Rebuilding the roads, bridges and power lines of local news

Knight has made progress in supporting local news infrastructure, but there’s more to do

Before joining Knight, my previous venture had been Spirited Media, a startup that launched and operated three local news websites before selling them in 2019. The first of these sites to launch was Billy Penn, the Philadelphia-based site we eventually sold to WHYY, the city’s public media entity. It continues to thrive today as a standalone brand. (In fact, Billy Penn celebrated its 10th anniversary just last week.)

By the time I launched Billy Penn, I had 20 years of experience in digital journalism, which granted me valuable insight and a distinct advantage in launching a digital news organization.

Yet it was still so much harder than I thought it would be. Sure, we had a strong vision for what Billy Penn’s content strategy and voice should be. We had a strong view that the business model needed to focus heavily on events and membership. But, in the end, we still needed a platform on which to publish. And a system to deliver ads. And legal support to create and maintain the business. And tools to successfully run a membership program. And so much more. 

Over the past decade, Knight has invested more than $100 million to build out this essential infrastructure for local news across the United States so that publishers—both new and legacy—don’t have to wrestle with the same challenges. Today, it is possible to establish and operate a local news organization with far fewer resources than were required a decade ago, thanks to a suite of affordable solutions, many developed with Knight’s support.

Building a robust local news infrastructure

Over the past decade, innovators have helped build a robust ecosystem of local news infrastructure to provide services, tools, expertise and technology to the industry. This includes dozens of organizations and programs, including the American Journalism Project, Tiny News Collective, Newspack, Indiegraf, URL Media, News Revenue Hub, CatchLight, LION Publishers, the Institute for Nonprofit News, ProJourn, The Video Consortium, BlueLena, News Literacy Project, Big Local News, Muckrock, Lawyers for Reporters, the Knight x LMA BloomLab, NewsMatch, Knight Elections Hub, Report for America and so many more. 

Our investments have been aimed at creating a sustainable ecosystem that can support a wide range of local news models—for-profit and nonprofit, hyperlocal and regional and more. Above is a graphic that shows what we see as the necessary elements of running a local news organization, where we are meeting publishers' needs and where there are still gaps to fill.

There are indications this strategy is paying off. According to our ongoing assessment of our investments in local news sustainability, publishers utilizing Knight-supported tools have seen their annual revenue increase by an average of 6.4%, while those engaged with multiple Knight-funded programs reported 13.3% growth. At a time in which news avoidance is a real challenge, news organizations using Knight interventions experienced a 4% increase in average monthly digital users. And more than half of newsrooms in the assessment now count three or more revenue streams, with none accounting for more than 60 percent of total revenue. 

As the report says, “At a time when revenues are declining, audiences are shrinking and in the worst cases, newsrooms are disappearing altogether, the fact that, on average, local newsrooms supported by Knight grantees grew their revenues, audiences and staff is significant.” 

One way of showing this progress: If you look at the actual expenses and revenues of Billy Penn and factor in the opportunities available today, an investment that had a financial runway of two-plus years in the past would have almost six years of runway today.

More challenges lie ahead

But we are not declaring victory. Not at all. The steps we’ve taken to this point have been impactful. But they are not enough. The road for anyone working in local news is still treacherous. There are still many challenges to tackle, and success requires precise decision-making and quick course-changing when decisions prove ill-advised. But part of what our infrastructure efforts are producing is more time for publishers to find the product-market fit that is required for long-term success. 

Let’s not speed past product-market fit. None of the infrastructure we build will matter if consumers don’t want what local newsrooms produce. But, as we all know, finding a product-market fit takes time, and our efforts are buying publishers time in two different ways: 

• We’re freeing up time by providing core services that publishers can simply plug into rather than build and maintain, thus giving them more time to focus on the crucial tasks of producing and monetizing local journalism.

• By driving down burn rates, we’re extending the runway for publishers and giving them more time to find that audience fit. 

Launching and operating a newsroom is still hard. Local news is not a business for the faint of heart. But achieving success is far more achievable for today’s Billy Penns than ever before. Our goal at Knight is to continue to strengthen this infrastructure and support the publishers who are creating impactful journalism for communities around the country.

Other news around the horn…

Investments

💰 Press Forward awards $20 million to 205 newsrooms. Money might not be the only answer to the problems of local news outlets, but it sure helps. And that’s why the Press Forward coalition of funders announced a much larger investment in more newsrooms than expected: $20 million to 205 newsrooms in closing coverage gaps, with at least one in every state. Some other relevant stats: 40% of grantees are led by people of color; 25% are in rural communities; and eight are college newsrooms. Press Forward helpfully created a searchable database of all the grant recipients. The funding came from Press Forward’s Pooled Fund, which is now taking donations from the public, which will be matched up to $5 million. “These newsrooms are proof that we are seeing a moment of transformation, where new and longstanding newsrooms are stepping up to create a new story for local news,” said Dale R. Anglin, director of Press Forward. “We hope that more people will subscribe and donate to them.”

Research

📈 LION members, BIPOC-led nonprofits get increased revenues. We all know the struggles and challenges of independent local newsrooms, but what’s less reported is the bright spots in the industry. Recent research reports from LION Publishers and the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) showed that revenue growth and diversification are trending up, with BIPOC-led nonprofits seeing increased philanthropic support. The LION report on its now 550+ member newsrooms, a mix of for-profit and nonprofit, found that median annual revenue was up 15.2% from 2022 to 2023, with those newsrooms with $100,000 to $500,000 in annual revenue seeing the largest increase of 31.3%. Plus, revenues from philanthropy and subscriptions were up across the board. That tracks well with a recent report from INN that found that 68% of nonprofit newsrooms led by people of color saw increased philanthropic dollars, with more getting general operating support grants (see chart above). What’s driving that? More peer-to-peer learning groups for publishers and more flexible support from funders. The researchers note that Press Forward will have a large effect on these trends in the coming years.

