Posts

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...

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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...

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Q&A | Jun 9, 2025

AI Progress Report Are local news organizations benefiting from or getting crushed by artificial intelligence? Maryland Prof. Tom Rosenstiel weighs the impact and potential

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

In April 2024 the Local News Initiative, in conjunction with the Knight Lab at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Communications and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung USA, published a report titled, “Impact of AI on Local News Models: AI Is Disrupting the Local News Industry. Will It Unlock Growth or Be an Existential Threat?” Based on discussions with more than 25 local news and AI experts worldwide, the report explored the potential benefits and perils presented by...

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Q&A | May 12, 2025

Paving the CherryRoad Jeremy Gulban dreams of creating a national network of community papers–but first must make 2/3 of his own outlets profitable

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

With the 2020 purchase of the Cook County News Herald in Northeast Minnesota, Jeremy Gulban launched the fast-growing CherryRoad Media chain of community newspapers. The company’s portfolio has ballooned to 94 newspapers—all but one print, most weekly—as CEO Gulban tries on the fly to make his business model sustainable for CherryRoad and a greater local news industry working in the shadows of Big Tech. CherryRoad Media is an offshoot of CherryRoad Technologies, the information technology...

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Q&A | Jun 18, 2024

After the Raid: Lawsuits, Boosted Circulation, Fallout from the Death of a 98-Year-Old Mother Kansas’s Marion County Record drew national support following a police action with a fatal aftermath, but the small weekly still needs journalists willing to work there

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

The Marion County Record in Marion, Kan., a city of fewer than 2,000 people, hit the national spotlight last August when the town’s police raided the small, weekly newspaper’s office and publishers’ home and, in the course of lengthy searches, seized computers and cell phones. Marion County Record Publisher/Editor Eric Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, was in her home during the police action and died the following day. During the raids Eric Meyer told officers,...

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Q&A | May 16, 2024

A ‘News Pioneer’ Looks Back and Ahead Penny Abernathy tells why the study of local news became her mission, why she chose the term ‘news deserts’ over ‘news vacuums,’ and what signs of hope she sees amid an ailing industry

If Penny Abernathy’s sole accomplishment had been identifying and raising awareness of “news deserts” across the country, her legacy in the local news world would have been secure. But she has done much more than that in a career that has spanned decades and culminated in her oversight of the State of Local News Project at the University of North Carolina and, over the past three years, at the Medill School of Journalism, Media and...

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Q&A | Jan 30, 2024

Finding ‘What Works’ Veteran journalists Clegg, Kennedy spotlight local news outlets that chart path forward

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy brought much hands-on experience and perspective to their quest to find, as their new book puts it, “What Works in Community News.” Clegg was a three-decade Boston Globe veteran who, as editorial page editor, oversaw Pulitzer Prize-winning work for editorial writing and commentary. More recently she helped launch and is a top executive at Brookline.News, a nonprofit hyperlocal outlet based in her Boston suburb. Kennedy is a Northeastern University journalism professor who...

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Q&A | Oct 26, 2023

On the Lookout for Local News News business analyst Ken Doctor puts his expertise to work, learns new lessons in Santa Cruz

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

Veteran journalist Ken Doctor had been analyzing “Newsonomics” for many years when he jumped back into the game to launch a new local digital news outlet, Lookout Santa Cruz, which debuted in 2020. With the Santa Cruz Sentinel having been taken over and downsized by the Alden Global Capital-controlled Media News Group, Doctor declared that Lookout was entering a news desert, which rankled some journalists in town. But to Doctor the proof is in the...

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Q&A | Sep 21, 2023

The Promise vs. Fear of AI Medill’s Jeremy Gilbert envisions a future where tech leads to better journalism without destroying it

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

Overseeing the Knight Lab at Northwestern University, Jeremy Gilbert has been exploring the intersection of technology and news media, a topic that has become urgent amid the rocket-like rise of artificial intelligence. Gilbert has worked with AI since 2009, when he and fellow Northwestern professors and their students created StatsMonkey, a tool to tell automatic baseball stories. During a subsequent stint at the Washington Post, Gilbert devised Heliograf to cover sports, politics and more. Now...

