during her 30-year career at the New Hampshire Union Leader. Nancy founded the nonprofit New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism in 2015. She has also taught investigative reporting at a summer program for students at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. Ellen has a Quick Take on a recent article by Dan Froomkin in Washington Monthly. Froomkin, who is now editor of Press Watch, used to work for The Washington Post. He has been critical of owner Jef...
2022-11-0341 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 46 | Jeff JacobyDan and Ellen talk with Jeff Jacoby, longtime columnist for The Boston Globe Opinion Pages. Jeff also writes the weekly "Arguable" newsletter. Jeff holds degrees from George Washington University and from Boston University Law School, and before entering journalism, he briefly practiced law. He was also an assistant to Dr. John Silber, the prickly president of Boston University. Prompted by a column Jeff wrote in June, and spurred on by the impending midterm elections, the podcast features a free-form discussion of whether newspaper editorial pages should endorse candidates in presidential races. Dan has a...
2022-10-2752 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 45 | David CicillineDan and Ellen talk with David Cicilline, who represents the First District of Rhode Island in Congress. Cicilline, who is a Democrat, is part of a bipartisan group of US representatives and senators sponsoring the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. Co-sponsors include Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota; Republican Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana; Republican congressman Ken Buck from Colorado; and Senate and House Judiciary Committee Chairs Dick Durbin , an Illinois Democrat, and Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat. The JCPA removes legal obstacles to news organizations’ ability to negotiate collectively and secure fair terms from gatekeeper platf...
2022-10-2125 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 44 | David DahlDan and Ellen talk with David Dahl, editor of The Maine Monitor. David was most recently a deputy managing editor at The Boston Globe. Among his jobs at The Globe: directing hyperlocal Your Town coverage. The pull of Maine was strong, however. He and his wife, Kathy, have a home in Friendship, Maine. When he decided that he was ready to turn the page, he looked Down East. Dan has a Quick Take on Bulletin, a feature developed by Facebook to compete with Substack. Sarah Scire has the scoop: Bulletin is shutting down. Ellen has a Quick Take...
2022-10-1350 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 43 | Anne GallowayDan and Ellen talk with Anne Galloway, the founder and editor-at-large of VTDigger in Vermont. Like many journalists, she was laid off in 2009 from her job as Sunday editor of the Rutland Herald and Times Argus. VTDigger, which is a nonprofit, started with a $16,000 budget with no employees. As she put it in a recent letter to readers, it has grown beyond her wildest dreams. It's the largest newsroom in Vermont. It has dozens of employees and more than 550,000 monthly readers. Galloway not only built the organization, she also wrote notable investigative pieces. Among other issues, she broke open a...
2022-10-0645 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 42 | David GreisingDan and Ellen talk with David Greising, the president and chief executive of the Better Government Association, a century-old civic nonprofit organization that is also home to a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom as part of a new collaboration with the Illinois Solution Partnership. The new partnership is funded by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. The BGA separates its investigations team and policy team, in order to wall off its journalism from its advocacy work. In May of 2022, Madison Hopkins of the BGA and Cecilia Reyes of the Chicago Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting for an i...
2022-09-2941 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 41 | Hermione MaloneDan and Ellen talk with Hermione Malone, vice president of strategy and startups for the American Journalism Project. The AJP describes itself as a nonprofit venture philanthropy organization that focuses on supporting the future of local news. The AJP makes grants to nonprofit news organizations, partners with communities to launch new organizations, and coaches leaders as they grow and sustain their newsrooms. Hermione oversees local philanthropy partnerships. In that role, she helps nonprofit news startups get started, and nurtures coalitions of community stakeholders and local philanthropies. Her career has included work in diversity and inclusion and in co...
2022-09-2235 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 40 | Ethan ZuckermanDan and Ellen talk with Ethan Zuckerman, associate professor of public policy, communication and information at UMass-Amherst. He's also founder of the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, which is studying how to build alternatives to the commercial internet. And Ethan co-founded a local news initiative with global reach, a blogging community called Global Voices. An alum of the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard and the MIT Media Lab, he is the author of two books. The latest is titled “Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them.” It's a powerful look at the rise...
