The pandemic changed the news business and, in a lot of ways, not for the better. It accelerated layoffs. It hastened the end of more than 100 news organizations. It led a handful of newsrooms losing their actual newsrooms.
But in some communities, the pandemic also clarified the value of reliable information.
More than 70 local newsrooms launched in the United States in 2020 and 2021. More than 50 local newsletters started publishing in that time. We found newsrooms in 32 states and Puerto Rico.
As they did before the pandemic, the majority of digital startups sprang up around major metro areas, said Penny Abernathy, visiting professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. That happens thanks to better access to for-profit and philanthropic funding.
But Abernathy has been excited to see newsrooms launching in rural areas, including The Border Belt Independent in North Carolina.
Among all the negative trends Abernathy and I have been comparing notes on since 2020, she’s spotted a few positive trends, too.
“I think there was an acknowledgement among news consumers that local news is important. The pandemic brought that home in ways nothing else had.”
There’s also been an increased awareness that communities that have been historically underserved by the news are currently underserved by the news. This list includes projects that cover immigrant, Black and LGBTQ communities.
One more thing Abernathy’s noticing: a commitment and excitement about local news amongst her students.
“Now there’s a real understanding of how important local news is to the quality of our everyday lives, and that gives me tremendous hope for the long term.”
This list contains every new newsroom I could find that launched in 2020 and 2021. I used member lists from Local Independent Online News, the Institute for Nonprofit News and The American Journalism Project, among others. There’s a section on local newsletters, which are also plentiful, including from Substack and Meta’s Bulletin. And there’s a handful of national newsrooms and newsletters at the bottom. I expect I missed some, please email me and let me know which ones and I’ll add them here.
After spending a few weeks building this, here are some things that stand out to me:
- In many states, only one newsroom launched, but eight states had quite the year. In California, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Florida, at least four newsrooms launched in each.
- Five newsrooms cite the closure of the local newspaper as the reason for their opening. This is from The Record North Shore in Wilmette, Illinois: “When 22nd Century Media ceased operation in March 2020, credible local news was ripped away from tens of thousands of suburban readers. Three of the company’s editors soon united with a common goal to restore responsible community reporting to Chicago’s suburbs, starting with the North Shore.”
- Seven newsrooms include their plans to work with and for specific communities. This is from PW Perspectives in Dumfries, Virginia: “For too long, the minority communities of Prince William County have not had the voices we deserve. For too long, our county has been governed by hate. Through this anti-racist media outlet, we will elevate the voices of Prince William County’s silenced minorities. Here, you will find news, opinions, and stories relating to the Black, Latinx, Muslim, and immigrant communities. These are the voices of Prince William County.”
- Nearly every site included here had an about page, making it easy to see quickly a list of values, sometimes an origin story and a staff list. That might seem basic, but it’s something many long-established newsrooms still fail at.
This list isn’t meant to be the matching bookend to our list of newsrooms that closed. They’re different in many ways, including staff sizes, mediums and mission. After two rough years, though, it does show something that’s easy to miss.
Local journalism hasn’t quit.
Here are more than 70 newsrooms that launched in 2020 and 2021:
Name: Arkadelphian
Location: Arkadelphia, Arkansas
About: “Covering the good, the bad and the ugly in SW Arkansas since 2021.”
Name: Asheville Free Press
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
About: “The Asheville Free Press is a community media outlet for news, commentary, criticism, and more. We practice movement journalism, a term defined by southern media collective Press On as ‘journalism in service to liberation.’”
Name: Asheville Watchdog
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
About: “Asheville Watchdog is a free, local, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization. It was founded in 2020 by veteran professional journalists and media executives living in Asheville, North Carolina. Everyone on staff is a volunteer. Our mission is to inform and engage the citizens of Asheville and surrounding communities by providing fair, factual and reliable in-depth news stories about local government, institutions, issues, and people.”
Name: The Assembly
Location: North Carolina
About: “Interesting, deeply reported, nuanced stories about North Carolina. That’s what we’re here to do. The Assembly is a new digital magazine about the people, institutions, and ideas that shape this state.”
Name: Atlanta Civic Circle
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
About: “Our mission is to inform the public on the most critical issues facing metro Atlanta by providing in-depth reporting and presenting possible solutions with opportunities for civic engagement online and in the community.”
Name: Austonia
Location: Austin, Texas
About: “Austonia is locally-owned, created to serve the Austin community and connect it with our great local brands, like our founding sponsor, Tito’s Handmade Vodka. We’re one of a handful of truly local Austin media, not part of an out-of-town media conglomerate like so many others.”
Name: Austin Vida
Location: Austin, Texas
About: “We are a Latina-led digital publication headed by Nancy Flores, an award-winning local journalist most recently writing for the Austin American-Statesman and Austin360. Nancy, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, has specialized in covering underrepresented Latinx communities in Central Texas. Nancy’s contributions to Austin’s Latinx community recently earned her the Award of Excellence in Media Arts from the city’s Mexican American Cultural Center. In 2019, Remezcla named her among the nation’s ‘Latino Columnists You Should Be Reading.’ We’re reimagining and relaunching Austin Vida, which has a long history of showcasing Latinx cultural and musical happenings in the city. Join us for this exciting new chapter!”
