Eric Rynston Lobel

Articles

Articles by or about Eric Rynston Lobel

research | Apr 6, 2026

Searching for sustainability New report finds nonprofit news outlets need to develop robust revenue outside philanthropy to succeed long term

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Digital-first nonprofit newsrooms are generating only a fraction of the revenue of the newspaper industry from 20 years ago, and their “earned revenue” through things like subscriptions and memberships make up only about a quarter to a third of their total funding. Those are the findings of a report released on Thursday from the Wyncote Foundation, which concludes that philanthropists likely will need to support these outlets for an extended time to preserve their sustainability. That...

Continue Reading
trends | Mar 31, 2026

Going Underground What local newsrooms can learn from informal news networks

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Over the course of human history, write Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in “The Elements of Journalism,” the spread of news and information was quite basic. “They wanted people who could run swiftly over the next hill, accurately gather information, and engagingly retell it,” they say of how people valued the idea of “journalism” centuries ago. In other words, the concept of people relying on their friends and neighbors to find out what’s happening around...

Continue Reading
news | Mar 18, 2026

Medill awards funding to Chicago local media organizations The Bigs takes home a $10,000 first-place prize

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Terrence Tomlin and Eugene McIntosh didn’t expect to walk away from a week at Medill’s Media Innovation and Leadership Academy (MILA) with a check for $10,000. But as they’ve learned through their decade of pioneering their sports media company The Bigs, they’ve carved out a space for themselves in the Chicago media landscape. The Bigs began as an idea in McIntosh’s one-bedroom apartment in Hyde Park in 2015. Fast forward to 2026, the Black-owned sports...

Continue Reading
news | Mar 5, 2026

Chicago-area publications join Arizona State’s NEWSWELL Growing Community Media donates its four publications, seeks long-term sustainability

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Last summer, interim executive director Max Reinsdorf knew Growing Community Media (GCM) needed to find a more sustainable path forward. The financials simply weren’t adding up. GCM, which includes four newspapers in the west suburbs and West Side of Chicago, already had converted these titles from commercial to nonprofit status six years ago, but that wasn’t enough. Now he believes he’s found a pathway to sustainability: NEWSWELL, a nonprofit associated with Arizona State University. On...

Continue Reading
trends | Feb 24, 2026

All in on high school sports At the Minnesota Star Tribune, an investment decades in the making takes shape

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

There’s no shortage of reasons why Chris Carr loves high school sports — the community, the joy and the camaraderie, among them. For 25 years, he’s worked at the Minnesota Star Tribune, mostly in the sports department, and now he’s helping lead the way for the paper’s latest endeavor: Strib Varsity, a high school sports desk that not only writes stories but tracks stats and scores and broadcasts live streams for hundreds of schools around...

Continue Reading
research | Feb 19, 2026

The Media Ecosystem Chicago A deep dive into the Windy City’s innovative and expansive media landscape

This text was adapted from our report on the Chicago Media Ecosystem. Download a full PDF version of the report. In early 2025, Project C, an organization that works to equip independent journalists with tools to succeed in the independent creator economy, introduced the News Ecosystem Framework — a visual tool that charts a comprehensive continuum of news industry models. The aim of the framework was to contextualize creator-model journalism as part of a broader and...

Continue Reading
research | Feb 10, 2026

With no local news, those in news deserts turn to social media feeds, influencers and gossip Medill Local News Initiative survey shows America’s fraying relationship to reliable information.

Roughly half of people in news deserts relied on non-journalistic sources, not news organizations More than 200 news desert counties in the U.S. predominantly located in rural areas Many in news deserts don’t think of themselves as being deprived of local news sources In local news deserts in the U.S., residents rely heavily on social media and other non-journalistic sources to stay informed, according to a comprehensive survey by the Medill Local News Initiative at...

Continue Reading
news | Feb 9, 2026

Alden Global Capital makes push to buy Daily Herald in Chicago suburbs Full-page ad argues investment firm will pay the highest price

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Alden Global Capital, the private equity fund that owns the Chicago Tribune and more than 160 other newspapers across the United States, wants to add the Daily Herald to its portfolio. The company, which operates through MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing, is the second largest local news publisher in the U.S. behind Gannett. Alden published a full-page ad in Sunday’s edition of the Chicago Tribune to express interest in acquiring the employee-owned Daily Herald, which...

Continue Reading
Q&A | Jan 20, 2026

Los Angeles’ local news experiment New startup looks to combine old-school and new-school journalism

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

On Sunday, L.A. Reported launched as the latest startup in the country’s second-largest city. The organization was founded by Scott Woolley, formerly Forbes’ West Coast bureau chief, and David Dreier, former chairman of the Tribune Publishing Company who previously spent 32 years in Congress. Along with inaugural editor Karin Klein, who worked at the Los Angeles Times for 35 years, the outlet aims to bring a mix of old-school style to a new-school platform. Primarily distributed...

