Helping audiences find their happy place

At API, we’re always on the lookout for projects that energize audiences and serve as antidotes to news fatigue. Here’s one that caught our eye recently: The Philadelphia Inquirer’s map of the happiest places in the city.

Reporter Beatrice Forman explains on LinkedIn that over the summer, she asked readers to tell her about their happy places in Philly. “Our audience delivered, and I ended up having 200+ unique responses to comb through,” she wrote. In her post describing how the map works, she said it was inspired by Eric Zillmer, a Drexel University professor she had written about who asked his Psych 101 students to do the same exercise.

“There are so many reasons to love this project. Not only does it instill civic pride and increase an entire community’s sense of membership in the place they call home, but I believe it also encourages an embrace of local news — not an avoidance,” said Samantha Ragland, API’s senior vice president and interim executive director.

“For local news leaders, especially, I dare you to interrogate the narrative arc of your published journalism this year,” she said. “If you find that your touch on news and information upholds some fancy, better-than-thou ideals, look for a pivot. Look for play. And yes, these playful projects, which grow out of community collaborations and journalists’ curiosity, are everywhere. Here’s your proof.”

The other thing we liked is that it’s replicable. In the Philadelphia case, it was the brainchild of an enterprising reporter who used audience crowdsourcing, including a Google form and Instagram (as she explains in a comment on her LinkedIn post) then worked with the paper’s interactive team to put together the map.

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

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Most major TV networks will use AP data during 2026 and 2028 elections (Axios)

The top broadcast and cable networks will use the Associated Press for election results in the 2026 and 2028 elections. The move, writes Sara Fischer, means that those elections will be “the first time since 2016 that all of the major broadcast networks, and most of the major cable networks, will use the same data vendor to inform their election coverage.”

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Culture & Inclusion

>> NBC News’ 150 layoffs gut Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ diversity Teams (The Wrap) 

As part of its 150 layoffs, NBC News eliminated teams covering Black, Asian American, Latino and LGBTQ+ issues, writes Corbin Bolies, citing two sources. These layoffs, he writes “reflect the media industry’s larger retreat from efforts focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.”

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> Community first: How these news outlets cater to marginalised audiences (Reuters Institute) 

Four journalists and experts from around the world — including Detroit’s Outlier Media — spoke with Marina Adami about journalism that reaches marginalized audiences, how they do it and what challenges they face.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> Will science journalism funders step up or retreat? (Undark)

The science journalism field is precarious, writes Claudia López Lloreda, and some are worried that President Trump’s cuts in funding for scientific research will mean that financial support could continue to dry up. 

>> How a digital media leader revived print journalism in the Rivertowns (The Examiner News)

Adam Stone profiles Allison Schulte, who launched a small paper called the Rivertowns Dispatch in Westchester County, N.Y. “It turned out she could envision realistic scenarios where subscriptions, advertising and other revenue sources like events would ultimately bring in more money than it would cost to produce the newspaper,” he writes.

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What else you need to know

🗞️ Why Hearst is buying newspapers: A conversation with Steve Swartz (Dick Tofel’s Second Rough Draft)

📝 WSJ union: We will remember layoffs during next negotiation (Talking Biz News)

▶️ CNN’s subscription service to launch October 28 at $6.99 per month (Deadline)

🔏 Interactive: How the Pentagon is blocking out news organizations (The New York Times)

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Weekend reads

+ How the collapse of local journalism led to the erosion of community trust (Literary Hub)

+ Five lessons a road trip taught me about saving local journalism (Free Press)

+ What is NPR now? (CJR)

+ Are these local newsletters local news? (And does it matter?) (Nieman Lab)