NewsBeat

July 2023 NewsBeat 8 By LORETTA CHAO The Journalism Project asked 5,000 people across the country what they want from local news. Here's what they learned. As a venture philanthropy invested in rebuilding local news, the American Journalism Project has a keen interest in understanding what people actually need from their local news outlets. That's why, as part of our local philanthropic partner- ship work, we've heard from nearly 5,000 residents in eight local markets across the country about their experience with journalism in their communities and what kinds of local information would be most useful to them. Conducted by Fiona Morgan, American Journalism Project's director of community listening, and nearly 100 paid community ambassadors — who dedicated their time to helping us reach out to their commu- nity networks via phone interviews, focus groups, text messages — these discussions underscore that communities, even within the same market, can have wildly different experiences with local news. Within single regions, we've encountered communities who have fond respect for their local news- papers, while others in the same place feel they've been harmed by the very same pub- lications — or hadn't even heard of them. We've also spoken to people who have no exposure to local news outside of word-of- mouth, because of paywalls, digital divides, or literacy or language barriers. When asked about what topics they want information about, people may have a tendency to prioritize different topics in each market. Transportation agencies and highway commissions come up more in places like Houston and Los Angeles, for example, while political polarization is top of mind for many people in Wichita and across Indiana. Government transparency and criminal justice are top of mind for many in Cleveland. Housing is consistently a top-three issue across the board. That said, our research team has also come across a number of common themes across every market where we've talked to people about local news, that aren't centered on topics. These similarities are perhaps even more interesting than the dif- ferences, because they include insights for all of us to consider as the nonprofit news industry continues to grow. Here are nine themes we've identified in this work: 1. People do want more local news — emphasis on local. 2. People want a shared, trusted source of facts. 3. People want the full story of their communities to be told. 4. People want to know about decisions before they're made, and they want decision makers to be accountable for outcomes. 5. People want to see themselves in the news, and in the newsroom. 6. People want journalists to ask their questions. 7. People want information they can act on. 8. People want the news to meet them where they are. 9. People want newsrooms to play a role in connecting and convening communities. A note on methodology: In our listening work, we reach out through a variety of methods to capture as many perspectives as possible. This includes through com- munity networks, local service organiza- tions, and social media; but because this type of outreach often leads researchers to the same people, we also do text message surveys, which reach something closer to a random sample of residents. 1) People do want more local news — emphasis on local. As one might imagine, we have our fair share of conversations with people who've lost trust in news media and often cite na- tional political coverage in their complaints. But once conversations move past critiques of "the media," we get to the heart of what we want to know—do people see value in having a source for verified information? Do they want to know what's going on in their communities? Do they think journalis- tically gathered information is important? In every single place we've conducted research, the answer is overwhelmingly yes, and it manifests in different ways. Many people say that when something happens in their neighborhood, they have no idea where they'd be able to look to figure out what's happening. Some say they trust community organizations and individuals

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