2022-09-1550 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 39 | Terry WilliamsDan and Ellen talk with Terrence Williams, president and COO of The Keene Sentinel in Keene, New Hampshire, one of the oldest newspapers in the country. Terry and The Keene Sentinel are the creators of the Radically Rural conference, now in its fifth year, which will be held later in September. The conference looks at issues such as housing, farming, the environment and — most important to us — community journalism. Dan has a Quick Take on The Salt Lake Tribune's new venture, called Mormon Land. Ellen highlights a podcast called Shevotes, which recounts the battle for suffrage and recounts historic effor...
2022-09-0934 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 38 | On Gannett, NJ Spotlight News, and the Lexington ObserverDan and Ellen dive into their reporter's notebooks, catching up with NJ Spotlight News, the Lexington Observer, the transition at The Texas Tribune, and the turmoil at the Iowa Graphic-Advocate (both of them). Dan recaps Gannett's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and Ellen has a rave for Emily Rooney's Beat The Press podcast and her interview with legendary WCVB-TV news anchor Natalie Jacobson.
2022-08-1036 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 37 | Elizabeth Hansen ShapiroDan and Ellen talk with Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, CEO and co-founder of the National Trust for Local News. She is also a senior research fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School in New York. At the Tow Center, Dr. Hansen Shapiro’s work focuses on the future of local journalism and the policies needed to assure that future. Her research involves audience engagement and revenue strategies, as well as the relationship between news and social platforms. She holds a PhD in organizational behavior from Harvard Business School. The National Trust for Local New...
2022-08-0446 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 36 | Tim CocoDan and Ellen talk with Tim Coco, president and general manager of Public Media of New England. Coco is known for his work as a journalist and advertising executive. He oversees day-to-day operations at the low-power FM station WHAV, which can be found at 97.9 on the radio dial if you happen to be in the Haverhill area. The station also streams at WHAV.net. WHAV was launched in 1947 by the Haverhill Gazette newspaper under the auspices of a publisher who was distantly related to the Taylor family, which then owned The Boston Globe. Coco revived the station ab...
2022-07-2032 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 35 | Steve WaldmanDan and Ellen talk with Steve Waldman, the president and co-founder of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on undercovered communities. Steve came up with the concept in 2014 and joined forces with The Ground Truth Project to launch RFA in 2017. In the projects we're reporting on for this podcast and for our book, "What Works: The Future of Local News," we've run across a number of RFA corps members. They usually have a couple of years of experience but are relatively new to the business, although there are a few...
2022-07-1343 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 34 | John GarrettDan and Ellen talk with John Garrett, who, along with his wife, Jennifer, started the monthly Community Impact Newspaper in 2005 in Texas. They had three full-time employees and covered two towns in Texas, Round Rock and Pflugerville. Community Impact expanded into Arizona and Tennessee, and by 2018, Forbes reported, the Garretts had 220 employees and annual revenue of $27 million. They have an online presence, of course, but they also believe in print: their newspapers are distributed by mail every month. They even opened their own printing plant to handle their newspaper and other jobs. They have a sign out...
2022-07-0640 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 33 | Mike DeehanDan and Ellen talk with Mike Deehan, a savvy Boston journalist who is part of the new Axios Boston newsletter. Mike's colleague at Axios Boston, Steph Solis, was scheduled to join the discussion but was out reporting on reaction to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Deehan and Solis have been reporting on Massachusetts news and politics for a number of years. Mike was formerly digital content editor for State House News Service, editor of Massterlist, and worked for the Dorchester Reporter. Steph worked for Masslive, and was an immigration reporter for the USA Today Network...
2022-06-2937 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 32 | Hanna RaskinEllen and Dan talk with Hanna Raskin, founder and editor of The Food Section, a Substack newsletter devoted to covering restaurants and trends in food across the South. Before starting her Substack last year, Hanna was food editor and critic for eight years at the family-owned Charleston Post & Courier in South Carolina. Hanna also covered food for alternative weeklies, including the Mountain XPress in Asheville, North Carolina, and Seattle Weekly. Dan offers a Quick Take on The Baltimore Banner, a nonprofit news project that finally made its long-awaited debut. He wishes them all good luck but...