🔎 Local news ecosystem reports show bright spots, challenges. To solve the challenges of local news in a state or locality, first you have to understand the landscape. That’s the thinking behind two recent local news ecosystem reports, one from Impact Architects for the Democracy Fund covering 10 geographic areas and one covering Minnesota from the Minnesota Journalism Center. The Impact Architects study is an update from an initial study in 2020 (partially funded by Knight) and found many promising trends, from cross-sector collaborations to newsrooms that play a backbone role to increased civic engagement beyond voting. But they still found rural communities and communities of color lacking resources compared to urban areas. In Minnesota, the report found that 11 news outlets closed on average per year since 2018 with only one new outlet launching for every two that closed. They did find a rise in nonprofit news outlets, and learned that the startup news outlets were increasingly serving more diverse audiences.

♪ This TikTok news trend is for real. The social platform that began as a place for lip-synching and dancing has now become an even bigger source of news for the youngs (and for quite a few olds). The latest Pew-Knight Initiative (PKI) research found that the share of American adults who regularly get news from TikTok has quintupled from 3% to 17% from 2020 to 2024. Plus, 39% of those aged 18 to 29 get news regularly from TikTok as do 19% of folks aged 30 to 49. (Watch out, TikTok, you might become Facebook!) Compared to other social media platforms, TikTok wins the hockey stick growth (see chart above) with 52% of all users regularly getting news there vs. 22% back in 2020. Facebook, X, Reddit and Snapchat have all stalled or lost news usage on their platforms. According to PKI’s demographic breakdown of social media users, TikTok users tend to be more female, younger, more Hispanic and more Democratic than Republican. 

Impact

💡 What the National Trust for Local News has learned so far. Buy or build? That’s the question for so many communities that have a gutted ghost newspaper. Very quickly, the National Trust for Local News is becoming an expert on that question. While they started out by buying newspaper chains to keep them out of the hands of hedge funds, lately they’ve been starting news outlets as well. A recent Nieman Lab report on the Trust’s Ross McDuffie’s presentation at ONA outlined just how big they have become: owning 65 newspapers across three states, with 500 employees, $50 million in earned revenue and 2.5 million unique page views. The Trust helped launch the Macon Melody in Georgia, where it felt the local paper was no longer fully able to serve the community. “What we’re trying to solve for is not necessarily a business model problem,” McDuffie said. “We’re trying to solve for an ownership incentive problem, which, in many ways, is the biggest challenge that local news faces.” The Trust realizes that philanthropy alone won’t save these outlets, and has raised eyebrows by investing in printing presses. Where will it invest next? Where it finds a local ecosystem of philanthropy, progress in digital transformation and trust from their community.

Launches

🚀 New York, Minnesota see resurgence of local news outlets. There’s another answer to the build or buy question: rebuild. In New York state, the tax credit passed in the state legislature made it possible for two newspapers that closed in Westchester to relaunch, and for one to launch in Long Island. The Empire State Local News Coalition celebrated the revival of local journalism and the chance for communities to get the information they sorely need. “We started the Empire State Local News Coalition after some of these very communities lost vital news sources earlier this year and are thrilled by this resurgence,” said Zachary Richner, founder of the Coalition. Meanwhile, in Minnesota, a $200,000 investment from McKnight Foundation helped start the new Metro Nonprofit News Network (MNNN) in the suburbs of the Twin Cities. The network will support the existing outlet Eden Prairie Local News, along with startups in Woodbury and Prior Lake. The grant will help MNNN support the launch of three additional community newsrooms.

Call-outs

Support for election coverage: Knight Election Hub and Election SOS are working on helping local and community newsrooms prepare for the 2024 election. Journalist and strategist Ariel Zirulnick is offering free sessions with newsrooms to support them. Contact her directly at ariel@arielzirulnick.com to schedule a session.

Get a travel grant for the Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit: Are you a journalist covering climate change, national security, artificial intelligence, public health, technology or the environment? The free Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit will deepen your knowledge about how these issues are interconnected in the new nuclear landscape. The conference takes place in Washington, DC, on December 5 to 6. Travel grants are available. Space is limited, so please apply now to attend.

Provide verified election information to Latino audiences. Factchequeado empowers Latino communities with verified information. That includes Electopedia, designed to pre-bunk electoral misinformation, providing bilingual resources and key information about the voting process. In contrast, Electobot is a WhatsApp chatbot that answers questions regarding the electoral process and political candidates, ensuring that voters can make informed decisions.

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Training

Bridging barriers: How newsrooms and fundraising teams can collaborate to fund impactful journalism

Lenfest News Philanthropy Network

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November 12 at 4 pm ET

Upcoming Events 📅

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November 11

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December 5–6

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January 7–10, 2025

Quote of the Week

“We need journalism that is social-first, not merely digital-first. This subtle but important shift requires journalism to meet people where they are, which is primarily on social media, engaging with content that feels personal, immediate, and relevant…The future of local journalism won’t be saved by better funding alone, but by a reimagining of how it connects with communities through social-first storytelling.”

—Andrew Ramsammy, interim president, Vermont College of Fine Arts, former chief operating officer of Word In Black, in a LinkedIn post titled Journalism Needs a Better Story

News @ Knight Credits

Written by Jim Brady, with Mark Glaser

Edited by Jim Brady, Nina Spensley and Kara Pickman