Name: Baldwin2k News
Location: Milledgeville, Georgia
About: “Welcome to Baldwin2k.com, Milledgeville-Baldwin County’s first hyperlocal news website. Locally operated and operated, with more than 15 years of journalism in this city and county. This site is designed to be as interactive as possible, so please sign up (it’s really really easy) and become part of our online community.”
Name: Black By God
Location: West Virginia
About: “… BLACK BY GOD | The West Virginian (is) an emerging news and storytelling organization centering Black voices from the Mountain State. Our name is a riff on the colloquial phrase West ‘by God’ Virginia that claims a unique place in central Appalachia.”
Name: Bloomfield Information Project
Location: Bloomfield, New Jersey
About: “The Bloomfield Information Project is a community news service dedicated to making our community more informed, engaged, and resilient. We launched in March of 2020 in response to Bloomfield’s acute need for news and information at the start of the pandemic. Our goal is to understand your vision for Bloomfield and provide the information, context, and connection you need to make that dream a reality. We’re part reporter and part community advocate. And we’re entirely dedicated to bringing people together to make our community a better place.”
Screenshot, Border Belt Independent
Name: Border Belt Independent
Location: Bladen, Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties in North Carolina
About: “The Border Belt Independent is a nonprofit, online news site that reports on issues in Bladen, Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties in southeastern North Carolina with a focus on poverty, health, mental health, adverse childhood experiences, race, education, and the economy.”
Name: Boulder Reporting Lab
Location: Boulder, Colorado
About: “To provide the people who live, work, learn and play in and around Boulder, Colorado, with high-quality, trustworthy, local-first reporting and essential information to make sense of issues and events happening around them, navigate their lives and build community.”
Name: Broken Arrow Sentinel
Location: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
About: “Founded by veteran journalist and editor John Dobberstein, the Broken Arrow Sentinel is an online media property created to be the authoritative independent news source for the city of Broken Arrow’s 115,000 residents.”
Name: The Buckeye Flame
Location: Ohio
About: “The Buckeye Flame amplifies the voices of LGBTQ+ Ohioans to support community and civic empowerment through the creation of engaging content that chronicles our triumphs, struggles, and lived experiences.”
Name: Canopy Atlanta
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
About: “Canopy Atlanta is a community-led nonprofit journalism project founded in 2020. We choose, report, and present stories with Atlantans, redefining who journalism is by and for. Our mission is to equip metro Atlantans to report in collaboration with experienced journalists about the issues their communities care about most. We tell stories that directly respond to neighborhood needs, partner with existing community information systems, and build neighborhoods’ capacity to keep obtaining information from public records, officials, or archives.”
Name: Cardinal News
Location: Southwest and Southside Virgina
About: “Cardinal News is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news site that serves Southwest and Southside Virginia. We were founded in July 2021. Southwest and Southside are two very different regions of the state but they share many things in common. Among them: They’re increasingly left behind in a state that’s dominated by the urban crescent from Northern Virginia to Hampton Roads and they’re both faced with inventing new economies after traditional employers have declined. They’re also left behind by legacy news organizations that have cut their staffs deeply and no longer support in-depth reporting. Our mission is to provide that in-depth reporting. We are not here to cover fires and wrecks and shootings, but to connect the dots on the big trends that are shaping and re-shaping our region.”
Name: Conecta Arizona
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
About: (Via Twitter) “Conecta Arizona is a WhatsApp news, information and resource service in Spanish. We build bridges with dialogue.”
Name: Chicago Leader
Location: Chicago, Illinois
About: “Chicago Leader primarily seeks to serve black and brown communities by providing them with print and online news communicated through the voices of trained citizen journalists residing in the communities we serve. Ultimately, the publication aims to inspire readers with stories that can make a positive impact in their lives and on those around them. Through feature news and information, Chicago Leader will highlight stories that encourage and enable people to improve relationships and engage in dialogue wherever they are: in business or schools, in their families, neighborhoods, and social communities. Chicago Leader is a subsidiary of the leading urban news media outlet 1AM, Corp. Chicago Leader is funded through the generosity of St. Agatha Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois.”
Name: Clayton Crescent
Location: Jonesboro, Georgia
About: “The Clayton Crescent was born of a critical need to serve a longtime news desert when COVID-19 forced the county paper to lay off nearly all of its already tiny reporting staff, including Robin (Kemp, executive editor and CEO). When she got the news, Robin walked into her home office, found a website template, and kept on reporting — even though she was not drawing a paycheck. Using what little money she had, as well as some modest donations from family, friends, and area residents, Robin put together the basics of The Clayton Crescent from scratch, handling all the reporting, production, social media, technical support, and business matters by herself.”
Name: The Clifton Times
Location: Clifton, New Jersey
About: “The Clifton Times provides hyper local news and information for Clifton, NJ from longtime residents, journalists, writers, and those living or working in Clifton.”
Screenshot, Colorado News Collaborative
Name: Colorado News Collaborative
Location: Colorado state
About: Our mission is to be a local media resource hub and ideas lab that serves all Coloradans by strengthening high-quality local journalism, supporting civic engagement, and ensuring public accountability. … COLab helps more than 160 news outlets across Colorado … report important stories they couldn’t do alone. We help communities find better ways to build trust with their news outlets. And we help strengthen media business models so those news outlets can serve those communities long into the future.
Name: The Current
Location: Savannah, Georgia
About: “The Current is an inclusive nonprofit, non-partisan news organization which provides in-depth watchdog journalism for Savannah and Coastal Georgia’s communities.”
Name: Dallas Free Press
Location: Dallas, Texas
About: “Our nonprofit journalism amplifies voices in disinvested Dallas neighborhoods and explores solutions to our city’s systemic inequities.”
Name: Deep Indigo Collective
Location: Waxahachie, Texas
About: “Deep Indigo Collective is a nonprofit, independent news organization committed to the use of visual storytelling as an essential tool in reporting on the most urgent issue of our lifetime. Our mission is to provide truthful visual documentation informing discussion around climate change and environmental issues.”
Name: Eden Prairie Local News
Location: Eden Prairie, Minnesota
About: “Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN), is a nonprofit, non-partisan, citizen-run media organization generously supported by readers, sponsors, and businesses.”
Screenshot, El Paso Matters
Name: El Paso Matters
Location: El Paso, Texas
About: “El Paso Matters is a member-supported nonpartisan media organization that uses journalism to expand civic capacity in our region. We inform and engage with people in El Paso, Ciudad Juarez and neighboring communities to create solutions-driven conversations about complex issues shaping our region.”
Name: EpicenterNYC
Location: Queens, New York
About: “Epicenter-NYC is a community journalism initiative, started as a newsletter to connect neighbors during the pandemic. We’ve grown into much more: We publish articles on our website, offer access to public folders and documentation you might need, run regular livestreams and a weekly podcast, host community forums and rethink how we collect, share and act on news and information. Thanks to a volunteer-led initiative to help our neighbors get vaccinated, we have scheduled thousands of appointments for those in need. Epicenter is part of URL Media, a multi-platform network of high-performing Black and Brown media organizations, with a shared goal of uplifting, respecting and loving the communities they serve. We are based in Jackson Heights, Queens, which basically means the whole world meets in our neighborhood.”
Name: Flatwater Free Press
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
About: “The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.”
Name: Fort Worth Report
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
About: “The Fort Worth Report is committed to making Fort Worth and Tarrant County better through reliable local news reporting and information.”
Screenshot, Gig Harbor Now
Name: Gig Harbor Now
Location: Gig Harbor, Washington
About: “Gig Harbor Now is a nonprofit news organization working to strengthen the community and democracy by accurately, objectively and reliably reporting local news and events, and providing a forum for the people of the greater Gig Harbor area. The newspaper arose from the demise of a similar publication whose editor and reporter refused to accept that local news isn’t important. For a decade, they produced the weekly Gig Harbor Life until in 2018 parent company Gannett discontinued it as financially unsustainable. It was a scenario echoed across traditional American newspapers, which lost advertising to major internet platforms and correspondingly were forced to close or reduce coverage. The former staff members rallied community supporters to help fill the information void. They pursued a nonprofit model that has proved successful in restoring local news to many communities.”
Name: Harpswell Anchor
Location: Harpswell, Maine
About: “The Harpswell Anchor was started in 1998 by editor and publisher, Robert (Bob) Anderson. The monthly newspaper captured the voice of the unique community it serves, which includes Harpswell Neck, Orr’s Island, Bailey Island, Great Island, and Cundy’s Harbor. In the fall of 2020, the Anchor closed its doors. Many Harpswellians were disappointed, as we relied on the monthly paper to stay connected to the happenings in our community. A group of local residents decided to ‘raise the Anchor’ by reviving the paper while also expanding its content and appeal.”
Name: Harvey World Herald
Location: Harvey, Illinois
About: “The Harvey World Herald is the #1 news source for in-depth reporting on education, business, public safety, health, politics, and entertainment in Harvey, Illinois.”
Name: Hattiesburg.com
Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi
About: “Hattiesburg.com is a focused, hyper-local, digital-native media platform offering curated, interesting, engaging content created by experienced professionals. The platform features content including features, information, and showcasing Hattiesburg’s outstanding people, places, and events. Hattiesburg.com is focused on ZIP Codes 39401, 39402 and 39406 specifically, and more broadly Forrest and Lamar Counties in Mississippi.”
Name: Highway 58 Herald
Location: Oakridge, Oregon
About: “Residents of Oregon’s Highway 58 corridor are intensely interested and involved in their communities – and very demanding of them. But the demise of traditional media and news coverage by even the smallest newspapers has left a void of clear, contextual, straight news reporting to help people understand what is going on. Our mission: Fill that vacuum. And our pledge: Do it with the highest of professional standards. Here at The Herald we have a rather folksy explanation for that pledge: If you live in one of our rural towns and find yourself needing an appendectomy, you’re going to want the same high level of surgical excellence that anyone in a larger community would demand to receive. We feel you should be no less demanding of your local journalism.”
Name: Idaho Capital Sun
Location: Boise, Idaho
About: “The Idaho Capital Sun is the Gem State’s newest nonprofit news organization delivering accountability journalism on state politics, health care, Idaho tax policy, the environment and more.”
Screenshot, The Indiana Citizen
Name: The Indiana Citizen
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
About: “The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, non-profit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed, engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity.”
Name: JOLT
Location: Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater, Washington
About: “Established in May 2020, JOLT stands for The Journal of Olympia, Lacey & Tumwater, a hyper-local (digital-native) news site, weekday newsletter and the name of our organization. (We created the nonprofit corporation in September 2021.) Our beats include public meetings and hearings, education, business, local politics, local environmental issues, crises, celebrations and more. We are committed to providing space for multiple perspectives and opinions from professional journalists, new reporters and not-yet-published writers.”
