Goodness knows, many Americans and especially journalists are plagued with news fatigue. However, at Local News Pasadena, we agree with a recent press release from the American Press Institute on the importance of the added value that local news leaders have on local identity and history.
“People often have an endless reservoir of love and care for the places they live and the neighborhoods they call home,” states the report. “This presents opportunities for local news leaders who want to strengthen community relationships that sustain their businesses.”
At the nonprofit Pasadena Media Foundation and Local News Pasadena, we believe local news entities need to speak with one another about how they have leveraged history, nostalgia, archives, community markers and partnerships to build products, services and experiences.
That’s why once a month, we convene an editorial meeting at our Pasadena office, inviting local publishers, photographers, reporters, videographers and podcasters to meet, greet and share resources without hesitation. We sweeten the appeal by supplying sandwiches and unlimited Cheetos.
The API report continues, “Leaning into local identity and history can move our journalism from ‘we provide facts alone’ to ‘we provide facts and serve other important community functions.’ Too often, journalists focus exclusively on the news values of accuracy, trustworthiness, independence, fairness, etc. We rarely have the time to step back and consider how our news organizations contribute additional value — that is, other impact — to our community and its members. But we know local media can do more. Local news can add value to our communities by helping people make informed decisions, building connections between the past and present, enriching conversations through complexity or nuance, and bridging individual differences.”
Our monthly discussions include how local news can report on a wide variety of topics without losing a larger perspective. For example, it makes a difference if we learn about the impact of weather and the environment from local experts. Studies suggest that local news sources are perceived as more trustworthy than national news outlets.
We believe in the operating model that harnesses the talents of journalists and other media contributors and creates collaborative networks that expand the reach of a single reporter. The idea is based on the notion of ‘multi-local’ newsrooms. The initiative aims to develop regional hubs whereby journalists (and others) within a region work together to produce news for all of the communities within that region.
This model is different from news bureaus that produce news to be distributed across a region, a nation, or even internationally. Instead, the regional hub produces news that is specific to each of the local communities.
The nonprofit American Journalism Project enumerates the 3,300 newspapers that have gone out of business and the 60 percent of journalism jobs that have already been lost. They are supporting ‘digital nonprofit newsrooms,’ including organizations like ours that work collaboratively in a region to restore local news.
Last week, Local News Pasadena worked collaboratively with South Pasadenan publisher Steven Lawrence on a story about the arrest at gunpoint and subsequent release of an ailing Pomona barbershop owner, whose videotaped entrapment by the US Border Patrol went viral. Lawrence had the lead and set up the appointment. Local News Pasadena went to Pomona, interviewed three contacts for the story and took photos. Then we transferred all the information to Lawrence, and by the time we were back in Pasadena, the story was ready to post. During this process, Lawrence and two staff members conducted four hours of legal research, pulling court documents and protecting the reporting from any potential misinformation. We shared the story in both publications and well ahead of reporting by commercial news outlets.
“Research and connectivity is the backbone of our organization,” said Lawrence, who also operates his newsroom as a nonprofit organization.
More importantly, this nonprofit model is favored for funding by major donors and supporters. By embracing this model, nonprofits can attract self-sustaining grants and sponsorships.
If you represent a media outlet that would like to be part of our coalition, we’d like to hear from you. We may even buy you a sandwich.
SO appreciate what you do! Could not be more important. Dare you publish where and when local demonstrations are going to be held? We have to depend overmuch on word of mouth, which is not the most expedient. THANK YOU!