VIRGINIA LOCAL NEWS SUMMIT

News about local news:

An urgent search for solutions as Virginia’s local news faces challenges

Local news – arguably as important to democracy as utilities are to everyday life – is imperiled. Yet too many residents and readers in the Old Dominion don’t fare very well when it comes to getting their local news. Virginia has lost about 45 weeklies and two dailies since 2005 – a 27% decrease. The pandemic made it worse.

Concern about the future of local news reporting led Virginia Humanities (our statewide humanities council) and the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia to join with local journalists, including Foothills Forum, to do something before it’s too late. A two-day local news summit in Richmond April 20 and 21 pursued a mission of supporting existing news outlets and developing new and financially sustainable models for delivering the news.

 We commissioned a  three-part series to present the lay of the land for the discussion and to offer to newspapers and sites around the state. You can read the series below.

PART 1

OPINION

PROFILES FROM THE FRONT LINES

PART 2

PART 3

VIRGINIA LOCAL NEWS SUMMIT

About this series

With little awareness among Virginians themselves, the Old Dominion has seen a steady erosion in the staffing and delivery of local news over two decades.

For two years, Virginia Humanities and the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy have worked with local journalists to better understand how to meet Virginia’s news needs. With support from Knight Foundation, the American Press Institute, Piedmont Journalism Foundation, PATH Foundation, Foothills Forum and others, the organizers of the April 20-21 Local News Summit have produced a series of stories made available for newspapers and news websites to publish around the state. This public service project profiles Virginia journalists and involves national, state and local partners including practitioners, academics, funders, students and policymakers.