Name: The Journal 425
Location: Lake Stevens, Washington
About: “After 75-plus years of serving the community, the Lake Stevens Journal closed its doors several years ago, marking the end of a publisher that provided a print circulation of 25k and employed a staff of 20+. The Journal 425 aims to fill the news vacuum caused by the loss of the Lake Stevens Journal. Since the Journal closed, our community has more than doubled in size with a population now in excess of 40,000. The need for news is more pressing than ever, and the J425 is operated by locals (the former managing editor of the Journal) with experience in journalism.”
Name: The Kansas City Beacon
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
About: “The Kansas City Beacon is a non-profit online news outlet focused on in-depth journalism in the public interest. It launched in March 2020 and is part of The Beacon, a regional nonprofit news network serving Kansas and Missouri. Beacon stories are revelatory, contextual, data-driven and solutions-driven. Our reporting centers around issues in health care, education, economics, environment and civic engagement.”
Name: Key Biscayne Independent
Location: Key Biscayne, Florida
About: “The Key Biscayne Independent is owned by Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. a nonprofit with its own independent board of directors.”
Name: The Land
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
About: “The Land is a local news startup that reports on Cleveland’s neighborhoods and inner ring suburbs. We deliver in-depth stories that foster accountability, inform the community, and inspire people to take action.”
Screenshot, Mississippi Free Press
Name: The Lawrence Times
Location: Lawrence, Kansas
About: “The Lawrence Times is an independent online news publication covering Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas. We launched in February 2021 and started publishing March 8, 2021. We are entirely owned and operated out of Lawrence, and we eat, sleep and breathe LFK. We’re a grassroots publication launched with the goal of maintaining open news access for all members of this community regardless of income, and we survive on the support of those who are able and willing to pay because they believe in the value of what we do. We’re also trying to provide for free some services that other publications monetize, such as our obituaries and event listings.”
Name: Lookout Santa Cruz
Location: Santa Cruz, California
About: “We believe in American democracy and the power of local communities to better themselves. We know that high-quality, trustworthy, non-partisan and connect-the-dots local news reporting is essential to the strengthening of those communities and our country in the 2020s.”
Name: Main Street Fairview
Location: Fairview, Tennesse
About: “Main Street Fairview is the local paper for Fairview, Tenn. Published every Wednesday, Main Street Fairview was launched as a brand new paper by Main Street Media of Tennessee in February 2020.”
Name: Main Street Maury
Location: Maury County, Tennessee
About: “Main Street Maury is a hyper-local newspaper serving Maury County. The newspaper was started in August 2021 and covers local news, people, sports and much more.”
Name: Main Street Nashville
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
About: “Main Street Nashville is a suite of digital products headlined by a 5-day a week e-newspaper delivered to mobile devices and computers Monday-Friday. Main Street Nashville also includes a website (mainstreet-nashville.com) and e-newsletters. Formatted and designed like a traditional newspaper, the e-newspaper is distributed through an app and accessed digitally. It is optimized to provide an outstanding reader experience and the addition of rich media brings the e-edition to life.”
Name: Middle Georgia Times
Location: Macon, Georgia
About: No description published
Name: Mississippi Free Press
Location: Jackson, Mississippi
About: “The mission of the Mississippi Free Press, a new nonprofit journalism website and multimedia network that launched in March 2020, is to publish deep public-interest reporting into causes of and solutions to the social, political and structural challenges facing all Mississippians and their communities. Mississippians need to know each other across regions and share our challenges and solutions despite geographic and other differences. We are introducing Mississippians to each other through our deep accountability reporting and compelling people-focused storytelling, and by convening online and physical ‘solutions circles,’ using our statewide networks to ensure inclusivity and representation.”
Name: MiWisconsin Media
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
About: “MIWISCONSIN MEDIA INC., Is a non-profit Hispanic/Latino digital media outlet in Wisconsin 501(c)3 with fiscal support from Center For Community Stewardship. We are an independent medium. Nonpartisan. Defender and voice of unrepresented communities.” (via Google Translate)
Name: Mountain State Spotlight
Location: Charleston, West Virginia
About: “Our mission is to help West Virginians improve our state by producing “sustained outrage” journalism that exposes abuses of power by government, business and other institutions.”
Name: New Hampshire Bulletin
Location: Concord, New Hampshire
About: “New Hampshire Bulletin is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping the people of the Granite State informed about the issues that matter most.”
Screenshot, New Jersey Monitor
Name: New Jersey Monitor
Location: New Jersey
About: “New Jersey Monitor provides fair and tough reporting on the issues affecting New Jersey, from political corruption to education to criminal and social justice.”
Name: Newark News and Story Collaborative
Location: Newark, New Jersey
About: “Before launching the collaborative in Fall 2020, former WBGO community engagement reporter, Brit Harley worked with a small group of Newark and Essex County residents to explore how we could launch a community media training program. With funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation, we launched the Newark News & Story Collaborative.”
Name: New York Focus
Location: New York state
About: “New York Focus is an independent newsroom covering state and local politics in the Empire State. Launched in October of 2020, New York Focus aims to help make state politics more democratic by publishing adversarial, in-depth reporting that cuts through the noise to explain how the Empire State really works.”
