Identifying communities’ news roles 

Are you a documenter? A facilitator? A sensemaker? The Journalism + Design Lab has published a new “framework” for how people in communities can view their roles in news. The idea is that at a time of disruption in the traditional news industry, anyone can assume various roles, whether individually or while working with newsrooms or other organizations that help keep people informed.

The group hopes its framework and the eight roles it identifies — facilitating, documenting, commenting, inquiring, sensemaking, amplifying, navigating and enabling — could be useful for educators, newsrooms, funders and community-based organizations to “build pathways for more people” to step into information dissemination roles.

At API, we are fans of this thinking, as we drew from the J + D Lab’s work in our recent Local News Summit on Inclusion, Belonging and Local Leadership. As API’s Sam Ragland wrote recently, participants in the summit explored what it means to “steward, not just sustain,” local information. (Sam and API’s Kevin Loker were also among those who were asked for feedback about J + D Lab’s community roles framework).

While many of the eight functions the Lab identifies will feel familiar to journalists — who are used to juggling multiple roles — breaking them down can give a sense of which roles they emphasize in their work, and whether those functions are shifting as the industry is changing. For people who don’t work in newsrooms, it could help them understand how they might contribute to their local information ecosystems — or how they already are.

“Across every community, people are doing the work of journalism, but often in informal ways through grassroots networks,” the group says.

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

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> ‘Riots Raging’: The misleading story Fox News told about Portland before Trump sent troops (ProPublica)

Fox News repeatedly provided “a misleading picture” of what was happening in Portland, Ore. during protests there against ICE, according to a ProPublica review of months of coverage and more than 700 video clips in the three months before President Trump said he would send in troops.

>> PEN America and the Coalition Against Online Violence release comprehensive guide to help newsrooms protect journalists from online abuse (Pen America) 

The new guide, developed in consultation with more than a dozen newsrooms and civic groups, was released in response to a rise in abuse and threats targeting journalists, the groups said.

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Culture & Inclusion

>> Teen Vogue changed how a generation saw politics and inclusion. That era could be over. (The 19th)

Journalists who cover race, gender and inequality, brought in over the past decade to help build trust on these issues, are now among the first to go in layoffs, writes Candice Norwood. It’s not just at Teen Vogue, which is being folded into Vogue, but the broadcast networks as well.

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> Help us help you: Take API’s needs and impact survey

The role of local and community news has never been more important. And API remains steadfast in our mission to support and strengthen local news leaders through practical programs, research, tools and training. Now, we’d love to hear from you. Please take our impact survey, which can be accessed here.

>> News providers: A new way to find the support you need (Press Forward) 

Commoner Co. and Press Forward have developed a database of journalism support organizations and what they do. Here’s their announcement, and you can find the Journalism Support Exchange here.

  • API is proud to be a part of this growing support network. If you want more information about what we do or how we support local news, reach out at hello@pressinstitute.org.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> Why the New York Times is sticking around the South (Poynter)

Last month, the Times announced that it will partner with Deep South Today on a regional investigative center. Kristen Hare explains how the arrangement arose from a fellowship program to one that will “add more permanence and infrastructure to the work.”

>> The future of media is being built on YouTube (Adweek) 

Mark Stenberg writes that everywhere he looks, there is growing evidence that YouTube is becoming the platform of choice for new media ventures. Live streaming may be the “next logical extension” of this trend, he says.

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What else you need to know

🤝 A “win-win” partnership brings a surge of reporting firepower to hyperlocal news outlets around Boston (Nieman Lab)

🎞️ BBC apologizes to President Trump for documentary edit (Axios)

📈 Publishers swap traffic angst for strategy in Q3 earnings  (Digiday)

👀 Trump administration prepares to fire worker for TV interview about SNAP (The Washington Post)

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Weekend reads

+ A.I. sweeps through newsrooms, but is it a journalist or a tool?  (The New York Times)

+ Who is a ‘journalist?’ An evolving definition (Freedom Forum)

+  British journalist detained by ICE says ‘there is a war on US freedom of speech’ (The Independent)

+ Major US broadcasters sit out Cop30 climate talks: ‘They’re missing a lot’ (The Guardian)