Resources

Many journalists and researchers are working hard to understand and address this crisis. Here are links to some of their best work:

What audiences want

Americans Still Prefer Watching to Reading the News – and Mostly Still Through Television

Americans continue to prefer watching the news rather than reading or listening to it, and their viewing loyalties have yet to migrate fully to the ...

Portrait of the online local news audience

4 lessons about millennials and news

We asked 1,000 People What Happened On Tuesday. Here’s What Some of Them Said.

The new landscape of facts and trust

Lee Rainie discussed the Center's latest findings about how people use social media, how they think about news in the Trump Era, how they try ...

Americans want to change the media model

Are Americans ready for a new media model? A new survey indicates that, surprisingly, those who are more willing to pay for news include women ...

Local news successes

Local newspapers under siege but producing vital journalism

Local journalism is doing great work across the country while fighting cutbacks and tight budgets. But we need people to stop expecting news to be ...

Why does the Star Tribune outperform the pack of metros?

Two years ago I chronicled how the Star Tribune of Minneapolis had become a

Trust in news is up, especially for local media

Trust in media is up since last year, and the great majority of Americans trust their local news sources.

Neutral feelings about local news present opportunity to build trust

Our community surveys found that only three percent of people associate local news with “fake.”

A new generation keeps the spirit of local journalism alive

The third issue of the city’s newest newspaper was put to bed this week, full of stories from the staff of enterprising young – emphasis ...

What’s lost when local news declines

How “news deserts” are growing

By documenting the shifting news landscape and evaluating the threat of news deserts, this report seeks to raise awareness of the role interested parties can ...

Civic Engagement Strongly Tied to Local News Habits

Americans who are highly attached to their communities and who always vote in local elections stand out for displaying stronger local news habits than those ...

With less local news, people are less engaged, and are less likely to vote

"Citizens exposed to a lower volume of [news] coverage are less able to evaluate their member of Congress, less likely to express opinions about the ...

As towns lose their newspapers, disease detectives are left to fly blind

The decline of the newspaper industry is shutting off an important valve of information for researchers who rely on it to track the spread of ...

Without watchdog journalism, government costs go up.

Those vanishing civic watchdogs are worth every cent.

The loss of common ground

A new study reports that newspapers lost half their newsroom staffs in the past decade

The impact on small town America

Newspaper Closures Polarize Voting Behavior

Changes to the media environment have increased polarized voting in America through both addition and subtraction. We argue that the decline of local newspapers has ...

Search engines and social media

People are finding articles through Google more than Facebook

Google took the lead over Facebook last year in referrals to media sites, according to a recent report from Parse.ly. A new analysis [download page] ...

You should join your town’s local Facebook group

Where else can you track down a lost bag of pork chops?

How local outlets are using Nextdoor to connect with their communities

The business of local journalism

What it takes to shift a news organization to reader revenue

A crazy idea for funding local news: Charge people for It

How two tech-industry news sites, The Information and Stratechery, may show a path forward.

Small-market newspapers in the digital age

A farewell to free journalism

Free journalism was a gift -- one that journalists can no longer afford to keep giving to readers.

The “golden age” of newspapers was the exception, not the rule

"In our 'news' today we can see the tattler, the party pamphlet, the recondite journal of opinion, the yellow rag, the journal of commerce, the ...

How much newspapers charge for digital subscriptions

How media organizations can make money from their audiences

A new report released Wednesday offers a guide for journalists and organizations interested in

Users unhappy about mobile ads

Why recent subscribers chose to pay for news

The 3 types of news subscribers

Post Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present

Funding the News: Foundations and Nonprofit Media

Working paper co-published by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Northeastern University’s School of Journalism. ...

Can these digital local news sites become predominately reader-supported?

The three sites together are "just south of 1,500 paying customers," 60 percent of whom are signed up as recurring contributors (of these, the average ...

How leading American newspapers got people to pay for news

The first in a three-part series on the future of journalism

The current move to subscription models is a revolutionary shift for journalism

From person-to-person coaching and intensive hands-on seminars to interactive online courses and media reporting, Poynter helps journalists sharpen skills and elevate storytelling throughout their careers. ...

Crowdfunding the News

Innovations

The new players in the fight for local news

Local news consortiums, labs, associations, and more.

Lessons from the ‘Table Stakes’ initiative

In today’s media landscape, you don’t often find pockets of progress amid all the doom and gloom. But check out these numbers:

Should taxpayers finance journalism in New Jersey?

Civic Information Consortium will focus on places without local newspapers and could serve as model for rest of the country

Innovation from a ‘rural journalism lab’

By Sam Ford, Andrea Wenzel, Lee Bratcher, and Dustin Bratcher

Other key contributions

What media can learn from other member-driven movements

Journalism’s traditional financial models are dying. Could churches, environmental movements, and open source communities hold clues to its survival?

A state-by state analysis of the news media infrastructure

How media outlets can develop strong, sustainable local newsletters

Creating — and sustaining — an editorial email newsletter can be tough. We’ve identified three models that are delivering results in public media.

How young adults seek out and find information

(2017). Seeking Out and Avoiding the News Media: Young Adults’ Proposed Strategies for Obtaining Current Events Information. Mass Communication and Society: Vol. 20, No. 3, ...

Local news consumption in three U.S. metro areas

In-depth case studies in three disparate cities (Denver, Macon and Sioux City) show that local news still matters, with nearly nine-in-ten city residents following it ...

How “focused listening” can address journalism’s trust problem

In local news “deserts,” small-town libraries provide an oasis

“In the age of Google, the hardest information to find is local.”

How to reach and serve low-income people

"There is no Wirecutter for low-income individuals." Fiona Morgan and Jay Hamilton talk about their research into information ecosystems and the media market.

Crazy/Genius podcast: Who Killed Local News?

How the Internet broke the news business—and how journalism might survive in a post-advertising world.

The Lenfest Institute is testing new products for local news, and it wants your help

"If we’re going to be a test kitchen, let's cook some stuff!"

Frequently updated websites with information on local news

Poynter Institute

Harvard’s Nieman Foundation

American Press Institute

Lenfest Institute

Democracy Fund

The Democracy Fund is a bipartisan foundation working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise ...