By Regina Lawrence | October 2025 | Download Report (PDF)
This report is a collaboration between the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication and the Local News Impact Consortium (LNIC), an open-source initiative to rebuild sustainable, data-driven local news ecosystems.
Whether you’re a researcher, journalist, or funder, the LNIC invites you to join our mission. By contributing to our growth, participating in working groups, or engaging with the tools we’re building, you can help ensure local communities have access to trustworthy news and information. Learn more about the LNIC >
Having served as the Associate Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication in Portland and Research Director for the Agora Journalism Center, Regina Lawrence is currently serving as Interim Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication.
She is a nationally recognized authority on political communication, civic engagement, gender and politics, and the role of media in public discourse about politics and policy. Her two latest books are Hillary Clinton’s Race for the White House: Gender Politics and the Media on the Campaign Trail and When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina, winner of the Doris A. Graber Outstanding Book Award from the Political Communication section of the American Political Science Association. She also serves on the LNIC Steering Committee and Newsroom Census working group. Learn more about our working groups >
We are focused on one piece of the broader effort to strengthen local news: conducting what we’re calling a Newsroom Census. The goal is to document the news and media outlets that exist in and serve specific geographic communities. Ultimately, we’re creating a toolkit that researchers, journalists, civic organizations, philanthropies, and others can use to better understand the local news ecosystem in their area.
The Local News Impact Consortium (LNIC) is a...
A group of academics at multiple universities have formed the Local News Impact Consortium, which collaborates with researchers and practitioners to help develop standards and protocols. Its goal is to “expand the rigorous study” of local information ecosystems across the country.