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Q&A | Aug 2, 2023

Pursuing Facts in the Time of Lies In Pt. 2 of interview, Marty Baron discusses winning the public's trust, maintaining a pipeline of talented journalists and using AI intelligently

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

Marty Baron led the Washington Post through a period of dramatic change. Not only did billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos buy the newspaper months into Baron’s eight-year tenure as executive editor, but President Donald Trump declared the press to be “the enemy of the people” and, with allies outside and inside the media, worked to undermine trust in mainstream news outlets as well as in facts themselves. Yet while the economics of running an aggressive...

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Q&A | Aug 1, 2023

Local News Can’t Be ‘Damsel in Distress’ In Pt. 1 of interview, Marty Baron calls on journalists to stop the nostalgia and doom-and-gloom and to focus on solving problems and making tough choices

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

As executive editor of the Washington Post, Marty Baron not only guided the newspaper through a transformative ownership change (with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos taking charge) and the turbulent Trump presidency, but he also oversaw an aggressive expansion of its journalistic mission, accompanied by significant growth in readership, revenues and influence. Rallying behind its slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” the Washington Post re-established itself as a national force in journalism at a time of rising...

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Q&A | Jun 13, 2023

Investigations, Collaborations and Alligators Exceeding its DNAinfo origins, Block Club Chicago hits 5th anniversary doubling down on the power of neighborhood reporting

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

Block Club Chicago—a nonprofit newsroom that has been accumulating reporters, readers and accolades—hit one milestone last month and reaches another one Tuesday. Last month, Block Club Chicago officially outlasted its predecessor, DNAinfo, a Chicago online news startup that operated for four years and 11 months before billionaire owner Joe Ricketts abruptly shuttered it (and the Gothamist network of sites) in November 2017. Newly lacking funding and employment, DNAinfo editors Shamus Toomey, Jen Sabella and Stephanie...

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Q&A | Mar 1, 2023

The case for government support of local journalism A conversation with Anna Brugmann of Rebuild Local News

by Mark Caro | LocalNewsIni

Many journalists would prefer a tall wall separating the state from the fourth estate, yet with local news outlets disappearing at an alarming rate, there have been increased calls for journalism to receive public support in order to survive. The nonprofit Rebuild Local News advocates for public policies “to counter the collapse of local news and revitalize community journalism.” Founded in 2020 by Steven Waldman, former president and co-founder of Report for America, it includes...

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Q&A | Oct 31, 2022

Q-and-A: U.S. Rep. David Cicilline Predicts JCPA Will Win Approval Lead sponsor sees pro-journalism legislation passing in lame-duck session after midterms

by Greg Burns | LocalNewsIni

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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Q&A | Jun 14, 2022

New Top Leader of Tampa Bay Times Thinks Digital A talk with Conan Gallaty

by Greg Burns | LocalNewsIni

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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Q&A | Mar 23, 2022

Stewart W. Bainum Jr. Sees a Future for Nonprofit Journalism A talk with the donor behind The Baltimore Banner

by Greg Burns | LocalNewsIni

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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Q&A | Oct 11, 2021

40-50 New Hires ‘Expected’ after WBEZ Merger With Chicago Sun-Times Will the Deal Be a National Model? Public Radio Station’s Execs Weigh In

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

Chicago Public Media, parent of one of the most prominent public radio stations in the country, WBEZ, has signed a letter of intent to acquire a legacy newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times. The move would further transform the city’s news environment, recently shaken by a hedge fund’s acquisition of the Chicago Tribune and buyouts that dramatically cut staffing there. The Medill Local News Initiative’s Mark Jacob interviewed Chicago Public Media CEO Matt Moog and WBEZ’s Chief...

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Q&A | Apr 19, 2021

LSU’s Darr: Fight Polarization by Hiring More Local Opinion Editors

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

Joshua Darr, an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication, has written a book with Matthew P. Hitt of Colorado State University and Johanna L. Dunaway at Texas A&M University, “Home Style Opinion: How Local Newspapers Can Slow Polarization.” The book reveals their finding that the polarization of news consumers is slowed when a local news outlet's opinion section concentrates on local issues rather than national politics. The authors believe this...

