Local News & Information

The death of the obituary matters because local features can be an antidote to the trends of polarization and demonization. Cable news dehumanizes. Community news can rehumanize.

full of people who are committed to celebrating the city, investigating its institutions and bringing readers together via amazing conversations and events

When the conservative town of Ogdensburg, New York, lost its paper for two years recently, leaders there rallied to revive it. Republican leader James E. Reagen of St. Lawrence County suggested that misinformation spread more rapidly when the Ogdensburg paper shut down. “Once the Journal closed down so many people were turning to social media, to... See more

I was struck by how natural the idea of serving the public felt inside libraries. I had spent much of my career pushing, prodding, arguing, fighting, pleading and even begging for community participation in journalism. And yet, despite claiming to be “the voice of the people,” many news organizations are incredibly hesitant or don’t actually want... See more

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.

We’ve said this a hundred times before, but it’s always worth repeating: the world’s biggest news organisations aren’t reflecting the world. They are reflecting what’s dramatic, rare, and cheap enough to turn into a story. If you’re after an accurate picture of what’s getting worse, or what’s improving, you’ll need to look somewhere other than the... See more