Name: Northern New Mexico Independent
Location: Northern New Mexico
About: “Northern New Mexico Independent (NNMIndy) was created with the belief that conscientious journalism can affect positive change in a community and region. NNMIndy supports evidence-based practices and policies. Records and data will be published for review whenever possible. We will actively report and work to expose nepotism, cronyism, and the culture of movidas while encouraging citizen participation and diversity whenever possible. ”
Name: North Salem Post
Location: North Salem, New York
About: “I’m Sarah, a local reporter, mom and wife. I’ve had a lifelong passion for news, and I’m thrilled to now report for you, my neighbors. Stories happen everywhere, but often the most meaningful are the ones that happen right in your own backyard.”
Name: Ohio Local News Initiative
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
About: “A coalition of Ohio organizations and community leaders, and the American Journalism Project, have partnered to launch a network of independent, community-led, nonprofit newsrooms, starting in Cleveland.”
Name: Oregon Capital Chronicle
Location: Salem, Oregon
About: “Oregon Capital Chronicle focuses on deep and useful reporting on Oregon state government, politics and policy. We help readers understand how those in government are using their power, what’s happening to taxpayer dollars, and how citizens can stake a bigger role in big decisions.”
Screenshot, Oviedo Community News
Name: Oviedo Community News
Location: Oviedo, Winter Springs, Chuluota and Geneva, Florida
About: “We’re a group of journalists who noticed the Greater Oviedo community wasn’t getting its story told, so we banded together to form a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on community issues and spends as much time listening to its readers as it does writing stories for them. By keeping our coverage area small – Oviedo, Winter Springs, Chuluota and Geneva – we’re less likely to miss something important, such as a hot issue being debated in a city meeting, a nail-biter of a high school football game, or a citizen doing a good deed. We also believe that every community is special and has its own story to tell.”
Name: The Oaklandside
Location: Oakland, California
About: “We’re a small but mighty team of local journalists working for Oakland. We amplify community voices, share the power of real information, and investigate systems, not just symptoms.”
Name: Open Vallejo
Location: Vallejo, California
About: “Open Vallejo is an award-winning, independent, non-partisan, nonprofit newsroom serving the public interest. We seek to illuminate a small city long burdened by police violence, neglect, and corruption. As the first project of the Informed California Foundation, Open Vallejo is also a permanent design laboratory for open source, high-impact, broadly-accessible frameworks for ensuring local transparency, accountability, and information justice.””
Name: Philomath News
Location: Philomath, Oregon
About: “The Philomath News is a hyperlocal digital news site providing news, features, sports and information to our valued readers. The News strives to partner with and support local businesses and organizations, provide a voice to Philomath citizens, report news with accuracy and fairness, promote community events and recognize our achievements. We want to build a reputation as a trusted source of information that adds to the lives of our readers.”
Name: PW Perspective
Location: Dumfries, Virginia
About: “Welcome to the PW Perspective where our goal is to bring a voice to those of us who have been silenced, voiceless for too long. Prince William County is the most diverse county in the Commonwealth of Virginia, but with that diversity, inclusion has not come. For too long, our voices have been silenced. For too long, the minority communities of Prince William County have not had the voices we deserve. For too long, our county has been governed by hate. Through this anti-racist media outlet, we will elevate the voices of Prince William County’s silenced minorities. Here, you will find news, opinions, and stories relating to the Black, Latinx, Muslim, and immigrant communities. These are the voices of Prince William County.”
Screenshot, Public Square
Name: Public Square
Location: Newark, New Jersey
About: “Public Square is a local nonprofit newsroom founded by a team of Black women with over 40 years of combined experience in the nonprofit, journalism, and community organizing sectors. Public Square positions journalism as a civic tool and creates a pipeline for a new generation of local journalists. Our reporting centers on social and economic justice, racial equity and equality, the climate crisis, and the immigrant experience in covering issues impacting and concerning citizens in and surrounding our headquarters, Newark, from the community’s point of view. Founders Cassandra Etienne and Josie Gonsalves lead the team of builders and facilitators committed to expanding the spaces for marginalized voices to affirm equity and equality in leadership, agenda-setting, and decision-making in the local news ecosystem.”
Name: The Record North Shore
Location: Wilmette, Illinois
About: “When 22nd Century Media ceased operation in March 2020, credible local news was ripped away from tens of thousands of suburban readers. Three of the company’s editors soon united with a common goal to restore responsible community reporting to Chicago’s suburbs, starting with the North Shore.”
Name: The Roanoke Rambler
Location: Roanoke, Virginia
About: “We are a local, investigative and literary newsletter and website based in Roanoke, Virginia. Our mission is to enlighten members of the community with vibrant, local journalism that exposes wrongdoings, uncovers societal ills and holds the powerful accountable – and with essays and fiction that provoke and inspire.”
Name: Rockton-Roscoe News
Location: Rockton, Illinois
About: “The Roscoe News is a hub of information for the Roscoe area in Winnebago County, Illinois, providing news, classifieds, events, advertising and more information for residents and businesses in Roscoe and nearby areas.”
Name: Salish Current
Location: Bellingham, Washington
About: “The Salish Current is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, online local news organization serving Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit counties. Based in Bellingham, we serve 400,000 residents and tens of thousands of annual visitors to the three-county area. Our region is the ancestral home of Native treaty tribes including the Lummi, Nooksack, Samish, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Swinomish and Upper Skagit. It is home to Western Washington University, Northwest Indian College, Whatcom Community College, Skagit Valley College and Bellingham Technical College.”