Continue Reading
news | Jan 16, 2026

Pittsburgh’s next steps How the Post-Gazette’s closure could impact the local media landscape

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

In May, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — founded three years before George Washington became the first president of the United States — will cease operations. The paper’s owner, Block Communications Inc. made the announcement on Jan. 7, following a court ruling that ruled against the company in a protracted dispute with an employee union. Over the last 20 years, the announcement said, the paper has lost over $350 million. It’s the latest high-profile case of a legacy newspaper...

Continue Reading
trends | Jan 6, 2026

Turning Back the Clock At Newsday on Long Island, a nostalgia beat brings massive traffic

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

In another era, Long Islanders fell asleep hearing the frantic commercials for Crazy Eddie (“His prices are insane!”) and the dry humor from Coronet’s Furniture (“No talking orangutans”) on their TV sets; they spent their summers in share houses on Fire Island and enjoying ice cream sundaes at Jahn’s; they celebrated birthdays at United Skates; and they flocked to clubs to see musicians, from reggae icon Jimmy Cliff to Long Island-native rock-and-roll pianist Billy Joel. For many, those memories are still vivid decades...

Continue Reading
trends | Dec 2, 2025

Rapidly Expanding Local News Networks Nonprofit and for-profit news networks are expanding local news in places that need it

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

When Michael Shapiro started TAPinto, you couldn’t miss him around town. He was president of the Rotary Club, on the board of the chamber of commerce and at any event you could think of around New Providence, New Jersey, a suburb of roughly 14,000 about the distance of a marathon west of New York City. “If you were in town, you couldn’t go to any kind of function in the town without seeing me,” Shapiro...

Continue Reading
news | Nov 12, 2025

Paths to sustainability New LION report says local news organizations need to focus more on business side

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

News organizations with staff focused on revenue generation had a median revenue 700% higher than news outlets without it, according to a report released by Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers on Wednesday. The exhaustive LION report of its members’ activities outlines a framework for thinking about the future of sustainability for local independent online news organizations. “One of the first things that I was excited about that we did at LION — and this really took...

Continue Reading
trends | Oct 28, 2025

With news creators and influencers on the rise, what’s next for local news? ‘It’s just much more approachable’

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Jonah Fialkow has never considered himself to be a sports journalist. He sells beer and hot dogs as a vendor at Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs, after all. But he also has a TikTok account with more than 50,000 followers. There’s little objectivity in his work (he’s such a big Cubs fan that he wrote his college admissions essay about Wrigley Field), and some of his commentary, that sometimes include clips of him selling...

Continue Reading
trends | Oct 8, 2025

The Marvel in Mullen Gerri Peterson’s Nebraska Paper Bucks the Trend in Rural America, Finds Pathway to Success

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Try searching the McDonald’s website for the restaurant closest to zip code 69152, and you’ll receive an apology: no restaurants in that area. Try the same search for a Walmart, and you’ll receive a similar message. Zip code 69152 belongs to Mullen, Nebraska, a village of roughly 465 residents tucked into Hooker County, population 698. Located in the western part of the state in the Nebraska Sandhills, the closest McDonald’s and Walmart are a three-hour...

Continue Reading
trends | Sep 17, 2025

Going cold turkey Is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Gambit to Dump Print a Harbinger?

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

When Julia Wallace heard the news, she had a flashback to 20 years ago. On Aug. 28, president and publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Andrew Morse made the seismic announcement: As of Jan. 1, 2026, the AJC would become a fully digital operation. It would stop printing a physical newspaper, something it has done since shortly after the Civil War. “The fact is, many more people engage with our digital platforms and products today than...

Continue Reading
policy | Aug 28, 2025

Does the decline of local news influence our politics? This former U.S. Senator thinks so Decreased ticket splitting, less accountability more common with local news outlets disappearing

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

When Montana voters sent Jon Tester to the United States Senate for the first time in 2006, the Democratic Party also won Senate elections in North Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia. At the time, the party’s senators also included members from Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana and South Dakota. Republicans, meanwhile, represented states including Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia. Nearly 20 years later, Maine is the only one...

Continue Reading
news | Aug 4, 2025

Stop the Presses? Does Print Have More of a Future in Media Than We Think?

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Stephen Crane knows some people think he’s out of his mind. It’s July 2025, and he’s celebrating the second anniversary of his passion project: the Morgan County Correspondent, a weekly newspaper he started to provide coverage of his hometown county to the southwest of Indianapolis. A county of 73,000 people with both suburban and rural enclaves, Crane couldn’t stand seeing the two papers in his community — the Gannett-owned Mooresville Times and the Reporter-Times —...

