Welcome to July’s Special Edition, where we feature essays from four attendees of the API Local News Summit on Local Identity, History and Sustainability on how they use history to create a sense of place and foster a sense of pride in local identity to connect communities and find new sources of revenue.
As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary, local news can play a part in raising history in our collective consciousness, using connection to the past to foster local identity — and find new forms of revenue.
Earlier this year, the American Press Institute gathered news leaders in Nashville to explore ways they’re doing just that. At the API Local News Summit on Local Identity, History and Sustainability, attendees shared ways they are fostering local identity within their communities, including using historical records and archives to deepen community coverage.
Local media’s deep-rooted connection to the identities of the communities it serves offers a unique advantage in capitalizing on this widespread interest in history, notes Jason Dressel, CEO of the brand heritage and archives agency History Factory. API has recognized this trend, highlighting local news organizations that are already leaning in:
- The Las Vegas Review-Journal partnered with a local museum to turn the city’s mafia lore into a podcast, with spectacular results.
- Newsday in Long Island began using nostalgia as a subscription driver by revisiting beloved local businesses and landmarks.
- And in Oklahoma, NPR affiliate KOSU and the Osage News teamed up to develop an ambitious program to educate audiences around the release of the 2024 film “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
This month, we’re highlighting how four summit participants are fostering local identity within their communities and ways you can try similar efforts in your own newsroom. History Factory’s Dressel outlines three steps to finding a historical topic to embrace and explore.
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We assembled a working group of news leaders determined to find solutions to help their peers navigate the process of building capacity and strengthening cultures of learning.
