Category Archives: News

For decades, news ecosystem analyses have been commissioned primarily to help funders understand where resources should go. While that remains an important purpose, it leaves an equally important question unanswered: How can this research help the people doing the work? At The Pivot Fund, we believe ecosystem research should be just as valuable to publishersContinue reading “More Than a Landscape Analysis: How Publishers Can Use Ecosystem Research”

Before journalism philanthropy decides which support organizations should merge, it should first answer a more fundamental question: Who is all of this for? By Tracie Powell Journalism philanthropy has entered an important moment of self-examination. As funding becomes more constrained, leaders are asking difficult but necessary questions about the future of journalism support organizations. ShouldContinue reading “Mergers Are a Tool, Not a Strategy”

Artificial intelligence is changing journalism faster than many publishers expected. For community publishers, that reality brings understandable questions. Should we use AI? How much? Will audiences trust us? How do we protect our credibility while still taking advantage of tools that can save time? Those questions were at the center of a recent Pivot FundContinue reading “AI Can’t Replace Community. It Can Create More Time for It.”

For funders seeking to ensure communities can access the information and resources they need to engage in their communities and participate in civic life, one finding emerged consistently across The Pivot Fund’s Great Lakes landscape research: simply translating news stories is not enough to serve multilingual communities effectively. Across The Pivot Fund’s Great Lakes landscapeContinue reading “What Pivot’s Research Reveals About Serving Multilingual Communities — and What Funders Can Learn”

People don’t always turn to a newsroom first when they need information. They ask a librarian. Check a neighborhood Facebook group. Stop by a community center. Talk at church. Open WhatsApp. Attend a local event. Reach out to a nonprofit they trust. For funders working to strengthen civic engagement and community information ecosystems, this realityContinue reading “Strengthening Local Information Ecosystems Starts With Trusted Community Spaces”

When local news disappears, communities do not stop needing information. They adapt. Across Wisconsin, residents are piecing together information from Facebook groups, school district pages, podcasts, government newsletters, search engines, neighbors and community organizations — building their own systems to stay informed as traditional local news continues to shrink. But amid that fragmentation, one newsroomContinue reading “This local newsroom became a trusted source in a state where 60% of newspapers have disappeared”

People don’t always turn to a newsroom first when they need information. They ask a librarian. Check a neighborhood Facebook group. Stop by a community center. Talk at church. Open WhatsApp. Attend a local event. Reach out to a nonprofit they trust. Community spaces are increasingly functioning as informal civic information infrastructure — places whereContinue reading “Communities already have trusted information hubs. Publishers are tapping in”

As immigrant-serving and community-rooted journalists face legal threats, detention, funding cuts, and political retaliation, some are being forced out of public view altogether. BY TRACIE POWELL Across the country, trusted community journalists are losing grants, facing detention, navigating legal threats, and in some cases disappearing from public view altogether — not because their work lacksContinue reading “The Newsrooms Philanthropy Can’t See”

Simply translating news stories is not enough to serve multilingual communities effectively. Across The Pivot Fund’s Great Lakes landscape analyses, residents repeatedly described turning away from traditional outlets that failed to understand how their communities communicate, build trust, and share information. Instead, participants across Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin said they gravitated toward journalism thatContinue reading “Serving multilingual communities with care, cultural competency: Lessons from Pivot’s landscape research”

For many hyperlocal publishers, traditional local news revenue models built around advertising, affluent audiences, and memberships simply are not reality in the communities they serve. Low-income, rural and underrepresented communities often lack the financial foundation that serves as the underpinnings of many traditional outlets.  El Tímpano is offering another approach to sustainability. The Bay AreaContinue reading “El Tímpano’s Civic Partnerships Playbook Offers a New Revenue Path for Hyperlocal News”