future of journalism

How Local Journalism Can Bring Communities Together

MIT Center for Constructive Communication Director Deb Roy explains how the caricatures Republicans and Democrats paint of each other diverge from reality, and the ways local newsrooms can leverage their “trust capital” and emerging technology to promote listening and understanding amid disagreement.

Partnerships and Collaboration

National Trust for Local News CEO & Co-Founder Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro argues for taking an ecosystem approach to local news and highlights impactful industry collaborations across the US, advising how newsrooms can make use of available tools and build new resources.

Funding and Revenue Models

Lenfest Institute Executive Director & CEO Jim Friedlich explores how nonprofit and for-profit newsrooms can learn from one another and blend their approaches to funding.

Healing Polarized Communities

The 19th* Co-Founder & Publisher Amanda Zamora discusses the real-life harms of polarization, the struggles of local news, and what outlets can do to help bridge communal divides.

Designing for Community

URL Media Co-Founder & CEO S. Mitra Kalita questions the definition of “local news” and synthesizes recommendations for how outlets can meet the needs of their audiences and scale their impact.

Signposts for the Future of Local News

The crisis in local news has accelerated rapidly in recent years. Just how stark is the situation? Between late 2019 and May 2022, more than 360 American newspapers closed — and on average two papers per week continue to shutter across the country, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School. The decline of local news is deeply disturbing, but the prospects for emerging solutions are encouraging. Today, we’re publishing a series of essays from industry leaders that will serve as Signposts for the Future to help newsrooms answer the question, “What now?”

Enlist Google, Facebook, and ‘Radical Transparency’ to Fight Fake News and Save Journalism

Media organizations are besieged and threatened by a failed business model. But it’s not hopeless yet.

Washington Post Editor Marty Baron Says Journalists Are at Work, Not at War

Marty Baron and others in the news business speak out about covering Donald Trump and the changing economics of journalism.

Communications and Society Program Newsletter July 2017

Read the Communications and Society Program’s July 2017 Newsletter announcing three new reports.