Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: What nearly 560 applications reveal about scale, sustainability and system-level investments
Today, Media Impact Funders is releasing Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale, a new report by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro that offers one of the most comprehensive practitioner-defined analyses of local journalism infrastructure to date.
The report synthesizes nearly 560 applications submitted to Press Forward’s infrastructure open call, and the applications provide a rare, aggregated signal from across the field. Rather than focusing on individual organizations, the analysis examines the system-level constraints limiting scale, coordination, and long-term sustainability. (In a related piece, Press Forward Executive Director Dale Anglin describes how the open call created a rare field-wide snapshot of the structural barriers facing local journalism.)
The findings suggest that many of the challenges facing local journalism are structural rather than organizational. They raise important questions for funders about infrastructure, coordination and the role of philanthropy in supporting civic information systems.