Director of communications
Emily Ristow is the director of communications at the American Press Institute, where she ensures solutions and actionable advice are delivered to local news leaders across API’s platforms and channels.
Previously, she served in the role of Director of Local News Transformation and managed the Major Market Table Stakes program and API’s alumni sprint cohorts and coordinated efforts across the various Table Stakes programs. The Digital Transformation Guide from the American Press Institute, written by Emily, highlights proven strategies from the Table Stakes program, which helped news leaders transform their organizations' journalism and business through intensive change management training.
Before coming to API, Emily worked for a decade in local news, including as Loyalty and Engagement News Director for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, her hometown newspaper. She helped develop and supervise the Journal Sentinel's strategy to grow its loyal audience and to double its digital subscribers and managed the newsroom's engagement strategy across digital platforms, including its sites, apps and social media accounts.
She has also worked as a social media editor, digital producer, copy editor and print designer. She graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in journalism and political science.
More from the author
4 takeaways for local news leaders from a study on news consumption by U.S. teens and adults
The study’s findings likely align with news engagement behavior you’re already noticing, but the data across age groups shows these shifts cannot be written off as a passing trend that younger generations will age out of. Here are four key takeaways and what they mean for local news.
Make one-on-ones about development, not status updates
One-on-one meetings are an opportunity for managers to ensure they’re doing their part to create an inclusive organization by hearing and promoting the voices of their team members. Here are some tips for how to make your one-on-ones more effective and avoid common pitfalls.
Meeting reset series
New year, same old meetings. Meetings that don’t include the right people or that include too many people. Meetings that could have been an email. But what if it didn’t have to be that way? As we kick off 2026, API wants to help you reset and rethink key meetings in your news organization.
