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 journalism support organization that seeks to bolster the growing research community dedicated to studying the health of local information ecosystems. This research community is vast but often siloed in newsrooms, across...

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.

Philanthropic organizations trying to meaningfully fund local news are running up against challenges.