2022-06-2234 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 31 | Dr. Meredith ClarkDan and Ellen talk with their colleague at Northeastern University, Dr. Meredith Clark. Dr. Clark is an associate professor in the School of Journalism & the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern. Before arriving at Northeastern, she was a faculty fellow at Data & Society, an independent nonprofit research organization based in New York that examines some of the questions being raised by the massive increase in the use of data in all aspects of society. Dr. Clark's research is on the intersections of race, media, and power, and she's studied everything from newsroom hiring and reporting practices to s...
2022-06-1551 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 30 | Steve Rosenberg and Linda MatchanDan and Ellen talk with Steve Rosenberg, editor of the Jewish Journal in Massachusetts, and Linda Matchan, who was named associate editor in February. Both Steve and Linda had long and productive careers at The Boston Globe. Steve worked for 15 years as a staff writer and columnist, writing about cities and towns north of Boston. He was also editor of the Jewish Advocate. Linda worked at the Globe for 36 years. During her extensive career, she did a little bit of everything, from investigative reporting to feature writing to spot news. Dan shares a Quick Take on ...
2022-06-0838 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 29 | Otis SanfordDan and Ellen talk with Professor Otis Sanford, who is something of a journalistic legend in Memphis. As a general assignment reporter at The Commercial Appeal in 1977, Sanford covered the death of Elvis Presley. He also covered courts, county government and politics before being promoted into management. After stints at the Pittsburgh Press and Detroit Free Press, Sanford returned to The Commercial Appeal. In 2002 he was named managing editor and in 2007 he became editorial page editor. As opinion editor in Memphis, Sanford launched a Citizen's Editorial Board. While that was a number of years ago, Sanford was ah...
2022-06-0241 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 28 | Kara Meyberg GuzmanKara Meyberg Guzman is CEO and co-founder of Santa Cruz Local in California. Before the Local, she was managing editor of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. She left her job at the Sentinel, which is owned by Alden Global Capital's Media News Group, in 2018, citing differences with the company's management. Kara connected with another former Sentinel reporter, Stephen Baxter, and the two of them hatched a plan for the Local. They focus on public policy issues that affect the whole county, like housing, development and public health. The Local is a private company, owned by the co-founders. The revenue model is...
2022-05-2541 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsEpisode 27 | Encore Edition with Julie ReynoldsIn this Encore Edition of What Works, freelance investigative journalist Julie Reynolds talks about her singular pursuit of the truth about Alden Global Capital, the secretive New York hedge fund that has gobbled up newspapers across the country, stripping assets and firing reporters. Reynolds connects the dots from Alden to Cerberus Capital Management, the "shadow bank" that backed Alden's recent takeover of Tribune Publishing. Dan explores pink slime news sites, and Ellen reports on some good news for newspaper readers in the town that inspired Frostbite Falls, home to Rocky and Bullwinkle. Dan and Ellen interviewed Julie i...
2022-05-1929 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 26 | Jonathan DotanJonathan Dotan is founding director of The Starling Lab for Data Integrity at Stanford University. The lab focuses on tools to help historians, legal experts and journalists protect images, text and other data from bad actors who want to manipulate that data to create deep fakes or expunge it altogether. He has founded and led a number of digital startups, he worked at the Motion Picture Association of America, and he was a writer and producer for the HBO series "Silicon Valley." While he was working on "Silicon Valley," a character invented a new technology that got hi...
2022-05-1143 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 25 | Kristen HareKristen Hare is a journalist, media watcher and faculty member at Poynter Institute in Florida. Kristen not only documents trends in our beleaguered industry, but she also teaches local journalists the critical skills they need to cover their communities effectively. Before joining Poynter's faculty, she spent eight years covering local news for Poynter's website. In addition to all of this, she also spent two years with the Peace Corps in Guyana, in South America. At Poynter, she writes a weekly newsletter about local news called Local Edition. She's also got experience in a number of local newsrooms. She has reported f...
