The power of localization

Events in Washington today are not just political games of Beltway insiderism. The Trump administration’s gutting of federal agencies and firing of civil servants is reaching deep into local communities.

Many local news organizations are meeting the moment. They are focusing on how industries in their areas are affected, like the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s look at how cuts in scientific research will affect Northeast Ohio’s biomedical industry. They’re examining what closing the Department of Education would mean for local schools, as The Bergen Record has done in New Jersey. The Minnesota Star Tribune explored the local economic impact of immigration policies, both for immigrants and the people who rely on them.

Local journalists are also detailing the backlash against these policies, like The Detroit News’ coverage of how Rep. Debbie Dingell is pressing Veterans Affairs officials on cuts to local medical centers. Local groups’ reaction is also a story, like The Tennessean’s coverage of a literary alliance’s concerns about how Trump’s anti-transgender executive order could affect local libraries.

These are just a few examples of how local media are rising to the occasion at a pivotal moment. As press watcher Margaret Sullivan writes, it is “extremely important” for journalists now to show how federal decisions are hitting ordinary people. It is one of four media essentials she outlines in her American Crisis newsletter this week.

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Guide helps reframe the narrative on gun violence (Association of Health Care Journalists)

A recently published guide from the Berkeley Media Studies Group is designed for advocates who are trying to help the public understand gun violence. But it can also help journalists, suggests Kaitlin Washburn. The report includes an analysis of the kinds of “framing and reporting patterns often found in news reports on gun violence,” she writes.

—

Culture & Inclusion

>> America needs a working-class media (CJR) 

Too often people in media are from elite backgrounds, writes Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. News organizations might find that their work would resonate more and be better trusted if it focused on people’s everyday lives, centering blue-collar communities rather than financial districts, for example. Catering to richer audiences, she writes, “is not helping us.”

—

Community Engagement & Trust

>> New from API: How Down in the County uses photojournalism to build community in rural North Carolina (Better News)

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: Use photojournalism to forge common ground and go beyond politics and divisive battles over culture. Andrea Bruce, founder of Down in the County, outlines how images became a catalyst for success in her online publication in eastern North Carolina, which she started on a whim in in 2021. Now, she says, more than half of the adult population of the county subscribes.

>> Generative AI is already being used in journalism — here’s how people feel about it (The Conversation)

News audiences and journalists are concerned about the industry’s use of generative AI, four researchers reported, drawing on three years of interviews and focus groups in seven countries including the United States. Among audience participants, only 25% were confident they had encountered generative AI, the group said. One concern is that there is a “potential lack of transparency” from news organizations using AI.

—

Revenue & Resilience

>> Knight Foundation invests $25M in American Journalism Project (Axios)

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation this week will announce a $25 million investment in the American Journalism Project, reports Sara Fischer. Sarabeth Berman, AJP’s chief executive, told Fischer that the grant is the largest that AJP has received since it launched in 2019 and is one of the largest journalism grants the Knight Foundation has ever allocated to a single organization.

>> New from API: Join us to explore how local identity and history can strengthen community engagement and sustainability  

API will hold its next local news summit April 8-9 on how community-based media can engender a sense of local identity by embracing geography and history. The goal is to help news leaders consider how they contribute to a community’s well-being by fostering a sense of place — and how this work might offer new ways to sustain local news. Request an invitation for the remaining spots with this form. Deadline is Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

>> New CEO says Morning Brew already has what it needs for double digit growth (A Media Operator)

Morning Brew started in a college dorm as “a single witty email” and now has 12 consumer newsletters, seven B2B newsletters and podcasts and video, writes Christiana Sciaudone. Its new chief executive, Robert Dippell, tells Sciaudone that its current success means he doesn’t need to turn the business upside down, but wants to “cross-pollinate” among its products.

—

What else you need to know

👀 Washington Post backs out of ‘Fire Elon Musk’ ad order (The Hill)

🤔 Elon Musk threatens to imprison entire news agency (The New Republic)

☠️ As US newspaper outages drag on, Lee Enterprises blames cyberattack for encrypting critical systems  (TechCrunch)

🏅Announcing the 2024 George Polk Awards in Journalism (Long Island University)

🙌 The National Press Club Journalism Institute has released its annual impact report