Burns was the second website editor for the Medill Local News Initiative. Before that, Burns served as Editorial Board member, columnist and business editor at the Chicago Tribune and as a reporter for BusinessWeek magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times. He continues to contribute editorials to the Chicago Tribune.
Articles by or about Greg Burns
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Ralph Nader is starting a newspaper. Yes, that Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, former presidential candidate and scourge of corporate interests. At age 88, Nader is still going strong and, beginning with his hometown in northwest Connecticut, he’s determined to do something about the “news desert” crisis in local journalism. The WInsted Citizen is launching its inaugural edition this week, and, in some ways, it is following a familiar playbook. It is forming a 501(c)(3) non-profit,...
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Switching newspaper delivery from costly carriers to the U.S. Postal Service seemed like a no-brainer for Jordan Brechenser, president and publisher of Vermont News and Media. But things quickly got complicated, and that was before a local postmaster obtained an order of protection and moved to a new post office after a confrontation in a local bar. The decline of print journalism has left penny-pinching publishers with fewer and fewer levers to pull. Stepping back...
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The clock is ticking on the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. With the midterm elections coming up on Nov. 8, the lame-duck session could be the last realistic chance for Congress to pass this bipartisan effort to make Google and Facebook pay for local news content on their platforms. U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., a lead sponsor of the measure, believes the legislation is likely to win approval in a matter of weeks, he said...
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David Cicilline serves Rhode Island’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his election to Congress in 2010, Cicilline served two terms as mayor of Providence and four terms in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. The Congressman is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Committee on the Judiciary. As Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, he oversees efforts to...
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Earlier this month, Gannett’s Michael Reed had an opportunity to set a new course for the nation’s biggest newspaper company after disappointing financial results in August. Instead, he doubled down. Reed doubled down on cost-cutting, promising to cut $200 million to $240 million from “declining parts” of the business – primarily print. He doubled down on paying off debt, which tops $1.34 billion. Most of all, he doubled down on boosting digital subscriptions, while also...
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Conan Gallaty took over for the long-serving Paul Tash as the Tampa Bay Times’ CEO in mid-January and will succeed Tash as board chair of the Times Publishing Co. on July 1. Gallaty, who became president of the Times in 2020, will be just the fourth person to lead it since legendary publisher Nelson Poynter’s death in 1978. The 46-year-old Gallaty joined the Times after a 20-year career focused on digital media. He graduated with...
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The diverse neighborhoods of Chicago’s South and West sides make a lot of news, and a survey of their residents has found intense interest in coverage of crime and other top issues – as long as it’s free. Of the 820 people who completed the new online survey from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, 647 said they don’t pay anything for access to local news and 583 said no one should...
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The survey of news consumers on the South and West sides of Chicago, conducted online from Oct. 15 to Dec. 28, 2021, measured the opinions of 820 adults who completed a questionnaire they received by email. Qualtrics, a national market research company, conducted the survey on behalf of the Medill Metro Media Lab at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. Project Manager Sam Cholke oversaw the survey. Providing logistical support was...
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Small newsrooms have fallen behind larger ones in adopting Artificial Intelligence, and the technology is under-used at the local level mainly because of time and resource constraints, a new report shows. Interest is high in automation that could free journalists from routine tasks, streamline production and make better use of content, but the latitude to experiment is limited, and local news providers could benefit from additional training, according to the Associated Press study, which is...
trends |
While many other local media organizations operate out of basements, spare bedrooms and the stripped-down offices that replaced once-mighty newsrooms, the hottest new nonprofit in local journalism is moving into swanky new digs overlooking Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Baltimore Banner’s much-anticipated debut is going to be different than those of other nonprofit journalism experiments, not least because it has ample funding from the start. As many as 50 staffers will be on-hand for the office...
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Stewart W. Bainum Jr., the wealthy donor backing The Baltimore Banner, has been Chairman of Choice Hotels International since 1997 and has overseen its growth into a global enterprise with thousands of hotels in more than 40 countries. Bainum previously served as chairman and CEO of Manor Care from 1987 to 1998 and founded two other assisted-living companies. He was a delegate and a senator in the Maryland General Assembly from 1979 to 1987. He...
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When newspaper editors decide to “take the wire” instead of assigning staff to report a story, some consider it a compromise that could discourage regular readers. Turns out, readers don’t mind at all. A first-of-its-kind analysis using data from Northwestern University’s Medill Subscriber Engagement Index reveals that wire-service and syndicated content can help to develop reading habits and retain subscribers among light and very light readers. Even for the most ardent, heavier readers, wire content...
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Journalists say social-media platforms have hurt their industry, contributing to inaccurate and one-sided news accounts by exerting too much control over the mix of news that people see, according to a recent survey. More than nine of every 10 survey respondents said social-media companies deliver a “worse mix of news” to their users, according to the online survey of journalists by Northwestern University’s Medill school of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. The survey also found...
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More than a year after social-justice protests called attention to the lack of diversity in newsrooms, journalists report notable changes at their media organizations, including new training programs, hiring procedures and policies related to language used about communities of color, a survey shows. Nearly four of every five survey respondents said the new efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have positively affected the journalism industry, according to the survey by Northwestern University’s Medill...
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Two years after Covid-19 disrupted life and work across the globe, journalists say they’re struggling to cope with the pandemic’s psychological and emotional pressures, a new survey shows. Nearly four of every five journalists said dealing with the mental toll has been either “very difficult” or “somewhat difficult,” according to the survey by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. Nearly seven in 10 said they were still mostly working remotely at...
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The Medill Media Industry Survey, conducted online from Nov. 30 to Dec. 31, 2021, measured the opinions of 1,543 people in the U.S. news business who completed the questionnaire. The survey was conducted by Associate Professor Stephanie Edgerly of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. Edgerly collaborated with Danielle K. Brown, the Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity and Equality in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of...
Projects Greg Burns has worked on.
We track closures and mergers of local news outlets, as well as the emergence of new local news providers, across newspapers, digital, ethnic media, and public broadcasting. We identify local news deserts and communities in danger of becoming news deserts. We are a forum for thought leadership and the latest research on changes to the journalism landscape and practice.