2022-05-0346 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 24 | Mike ShapiroMike Shapiro is the founder and CEO of TAPinto, a network of more than 85 online local news sites in New Jersey, New York and Florida. Shapiro launched TAPInto in 2008. Back then it was called TheAlternativePress.com and the goal was to build a network of hyperlocal news sites covering New Jersey towns. His core idea is relatively simple. Would-be editors and publishers are actually franchisees. They pay a fee to buy into a turnkey operation that gives them access to technology and marketing resources. Shapiro's team provides training and maintains the infrastructure, but these publishers are responsible for maintaining...
2022-04-2748 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 23 | Ed MillerEd Miller is co-founder and editor of the weekly Provincetown Independent. Founded in October 2019, the weekly competes with Gannett’s Provincetown Banner. The Independent covers Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet and Eastham and Miller explains why he believes that a print-centric strategy is essential on the tip of the Cape. The Independent is a hybrid organization — a for-profit public benefit corporation that works in tandem with a nonprofit that Ed and co-founder and publisher Teresa Parker have also created. Up until now, the nonprofit, the Local Journalism Project, has operated under the fiscal sponsorship of the Center for the Study of Public Policy...
2022-04-2051 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 22 | Ellen and Dan debriefThis week, co-hosts Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy run down a number of news stories, including a major deal in New Jersey: The nonprofit Corporation for New Jersey Local Media (CNJLM) acquired 14 weekly newspapers serving some 50 municipalities. The papers are owned by the New Jersey Hills Media Group. The deal is similar to one announced last year when Colorado Community Media sold its 24 weekly and monthly newspapers in a complex deal involving several nonprofit organizations. The difference is that management of the Colorado papers was turned over to The Colorado Sun, a digital start-up that was awarded a...
2022-04-1335 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 21 | Em CasselEm Cassel is editor and co-owner of The Racket, a reader-funded website covering politics, music, arts and culture in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. (She was also a student in Dan's digital journalism course at Northeastern University.) Em made a name for herself as food editor, managing editor, and editor-in-chief of City Pages in the Twin Cities. She was the first woman editor in the 41-year history of that publication. City Pages, which was bought by the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2015, was shut down in late 2020. The company said it wasn't economically viable, citing the pandemic. Em provides s...
2022-04-0539 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 20 | Jody BrannonJody Brannon, director of the Center for Journalism & Liberty at the Open Markets Institute, started her career in print in her native Seattle. Never one to shy from a challenge (she's an avid skiier and beamed in from the snowy mountains of Idaho), she transitioned to digital relatively early on in the revolution. She has had leadership or consulting roles at washingtonpost.com, usatoday.com, msn.com, as well as the tech universe. She served on the board of the Online News Association for 10 years and holds a PhD in mass communication from the University of Maryland. T...
2022-03-3132 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 19 |Chris KrewsonChris Krewson is the executive director of Local Independent Online News Publishers, better known as LION Publishers. The national nonprofit aims at supporting local journalism entrepreneurs and has some 400 members. LION tapped Chris as its leader in 2019, and he brings significant digital experience to the job. In fact, he's had many prior lives. He was the top editor at Billy Penn, a mobile-first local start-up in Philadelphia launched by the legendary Jim Brady that’s now part of public radio station WHYY. He’s also the former top digital editor for Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The M...
2022-03-2146 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 18 | Pam JohnstonPam Johnston, general manager for news with GBH, has a deep background in local television in Boston at WLVI, and earlier at local stations in Raleigh, North Carolina and Portland, Maine. At GBH, which is a public media company, she has a broad portfolio. She is responsible for news operations across all platforms, including radio, television and digital. She also supervises two NPR programs, GBH's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Pam joined GBH in 2012 as director of audience development for Frontline, the investigative series, where she is credited with diversifying the audience and connecting it with long-form documentaries, vi...
2022-03-1640 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 17 | Lex WeaverLex Weaver is editor-in-chief of The Scope at Northeastern University. The Scope is a digital magazine focused on telling stories of justice, hope and resilience in Greater Boston, with an emphasis on communities of color. Their mission: practicing journalism as an act of service. They work to amplify the voices of those overlooked by traditional media. Dan looks at The Boston Globe as it turns 150, and Ellen reports on a California bill aimed at funding local public interest journalism.