Name: Shasta Scout
Location: Redding, California
About: “At Shasta Scout we believe a democratic community requires access to just and equitable news. We are a non-profit, independent, civic news organization focused on Shasta County’s diverse and investigative stories. Using research, interviews, documents and data, we scout out the truth to write stories that build an informed electorate with the power to create educated change for our community. Shasta Scout’s news will always be free with no paywalls. We are funded through a combination of voluntary audience contributions, grants, and business sponsorships.”
Name: 6AM City
Locations: Austin, Texas; Asheville, North Carolina; Boston; Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Fort Worth Texas; Greenville, South Carolina; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; Lakeland, Florida; Lexington, Kentucky; Louisville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Sacramento, California; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; San Jose, California; Madison, Wisconsin.
About: “6AM City was built to engage local communities by creating new ways to consume, participate, and share local content. Through our conversational tone, editorial filter, and participatory approach, we aim to build communities driven by conversation, designed for maximum engagement. Join the conversation.”
Name: Source NM
Location: New Mexico state
About: “Source NM is an independent, nonprofit news organization that shines a light on governments, policies and public officials so you get the information you need to make strong choices — about yourself, your family, your neighborhoods and communities.”
Name: Spotlight Schools
Location: Orange County, California
About: “We’re Spotlight Schools, a hyperlocal newsroom covering education in Orange County founded by a fellow parent/journalist. We want to make it easier for you to get reliable information about what’s happening in your school district. The goal of Spotlight Schools is to help you better navigate, understand and participate in the TK-12 public school experience.”
Screenshot, The Tributary
Name: The Tributary
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
About: “For the Tributary, the future of local journalism is about accountability and accessibility – a nonprofit news hub that feeds investigative stories to area partners, filling a gap in coverage of entrenched problems and solutions, to strengthen the entire Northeast Florida news ecosystem.”
Name: Vallejo Sun
Location: Vallejo, California
About: “The Vallejo Sun is an independent news publication illuminating Solano County, California. It was founded in 2021 by journalists John Glidden, Brian Krans, and Scott Morris, who saw a need for in-depth reporting about local government, policing, and extremist movements in the region.”
Name: Voxpopuli
Location: Winter Garden, Ocoee, Oakland and Windermere, Florida
About: “Our mission is to report the stories that haven’t been told; to give voice to the people who aren’t often heard; to ask the questions that don’t get asked; to hold the people who hold power accountable. Our promise is to deliver fact-based, issues-oriented journalism. To keep our newsroom independent, VoxPopuli is nonprofit, which means we don’t rely on advertising. We hope readers, like you, consider independent journalism a valuable service to the community. Please support our mission to produce high-quality stories about the communities in which you live.”
Name: Waterbury Roundabout
Location: Waterbury, Vermont
About: “Waterbury Roundabout is a volunteer effort created to provide local news coverage after our local weekly paper, the Waterbury Record, folded in late March.”
Name: The West View
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
About: “West View Media is a non-profit news organization that informs, educates and inspires readers through publications that focus on the diverse communities in west Salt Lake City. We offer an authentic look into an area of Salt Lake City that has traditionally been undervalued and misrepresented by mainstream media and local government entities. We strive to do this not only with professional staff, but also by empowering people who live and work in west Salt Lake City to tell their own stories, in their own voice.”
Name: Wichita Beacon
Location: Wichita, Kansas
About: “The Wichita Beacon is the city’s first nonprofit, community-supported digital news organization. We’re changing the face of journalism with an innovative model for reliable, truthful news here in the Midwest. And we’re partnering with you – our neighbors – to make it happen.”
Name: Your Daily Local
Location: Warren, Pennsylvania
About: “To put it succinctly, yourdailylocal.com is just that. Daily, local news, written by local journalists.”
Newsletters:
Name: Arizona Agenda
Location: Arizona
About: “We’re a political insider newsletter for political outsiders.”
Name: The Atlanta Objective with George Chidi
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
About: “Atlanta is broken. Most people live in social, racial and economic siloes here. Multifactor insight – actionable intelligence – about Atlanta that can connect the business community to its politics and culture is hard to find. The only constant in Atlanta is change. You’re here for help learning about what comes next.”
Name: Axios Local
Locations: Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; Nashville, Tennessee; Tampa Bay, Florida; Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Northwest Arkansas; Twin Cities, Minnesota; Dallas, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
About: “A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting (city/region name.)”
Name: The Border Chronicle
Location: Tucson, Arizona
About: “Original reporting and analysis from the US-Mexico border.”
Name: The Brass File
Location: Waterbury, Connecticut
About: “From the publisher of The Waterbury Observer, you’ll find in-depth coverage of Waterbury, Connecticut, with a focus on people, issues and events often overlooked by the mainstream media.”
Name: Capital Muse
Location: Washington, D.C.
About: “Capital Muse covers social justice through a Black feminist lens in the DC metro area. While tackling local stories centering Black women, and giving national stories to local focus, it considers news impacting all women.”
Name: City Cast Chicago
Location: Chicago, Illinois
About: “City Cast Chicago is Chicago’s first daily news podcast, celebrating and challenging the city’s news breakers and culture makers; activists and artists; neighbors and ne’er-do-wells. City Cast Chicago is also a daily email that’s got the news you need, plus what to do tonight, where to eat this weekend, and all kinds of delightful ways to connect with the city. Both the podcast and email are free and fresh every weekday morning at 6 a.m.”
