MPR News with Angela Davis

How to create sustainable newsrooms for the future

People sit and talk on stage with microphones in front of crowd
MPR News host Angela Davis (left) and Knight Foundation President and CEO Maribel Pérez Wadsworth during an event hosted by MPR News in partnership with Report for America on July 18 at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis.
Nathan Tisdale | Report for America

MPR News host Angela Davis recently moderated two panels about the state of local news in Minnesota.

The first is with funders who are pushing for new models to reinvigorate newsrooms across the state and the country. The second brings the conversation to news leaders across Minnesota.

How can journalists themselves reinvent the way they do their jobs, in an era of cutbacks and decline?

According to research done at Northwestern University, the state of local news is grim.

More than half of the counties in the U.S. have no or very limited access to local news. Areas without local news, so called “new deserts,” are growing at an alarming rate.

Plus, trust in news is at an all-time low. How do we turn that around?

It’s a topic MPR News host Angela Davis cares about deeply. Last month, she hosted two panels that explored how to reinvigorate local news. The groups assembled at the Weisman Art Museum on July 18 as part of a national gathering of Report for America corps members in Minneapolis.

Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities.

First, we heard the first panel with funders and philanthropy leaders who are leading the charge to champion and reimagine local news. National and local leaders discuss why they believe journalism is essential for a functioning democracy, how business models could be changed to make newsrooms sustainable, and how the unique challenges news faces in rural communities can be addressed.

People sit and talk on stage with microphones in front of crowd
An event hosted by MPR News in partnership with Report for America on July 18 at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis.
Nathan Tisdale | Report for America

Guests:

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.