2022-03-0851 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 16 |Ken DoctorKen Doctor, a former Knight Ridder executive and longtime media analyst, recently rejoined the ranks of working journalists. He's the founder and CEO of Lookout Local, a digital local news site in Santa Cruz, California. Ken hopes that Lookout Local can provide a model of what works in the local news ecosystem. He says he wants to change the conversation.
2022-03-0244 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 15 | Babz Rawls IvyBabz Rawls Ivy is host and co-producer of LoveBabz LoveTALK on WNHH LP radio in New Haven. But that doesn't begin to describe her. So let's add a few more words: Force of nature. Wise presence. Storyteller. WNHH is a low-power FM community station launched seven years ago by the New Haven Independent, a pioneering online nonprofit news site. Paul Bass, founder and editor of the Independent, wanted to bring powerful local voices onto the airwaves. Babz Rawls Ivy brings truth-telling to a whole new level. Dan shares the latest on Gannett's downgrading of local coverage, and Ellen asks...
2022-02-2330 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 14 | Lincoln Millstein Lincoln Millstein played a critical role in launching The Boston Globe's free digital site, boston.com. Boston.com began as a portal, and carried Globe journalism but also curated other news sites and community blogs. It had a separate staff, and the office was in downtown Boston, not in the old Dorchester plant. Lincoln went on to be executive vice president at New York Times Digital, then moved on to the Hearst Corporation, where he held a number of different roles. When Lincoln retired as senior assistant to CEO Steven Swartz of Hearst in 2018, he wondered what w...
2022-02-1640 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 13 | Inés San Martín and John AllenInés San Martín and John Allen join the What Works podcast to discuss the founding of Crux, a digital site that covers all things Catholic, and the "corporate resurrection" that took place three days after The Boston Globe shut it down. Crux quickly partnered with the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service organization, and now is a hybrid business model combining nonprofit support, crowd-funding and advertising. Ellen shares an update on a high-impact investigative project by Sahan Journal, and Dan discusses the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill but is not a pe...
2022-02-0846 minWhat Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 11 | Myojung Chung and John WihbeyMyojung Chung and John Wihbey, colleagues from Northeastern University's School of Journalism, share the findings from their new working paper, published by Northeastern's Ethics Institute. They and their colleagues examined attitudes about the regulation of social media in four countries: the U.K., Mexico, South Korea and the U.S. With Facebook (or Meta) under fire for its role in amplifying disinformation and hate speech, their research has implications for how the platforms might be regulated. And whether such regulations would be accepted by the public. Ellen and Dan kick around a nonprofit merger in Chicago and a new project...
2022-01-2439 min
What Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 10 | Jaida Grey EagleJaida Grey Eagle is a photojournalist working for the Sahan Journal in Minneapolis through Report For America. She is Oglala Lakota and was born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and raised in Minneapolis. Her photography has been published in a wide range of publications, and featured on a billboard on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. She is also a co-producer of "Sisters Rising," a documentary film about six Native American women reclaiming person and tribal sovereignty in the face of sexual violence. Dan and Ellen offer quick takes on paywalls and media companies that target well-heeled readers, and on...
2022-01-1830 min
What Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 9 | Joshua DarrJoshua Darr, a professor at Louisiana State University, is right in the What Works sweet spot: His research delves into the divisive partisan rhetoric that infuses our national political debate and whether communities with a vibrant local news source experience less polarization. Dan and Ellen talk with Joshua about his research, as well as the Trusting News project report on how local and regional news organizations can do a better job of connecting with conservative audiences. Dan offers a quick take on plans by Axios to expand local news sites into 25 cities in 2022, and Ellen looks at a promising...
2022-01-1022 min
What Works: The Future of Local NewsWhat Works Episode 7 | Damon KiesowDamon Kiesow is a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where he holds the Knight Chair in Digital Editing and Producing. But Dan and Ellen first met Damon about 10 years ago when he was at The Boston Globe, developing mobile products for Boston.com and BostonGlobe.com. He focuses on something called human-centered design: how readers interact with a print newspaper versus a digital site. Dan and Ellen also look at a collaborative effort to fight corruption in South Carolina, and the vibrant Boston Phoenix archives that have been digitized by Northeastern University.
2021-12-2224 min