Continue Reading
discussion | Jul 23, 2025

Local News Summit Chuck Todd Talks Local News with Michigan Press Leaders

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Public media cuts, increased collaboration and the importance of local sports headlined a panel at a Local Media Association’s summit in Detroit on Wednesday aimed at raising the visibility of the challenges facing local news, potential solutions and its impact on communities. Over the last two decades, Michigan has lost about 40% of its newspapers, well above the national average of about 33%, according to Medill’s State of Local News Report. The event aimed to...

Continue Reading
trends | Jul 10, 2025

Journalist Deserts The Number of Local Journalists Has Plummeted 75% Since 2002, Study Says

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

The United States has seen a staggering 75% decline in local journalists since 2002, according to a report released on Thursday by Rebuild Local News and Muck Rack. In their research that creates the Local Journalist Index, they found that more than 1,000 (of the 3,141) U.S. counties do not have even one full-time local journalist, and the shortage isn’t limited to rural areas. Even in densely populated cities like Los Angeles, there are very few...

Continue Reading
news | Jul 3, 2025

Government Agency Buys Newspaper Does The New Owner Represent A Savior, A Conflict Or Both?

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Joe Turnham knew it would be cataclysmic if The Tuskegee News closed its doors. He’s seen all the maps showing the collapse of local news. He’s seen what happens in communities that lose their local paper. He didn’t want Macon County, Alabama to join the list. So when Gayle Davis, the then-owner of the paper in her mid-80s, was prepared to shut things down in the absence of a buyer, Turnham convinced his employer to...

Continue Reading
Q&A | Jun 26, 2025

Meet the Local Press Champion Former “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd Thinks Local Sports Can Help Save Local News

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Few people have as much experience in political media as Chuck Todd, who hosted NBC’s public affairs program “Meet the Press” for nine years and worked at the network for almost two decades. He stepped down as anchor of “Meet the Press” in 2023 following a change in management at NBC News and left the network earlier this year. In 2024, he’d criticized NBC on the air for hiring former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel...

Continue Reading
experiments | Jun 18, 2025

Shifting Sandboxes Two Legacy Local News Outlets Are Finding New Audiences and Revenue in Nontraditional Places

by Eric Rynston-Lobel

Melanie Jongsma still smiles when you call her a ‘YouTuber.’ It’s not a title she would’ve imagined being associated with when she took over as publisher of The Lansing Journal in 2020. All she wanted at the time was to keep local news afloat in her hometown in the south suburbs of Chicago. But as recently as nine months ago, some of the videos she posted to The Lansing Journal’s YouTube channel received north of...

Continue Reading

Eric Rynston-Lobel

Contributing researcher, consultant and writer

Articles

Searching for sustainability New report finds nonprofit news outlets need to develop robust revenue outside philanthropy to succeed long term

Going Underground What local newsrooms can learn from informal news networks

Medill awards funding to Chicago local media organizations The Bigs takes home a $10,000 first-place prize

Chicago-area publications join Arizona State’s NEWSWELL Growing Community Media donates its four publications, seeks long-term sustainability

All in on high school sports At the Minnesota Star Tribune, an investment decades in the making takes shape

The Media Ecosystem Chicago A deep dive into the Windy City’s innovative and expansive media landscape

With no local news, those in news deserts turn to social media feeds, influencers and gossip Medill Local News Initiative survey shows America’s fraying relationship to reliable information.

Alden Global Capital makes push to buy Daily Herald in Chicago suburbs Full-page ad argues investment firm will pay the highest price

Los Angeles’ local news experiment New startup looks to combine old-school and new-school journalism

Pittsburgh’s next steps How the Post-Gazette’s closure could impact the local media landscape

Turning Back the Clock At Newsday on Long Island, a nostalgia beat brings massive traffic

Rapidly Expanding Local News Networks Nonprofit and for-profit news networks are expanding local news in places that need it

Paths to sustainability New LION report says local news organizations need to focus more on business side

With news creators and influencers on the rise, what’s next for local news? ‘It’s just much more approachable’

The Marvel in Mullen Gerri Peterson’s Nebraska Paper Bucks the Trend in Rural America, Finds Pathway to Success

Going cold turkey Is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Gambit to Dump Print a Harbinger?

Does the decline of local news influence our politics? This former U.S. Senator thinks so Decreased ticket splitting, less accountability more common with local news outlets disappearing

Stop the Presses? Does Print Have More of a Future in Media Than We Think?

Local News Summit Chuck Todd Talks Local News with Michigan Press Leaders

Journalist Deserts The Number of Local Journalists Has Plummeted 75% Since 2002, Study Says

Government Agency Buys Newspaper Does The New Owner Represent A Savior, A Conflict Or Both?

Meet the Local Press Champion Former “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd Thinks Local Sports Can Help Save Local News

Shifting Sandboxes Two Legacy Local News Outlets Are Finding New Audiences and Revenue in Nontraditional Places

Projects

Local News Accelerator