What Works in Community News : Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate - Dan Kennedy

What Works in Community News

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

By: Dan Kennedy

Paperback | 12 November 2024

At a Glance

Paperback


$40.25

or 4 interest-free payments of $10.06 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

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


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.

More in Media, Entertainment, Information & Communication Industries

Scattershot : Life, Music, Elton and Me - Bernie Taupin

BOXING DAY

RRP $34.99

$13.95

60%
OFF
Storytellers : questions, answers and the craft of journalism - Leigh Sales
Killing Time - Jimmy Barnes

Paperback

RRP $27.99

$26.50

How to Disappear - Colin Greenwood

RRP $55.00

$39.90

27%
OFF
Cher : The Memoir, Part One - Cher

RRP $49.99

$35.95

28%
OFF
Manufacturing Consent : The Political Economy of the Mass Media - Noam Chomsky
Tokyo Vice : A Western Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan - Jake Adelstein