Series

After a six-month pilot of an ecosystem-wide local news advisory committee, we’re sharing a multi-part perspective series on this effort: an outgrowth of our deep, three-year commitment to the Pittsburgh media ecosystem, which included two learning cohorts, a dozen community listening sessions and now this committee.

These types of convenings can be a model for mutual learning where researchers and news leaders can combine their respective knowledge, expertise and experiences to promote positive community relations and encourage community progress. 

Building relationships, understanding their challenges and sharing insights are essential steps if we’re serious about reducing polarization and fostering greater understanding in our country.

I very much believe that researchers have important insights into the production and content of news. The challenge, however, is translating and communicating these insights.

We’ve gathered reflections from researchers in social science who have attended recent API Local News Summits, where they had the chance to interact with and explore how their work helps — and can be improved by insights from — local journalism.

Interacting with your community and providing quality programming while providing the news may seem daunting, but it’s worth it.

Our belief in the brand and the business hasn’t wavered. When you’re a business with a mission, it becomes the only thing that matters.

Our mingles normally draw anywhere from 20 to 40 people. At a recent one, we had the mayor, a bank vice president, several retirees, a young entrepreneur and the owners of the bowling alley hanging out in our office, all chatting with each other and our newspaper staff.

Time was not on our side when planning this event, so it was essential that we made fast, decisive choices. This is where years of practice came in handy.

We asked four summit participants to share more about the ways they are connecting with the rural communities they serve.