Name: City Cast Denver
Location: Denver, Colorado
About: “City Cast Denver is Denver’s first daily news podcast, celebrating and challenging the city’s news breakers and culture makers; activists and artists; neighbors and ne’er-do-wells. City Cast Denver is also a daily email that’s got the news you need, plus what to do tonight, where to eat this weekend, and all kinds of delightful ways to connect with the city. Both the podcast and email are free and fresh every weekday morning at 6 a.m.”
Name: City Cast Houston
Location: Houston, Texas
About: “Introducing your new favorite way to stay connected to the city you live in and love. It’s your morning routine: a newsletter and podcast fresh at 6 a.m. It’s also your on-ramp — the place you get up to speed on this fast-moving city. And it’s the hot chips and salsa delivered to your table before you’ve even ordered. Which is to say: Free!”
Name: City Cast Salt Lake
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
About: “City Cast Salt Lake is Salt Lake City’s daily news podcast and newsletter, fresh each morning at 6 a.m. Some days City Cast will make you proud of SLC; other days it’ll make you angry. It will celebrate Salt Lake’s triumphs, (try to) solve its mysteries, and consider its history. Our goal is to help you feel more informed and more connected to the Wasatch Front – whether you’ve lived here for 6 months or 6 generations.”
Name: Chicago Southsider
Location: Chicago, Illinois
About: “Flipping the script and going behind the scenes to unlock the best of Chicago’s South Side one block at a time.”
Name: The Coastal Plains Environmental Advocate
Location: North Carolina
About: “Covering the climate and environmental issues that impact the people, practices and policies of North Carolina’s Coastal Plains.”
Name: Down in the County
Location: Palmico County, North Carolina
About: “Celebrating the people of Pamlico County, North Carolina–where the land and the sea meet the sky.”
Name: Examiner+
Location: Mount Kisko, New York
About: “Examiner+ offers in-depth, long-form reporting and insightful commentary on critical newsworthy subjects, along with engaging lifestyle articles and valuable service pieces. Our content is aimed at helping you make informed choices on how to spend your precious time and money living your best life here in the best county that we all call home. With its well-curated variety of stories reported and published with the style and sensibilities of a glossy, feature-based magazine, Examiner+ is a perfect complement to the hard-news reporting readers have come to enjoy and expect from Examiner Media’s four community newspapers.”
Name: La Esquina
Location: Texas state
About: “A restless way of doing independent, transparent and responsible journalism with the commitment to promote citizen participation and forge a more informed society in Texas.”
Name: The E’Ville Good
Location: Rural Iowa
About: “Imagine if NPR and YES! Magazine had a baby who was in love with data stories, and as a bonus, bilingual and bicultural. Created by Amy H. Peterson, The E’ville Good makes news and numbers pop.”
Name: The Food Section
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
About: “Covering food and drink across the American South as though it mattered as much as crime and politics (because it does.)”
Name: FRNJ Extra
Location: New Jersey state
About: “Dedicated to telling stories about the incredible people, events and heritages that make up the Black and Latino communities in South Jersey. Journalism that rings “with the harmonies of liberty.”
Name: Frontera Free Press
Location: Texas
About: “Local Information and News for the People of the Rio Grande Valley.”
Name: Generation Yes!
Location: Florida state
About: “Latino leaders in Florida rewriting the rules in today’s business and helping you find your own breakthrough path.”
Name: The Goldenrod
Location: Kentucky state
About: A news and culture publication covering the vibrant small towns, hamlets and communities of Central and Eastern Kentucky.
Name: HARK Valley
Location: Arizona state
About: “Veteran journalist Tom Scanlon (un)covers blaring bar bands, cranky comics, pissed poets, rejected writers, agitated artists and others who have stories to tell / yell in Arizona.”
Name: Hawaii Bulletin
Location: Hawaii state
About: “Island innovation in focus. Hawaii science, technology, startups and entrepreneurs, featuring local leaders, creators, educators, and more, including place-based initiatives and indigenous knowledge.”
Name: The Higher South
Location: The South
About: “The Higher South illuminates Black American life and news in the Southern states.”
Name: The Kerr County Lead
Location: Kerr County, Texas
About: “Covering community news in Kerr County, Texas – in the heart of the Hill Country.”
Name: Kitsap Scene +
Location: Kitsap County, Washington
About: “Kitsap Scene + features premium articles covering life in Kitsap County, Washington, including Bremerton, Silverdale, Port Orchard, Poulsbo, Kingston, and more!”
Name: The Learning Curve
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
About: “The Learning Curve is a place that features unique stories about people of all backgrounds and experiences out of Jacksonville, Florida. Together we can all come to learn more about what makes each of us uniquely ourselves.”
Name: Madison Minutes
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
About: “Your connection to all things Madison, Wisconsin. Our daily morning newsletter covers news + events in the area.”
Name: Planet Detroit Outdoors
Location: Detroit, Michigan
About: “Your place to explore the outdoors in Detroit and Michigan – and get connected with others doing the same.”
Name: Sioux Falls Simplified
Location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
About: “A lot has been happening in Sioux Falls, from new schools to a shifting healthcare landscape to the ongoing pandemic response. Sioux Falls Simplified’s weekly email newsletter cuts through the clutter and delivers the bullet-pointed, bite-sized version of the local news you need to stay informed from the comfort of your inbox. No jargon. No opinion content. No B.S.”
