(Nov 6, 20205) — Today, the Local News Information Consortium released its first toolkit report: The Newsroom Census/Ecosystem Mapping Toolkit. Developed by Regina Lawrence, Research Director at the University of Oregon School of Journalism’s Agora Journalism Center, the report is designed for researchers, practitioners from newsrooms, journalistic organizations, foundations, civic and community organizations, and Local Press Forward chapters planning to lead research in their community.
The report details five main steps in the process of systematically documenting your local media outlets:
- Defining the geographical scope of your news census
- Deciding on inclusion and exclusion criteria (i.e. which news outlets should “count”?)
- Documenting existing news outlets within your geographical area (i.e. creating a “census”)
- Gathering information about characteristics of these newsrooms (and potentially, other organizations that are providing information to local communities), including preparing to map those outlets by gathering information needed by mapping software
- Analyzing, publishing, and sharing your findings
The report is available now on the LNIC Website and as a downloadable PDF.
LNIC Research Chair Ben Toff of the University of Minnesota will host a webinar with Regina Lawrence on Friday, Nov 7, 2025, to discuss the report and answer questions. Registration is now open, and the session will be recorded and posted on the LNIC website.
