Local News & Information
For Sand and Hunt, there is a clear understanding of what must be done. America needs a working-class media. It’s something that has preoccupied me for years. If we thought of it as precariat media, we would also include the falling middle class that I have called the middle precariat (including most freelance writers right now). After the 2024... See more
America Needs a Working-ClassMedia
Let’s remind ourselves: Journalism isn’t just writing articles.
Let’s put humans front and center — the readers we serve, engaging them more deeply, inviting them closer. We need strong bonds, community, events. We need to do what AI platforms aren’t interested in, because it doesn’t scale, it’s not safe, it’s not predictable.
Let’s put humans front and center — the readers we serve, engaging them more deeply, inviting them closer. We need strong bonds, community, events. We need to do what AI platforms aren’t interested in, because it doesn’t scale, it’s not safe, it’s not predictable.
What would that media look like? It would be one where economic reporters are embedded in blue-collar communities and neighborhoods rather than financial districts, and source networks built around people with direct experience instead of outside analysts. Centering inflation coverage around wage stagnation rather than the stock market and written... See more
America Needs a Working-ClassMedia
Simon Galperin
"The large metro dailies covered a broad geographic region," Dougherty told me. "That was their strength and then their downfall. They may not cover the town unless the shit hits the fan, but they don't inform people of what it feels like to live there."
A data-rich view of how (and what) local news is working on Substack

Midcoast Villager (Maine) - like Marfa / Big Bend Sentinal, running an IRL coffee shop as a community hub