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Q&A | Mar 29, 2021

Dave Gehring: Local News Sites Can Become ‘Portals’ for Wider Web Sharing

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

Dave Gehring is a former Google employee who co-founded Relay Media and then sold it to Google in 2017. Now he’s Co-founder and CEO of Distributed Media Lab, which is “building the first frictionless open web distribution platform for quality content.” DML can embed a collection of stories on any local news website that is, in effect, a portal to the wider news web without taking readers off of that site. He talked with the Medill...

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Q&A | Feb 9, 2021

Gannett’s Gupta: ‘You Need a Culture That Thrives in Chaos’ Strategy Chief for Nation’s Biggest Newspaper Chain Puts Laser Focus on Subscriptions

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

Mayur Gupta, a former executive with Spotify and Freshly, joined the Gannett USA Today Network in September as Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer. He holds this crucial role at a key time for Gannett, which merged with GateHouse in November 2019 to form the nation’s largest newspaper chain. Gannett has partnered with Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative in data analysis involving more than a dozen of its news outlets. In this interview with the...

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Q&A | Dec 14, 2020

Media Advocate Nancy Lane: Philanthropy Joins Digital Subscriptions as Key Funding Source

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

As much of the local news industry hammers away on a financial strategy emphasizing digital subscriptions, Local Media Association CEO Nancy Lane says this approach should be paired with efforts to gain philanthropic support. Here’s an edited transcript of an interview of Lane by the Medill Local News Initiative’s Mark Jacob. Mark Jacob Are digital subscriptions growing fast enough to help local news outlets, especially legacy outlets, reach financial sustainability? Mark Jacob Nancy Lane Some...

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Q&A | Jul 14, 2020

Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan on ‘Ghosting the News’ ‘We Have to Save Journalism in Whatever Form That Is, Which May Have Nothing to Do With the Printed Page,’ says Medill Grad

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

Margaret Sullivan, media columnist for the Washington Post, is out with a new book, “Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy,” published by Columbia Global Reports at Columbia University. Sullivan is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. She talked with the Medill Local News Initiative about the crisis in local journalism and how it affects citizens’ sense of community. This is an edited transcript. Mark...

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Q&A | Jan 21, 2020

Salt Lake Tribune’s Editor Expects ‘a Lot of Newspapers’ to Explore Nonprofit Status

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

The Salt Lake Tribune announced in November that it had received Internal Revenue Service approval to become the nation’s first legacy newspaper to go fully nonprofit. The Medill Local News Initiative interviewed the Tribune’s Editor, Jennifer Napier-Pearce, about what this transformation will mean. Here is an edited transcript. Mark Jacob Can you explain how nonprofit status is going to work? Mark Jacob Jennifer Napier-Pearce There are two parts. The Tribune itself is becoming a nonprofit....

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Q&A | Oct 30, 2019

NewStart Program Will Be ‘Matchmaker’ for Small Media Seeking New Owners

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

Jim Iovino is director of a new program called NewStart at West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media. NewStart matches small media outlets with people who want to acquire them and run them. The new owners will earn a master’s degree as they receive training in journalism and business skills. Iovino, a former Deputy Managing Editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is the Ogden Newspapers Visiting Assistant Professor of Media Innovation at WVU. Here’s an edited transcript...

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Q&A | Apr 23, 2019

Medill’s Franklin on Why Local News Outlets Aren’t Jumping in Apple’s ‘Magic Mixer’

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

The recent launch of Apple News Plus is the biggest test yet for news bundling—the idea of selling access to a wide variety of news sources through one platform at one price. Apple News Plus costs $9.99 a month for more than 300 titles, mostly magazines but also a few newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. In general, local news organizations have not signed on, put off by Apple’s...

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Q&A | Mar 11, 2019

Local Media Must ‘Re-learn’ How to Engage With Readers, Online News Consultants Say

by Mark Jacob | LocalNewsIni

As online news organizations try to pivot to reader revenue models to achieve financial sustainability, a New York-based firm called Piano is among those offering expertise. The Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications interviewed two Piano executives about the shifting media landscape. Michael Silberman, Piano’s Senior Vice President for Strategy, helped launch Vulture.com and TheCut.com and was a founding editor at MSNBC.com. Patrick Appel, Director of...

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