2021
Journalism is a public good. Let the public make it.
(Columbia Journalism Review)
Ivory-tower journalism has failed. It’s time we focus on building public infrastructure where everyone can find, factcheck, and produce civic information. I lay out a plan for how to do that in a special report for the Columbia Journalism Review
2023
The Roadmap for Local News: An Emergent Approach to Meeting Civic Information Needs
I helped lead a team committed to the development of a set of recommendations – a “roadmap” – to revitalize and reimagine the local news ecosystems in this country so communities get the news and information they need to thrive.
2023
Democracy’s Immune System
(Obama Foundation Democracy Forum)
I joined newsroom leaders, media experts and philanthropists to dive into the world of local news, the role that it plays as democracy’s immune system, and a much-needed plan to revitalize local news and journalism for the future, including reaching significant milestones by 2026—the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
2023
Journalism’s Civic Media Moment Could Be a Movement
(Kettering Foundation / National Civic League)
— the final chapter from the book “Reinventing Journalism to Strengthen Democracy: Insights from innovators”
We live in a time of deep distrust―of each other, the media, and institutions of all kinds. In this volume of essays, innovative journalists from newspapers, public radio, civic media groups, and new media collectives examine how we've reached this point. These essays highlight opportunities that are emerging as old practices give way to the new demands of an engaged, diverse, and restive public. They call on us to create a more inclusive democratic narrative that better captures the rich diversity of our nation and its complicated history | Buy the book here.
2022
Developing a New Journalism that Builds Community
(Nonprofit Quarterly)
Watch the video or read the transcript of my interview with Nonprofit Quarterly for their “Remaking the Economy: Information, the Media, and Economic Justice” webinar.
2019
Don’t Just Engage, Equip
(CityBureau.org)
To reimagine and repair local news, democratize the journalistic process. In this speech, delivered as the closing keynote of the 2019 Collaborative Journalism Summit in Philadelphia, I apply City Bureau’s “inform, engage, equip” framework to engaged reporting.
2022
Inviting the Community to Make the News
(Popula)
I joined Mediaquake columnist Kate Harloe in their ongoing interview series “with journalists, activists, and scholars, asking big questions about journalism, capitalism, and the future of both.”
2020
What Journalism Can Learn from Mutual Aid
(Columbia Journalism Review)
Mutual aid efforts suggest a way forward, a new type of newsroom that serves as the nerve center for local information hubs. In this Columbia Journalism Review special report, I outline why journalists should see their work as part of an ecosystem of social services.
2022
How Strengthening Democracy Begins With Better Local News
(Forbes / Ashoka)
How can we make local news into invaluable civic infrastructure? News that’s really a public good? I sat down with Keith Hammonds of the Solutions Journalism Network to talk about my approach, and why a truly public local news ecosystem is important now.