When I left USA TODAY in 2023 after five years as its editor-in-chief, I was eager to get back to local news. 

Leading a national newsroom was an honor – and our work made a difference across the country. But that role also gave me a firsthand view of our nation’s polarization and the chaos spawned by misinformation. 

Local news was a solution for both.

Local news decreases political divisiveness and knits together disparate communities. 

Local news readers are more likely to know their neighbors. They’re more active in their communities. They’re more likely to vote. This isn’t just what journalists think – extensive research proves it. 

So it’s not surprising that most U.S. adults (85%) say local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their community, according to Pew research, including 44% who say they are extremely or very important.

The problem is, at a time when our nation needs it most, local news is disappearing as hometown papers vanish.

The digital-only news sites that have sprung up in many places to fill the gap are promising but often don’t generate enough revenue to pay for the journalism. 

And for so many independent operators, running a business while reporting the news means not enough time for either, much less room to experiment or innovate.

We started a local news initiative at Arizona State University to understand these problems – and how we could help solve them.

The problem to be solved

Even before the initiative had a name, we spent months talking to local editors and publishers as well as members of the communities they serve. We heard the same refrain: We’ve got the talent. We’re good on passion. What we need is operational support, audience and business strategy, innovation and experimentation, diversified revenue and a path to sustainability.

Who could provide the support small news organizations needed while reinvesting savings or profits back into local news?

The answer: ASU, recognized as the nation’s most innovative university for the past 10 years in a row, guided by a charter that challenges us to advance research and discovery of public value and assume fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities we serve.

On March 29, 2024, we incorporated NEWSWELL as a nonprofit in Arizona to help transform local news. 

Our model is as simple as it is innovative. 

Local news sites or papers donate themselves to NEWSWELL, and we provide all the things a solid news operation needs: Finance, IT, HR and legal services. Audience, membership and advertising expertise. 

We’ve assembled a hands-on central team of experts, accomplished veterans from CalMatters, USA TODAY, the Los Angeles Times and Meta, to assist local sites with editing, strategy and analysis. ASU Enterprise Partners, a nonprofit organization that supports ASU’s charter and reach, handles all our backend operational services. We share content and ideas with colleagues as part of ASU Media Enterprise. We have benefited from the strategic advice of, and will continue to partner with those helping to reinvent local news across America, including The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and CalMatters.

NEWSWELL is starting with three prototype sites, Stocktonia, Times of San Diego and Santa Barbara News-Press, so we can learn before we grow.

Stocktonia and Times of San Diego were existing news sites that donated themselves to NEWSWELL for growth and sustainability. Most recently, donors gave NEWSWELL the name and digital archive of the historic Santa Barbara News-Press so that we may rebuild it and save the iconic brand from potential exploitation as an AI-driven zombie site. We will work with the Santa Barbara community to understand its local news needs and shape the next iteration of the News-Press, one of California’s oldest newspapers.  

In all locations, local editors and reporters provide the news. 

NEWSWELL provides the support.

Our goal is transformation

But we don’t just want to sustain local news, we want to transform it. NEWSWELL will work across America’s largest university to solve journalism’s biggest problems. Our sites will serve as real-time labs.

We’re partnering with the Global Security Initiative, Center on Narrative, Disinformation and Strategic Influence to explore disinformation in local news. Students in the ASU Artificial Intelligence Cloud Innovation Center are developing AI solutions to speed newspaper production. Experts in ASU’s Learning Enterprise are creating news-related classes we will embed in our content. 

We’ll also offer real-world educational experiences for ASU students and research opportunities for faculty. 

We partner with ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, repeatedly ranked among the nation’s best, known for its teaching hospital model. While no student funds go to these news sites, NEWSWELL editors act as master teachers to Cronkite interns, giving our students a jumpstart on their careers and our newsrooms an unmatched talent pipeline. 

Cronkite students do more than just news reporting. Last semester, students in the school’s online digital audiences capstone experience analyzed news site engagement and presented editors with smart suggestions for audience growth. Students in the New Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab researched ways local news could lead to lifelong learning. 

This spring, students in the Cronkite News Sports Bureau will cover the San Diego Padres spring training in Phoenix for our San Diego news site, producing written, video and multimedia content tailored to the site’s needs.

The goal is for all NEWSWELL sites to become or remain self-sustaining. Generous national and local donors, led by a $5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, are supporting our ramp up.

The challenge we’re tackling is one of the most important of our times. How do we transform local news?

 Today is the official launch of NEWSWELL – the debut of a bold solution.

 One that is incubated by the nation’s most innovative university, bolstered by its renowned journalism school – and powered by dogged local journalists.

They’ve got the passion. Now they’ve got the support.

 We invite you to join us on this journey. Please consider donating to our growth at asunewswell.org.