Support your community.
Strengthen our democracy.
Invest in local journalism.
Hello!
Do you subscribe to a local news organization? If you do – thank you! If you don’t yet – hopefully we can inspire you to do so.
Local journalism is the bedrock of our democracy and it needs your support. Not enough people understand the importance of local journalism – or have access to it. Media consolidation, as well as technological and economic changes have eviscerated local news outlets and decimated journalism jobs. But local journalists are democracy’s frontline workers. They strengthen communities, save taxpayers money, and promote civic engagement. In communities, where local journalism is strong, more people vote and elected officials pay more attention to their constituents. We think that local journalism is essential to our nation’s future and that paying for a subscription is the equivalent of investing in local journalists and your community.
Good news – about news! To help uplift democracy and the local journalism that defends it, we have built a 50 state directory containing more than 1,000 local journalism outlets that serve as their community’s immune system, alerting the public to dangers and rooting out waste and corruption. We sought outlets that hold the powerful to account and report the perspectives of marginalized communities. These are real outlets, with real journalists. We have curated every entry on this list, so it does not have hedge fund-owned (like Alden Global Capital) or “pink slime” (fake local) news outlets.
Link to the Local Journalism directory: https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/journalism-directory Here are Five Fabulous ways for you to use our directory:
1- Explore. At the bottom of the directory webpage is our interactive 50 state map. Poke around see what inspires you and interests you. Some are Spanish-language, others Black-owned, or labor-focused, some are print and some are on-line only.
2- Act. Invest today by subscribing to at least one of the outlets (and their journalists).
3- Share. If you can afford to – spread the love – by buying someone a subscription. If you have family or a friend who lives in Wisconsin or Georgia (for example) – gift them a subscription of a news outlet in their state!
4- Immunize folks to disinformation and Fox propaganda. Local journalism is grounded in community. Good information from trusted community-based journalists can help immunize folks to mis- or dis-information. Rupert Murdoch’s propaganda empire creates an unreality and depends on their audience having limited other sources of information. Give someone an additional and local alternative information source.
5- Pollinate and help us spread the word about local journalism: Does your local high school have a subscription to a local news source? If not – make it happen! Or share our directory with folks (it also has background info to get them to better understand why it’s worth their money to invest in local journalism). Use this shortened link on social media: http://tiny.cc/localdirectory. If you want us to talk to your community or group we would be delighted – just ask!
REMINDER: Special event Saturday 2/25
Andrea Chalupa is a journalist, author and co-host of the podcast Gaslit Nation. She is an expert in media issues, propaganda, and authoritarianism. Her film “Mr. Jones” is based on historic events of media coverage about Stalin’s genocidal policies – especially in Ukraine. We will discuss her film and the role media needs to play in opposing authoritarianism and disinformation. Event is FREE – suggested donation to the Kyiv Independent – local news org in Ukraine. Sign up HERE
Upcoming Events
2/25 SATURDAY 7:30pm *ET* via Zoom. We will screen Andrea’s film “Mr. Jones” followed by a “Q&A” session. Sign up HERE. Admission is FREE but in recognition of the one year anniversary of Russia’s 2022 re-invasion of Ukraine we will ask folks for a volunteer donation to the Kyiv Independent to support media and democracy in Ukraine.
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Thank you.
In community,
Milo, Brian, Jonathan, Holley, Cecily, Al, Carolyn, Noelle and the entire Media and Democracy Project
If you would like to speak at one of our meetings or have any feedback.
Email: Milo@MediaAndDemocracyProject.Org
Website: MediaAndDemocracyProject.Org
Twitter: @MAD_Democracy & @FixMediaNow
Mastodon: http://journa.host/@MAD_democracy
If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to sign up for future newsletters: tiny.cc/OurNewsletter