Name: Inside Black Iowa
Location: Iowa state
About: From the founder of Black Iowa News, this publication highlights Black perspectives, showcases the Black community and amplifies the voices of Black Iowans.
Name: Right Down Euclid
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
About: “Changing the way that Cleveland sports, news, entertainment, and culture are covered forever.”
Name: San Diego Sun
Location: San Diego, California
About: “An informative and entertaining source of news, events and insider stories that define downtown San Diego and the greater metropolitan area.”
Name: Sarasota Bites
Location: Sarasota, Florida
About: “The Sarasota, Florida area has a fantastic restaurant and dining community. Let him show you what’s being served up around town!”
Name: Trenton Journal
Location: Trenton, New Jersey
About: “Trenton, NJ-based newsletter bridging information gaps and amplifying voices.”
Name: The Triangle
Location: Virginia’s Historic Triangle
About: “A new weekly newsletter, featuring in-depth stories on local issues, written for residents of Virginia’s historic triangle and the surrounding region.”
Name: Tri-State Lookout
Location: Port Jervis, New York
About: “Tri-State Lookout is looking out for you with news you need and events where you can get involved in community developments—learn about issues, discuss them and initiate constructive action. In Port Jervis and nearby towns, we report on local government, education, business, public health, infrastructure, arts and culture, people and events.”
Name: 285 South
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
About: “A weekly newsletter bringing you the stories of immigrant communities in metro Atlanta.”
National/Topical:
Name: The Black Sportswoman
Location: Remote
About: “The Black Sportswoman’s mission is to amplify the stories of Black women athletes in sports. We provide researched, reported, quality storytelling centering Black women athletes and their contribution to sports. Through a sports lens, we share the accomplishments and lived experiences of Black women around the world – because their treatment inside & outside of sports is a part of their story. Their stories are a part of history.”
Name: Black Women Unmuted
Location: Remote
About: “We are BLACK WOMEN UNMUTED, an independent journalism project. We report the abiding story of political, civic and social engagement by Black women in America that can clearly be seen as it unfolds, but is barely heard. Our goal is to take the news by, about and for Black women off mute, one story at a time.”
Name: EcuaDiaspora
Location: New York, New York
About: “EcuaDiaspora is an independent, digital, multimedia project focused on covering the 2021 Ecuadorian presidential elections for the English-speaking Ecuadorian diaspora in the United States and beyond. Through explainers, on-the-ground reporting, interviews and live conversations, we aimed to provide a solid understanding of Ecuadorian politics in order for the diaspora to understand and engage in the political and democratic process in Ecuador.”
Name: Floodlight
Location: Washington, D.C.
About: “Floodlight investigates the corporate interests holding back climate action. We partner and co-publish with local journalists and the Guardian.”
Name: Hothouse Solutions
Location: Remote
About: “Feeling overwhelmed by climate news? So were we. The Hothouse newsletter gives you a way to understand the biggest challenge of our time, and how we’ll get the big solutions we need. Each month, we focus on a new climate theme from travel to fashion to food, and explain what you can do in your own life. There is no one solution to climate change, but there are many.”
Name: Keeping it REAL Caregiving
Location: Remote
About: “They cared for us now it’s our turn! Broadcast journalist turned family caregiver Julia Yarbough dishes news & information, support, inspiration & humor about surviving caregiving.”
Name: The Markup
Location: New York, New York
About: “The Markup is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates how powerful institutions are using technology to change our society. We are a new kind of media organization, staffed with an unparalleled roster of quantitative journalists who pursue meaningful, data-driven investigations.”
Name: The 19th*
Location: Remote
About: “Our goal is to empower those we serve — particularly women, women of color and the LGBTQ+ community — with the information, resources and community they need to be equal participants in our democracy.”
Name: 9 Millones
Location: Puerto Rico
About: “9 Millones is a solution journalism reporting platform that informs the nine million Puerto Ricans around the world about what is happening in the archipelago, in a transparent, contextualized and colloquial way.”
Name: The Objective
Location: Remote
About: “The Objective is a nonprofit newsroom holding journalism accountable for past and current systemic biases in reporting and newsroom practices. We are written by and for those underrepresented in journalism.”
Name: Prison Journalism Project
Location: State College, Pennsylvania
About: “We train incarcerated writers to be journalists and publish their stories.”
Name: Public Health Watch
Location: National
About: “Public Health Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization that focuses on threats to America’s well-being. We illuminate weaknesses and injustices in the nation’s health infrastructure and policies, expose inequities and highlight solutions. National in scope, we collaborate with media outlets large and small, and college journalism and public health programs. Our aim is to uncover truths that hold institutions and individuals accountable and compel change.”
Name: Queerency
Location: Austin, Texas
About: “Queerency is a new digital media company that brings you the best in queer business. We champion LGBTQ entrepreneurs, creators, workers, leaders, and the queer economy. Queerency showcases the diversity of queer business: from corporate leaders to sex workers; from those of us in traditionally “gay” industries, to those who are the only queer voices at the table. We highlight both the cultural capital of LGBTQ people and the economic disparities facing the most vulnerable members of our community.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated since publishing to add publications and the number in the headline. We also removed IowaWatch, which launched in 2010. We apologize for the error.
