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“Two new books are essential reading for anyone considering a news startup,” by Bill Mitchell, Poynter Online, April 16, 2024. A review of “What Works in Community News” and “Changing Models for Journalism,” by Brant Houston. “For most people, journalist or not, launching a news venture without consulting these volumes invites the sort of outcome awaiting a novice cook attempting a French feast sans recipe.”
“Story in the Public Square,” April 8, 2024. Ellen and Dan were interviewed by G. Wayne Miller and Jim Ludes about “What Works in Community News.” The program is produced by RI PBS and the Pell Center at Salve Regina University
“Why I love my hometown paper,” by Jock Lauterer, The Local Reporter of North Carolina, March 20, 2024. “Clegg and Kennedy say there is a way up and out of the news desert.”
“How Sahan Journal grew into a vital source of news and information for Minnesota’s immigrant communities,” by Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy, Nieman Lab, March 18, 2024. An excerpt from our book published by one of the leading news outlets covering media innovation.
“All the news we get to print: 2024 and beyond,” by Larry Gennari, the Boston Business Journal, March 15, 2024. “Clegg and Kennedy present an impressive number of media business startup models in such places as California, Iowa, New Jersey, Minnesota and Tennessee, all centered on quality local news, which they argue enhances community, transparency and, ultimately, self-governance.”
“Dot’s Reading Room: The Bedford Citizen Featured in Kennedy Book,” by Dorothy Bergin, The Bedford Citizen, March 14, 2024. “As the authors say, they are optimistic about the future of hyperlocal journalism. This is the spirit that has kept and still keeps The Bedford Citizen’s paid employees and volunteers from writers and reporters on the job!”
“Community-based entrepreneurs are leading the way in solving the local news crisis,” by Dan Kennedy, The Conversation, March 4, 2024. “There is an old saying that goes back a dozen years to the earliest days of hyperlocal digital news: Local doesn’t scale. In fact, the real solution to the local news crisis needs to come from the bottom up — from folks at the community level who decide to take their news and information needs into their own hands.”
“Talk of the Neighborhoods,” Feb. 29, 2024. Dan talks about “What Works in Community News” with host Joe Heisler on his long-running talk show, part of the Boston Neighborhood Network.
“Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy offer hope for the survival of local news coverage,” by Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe, Feb. 22, 2024. “In an era when people can access national and international news instantly on their phones, Clegg and Kennedy argue that local news matters more than ever.”
“How to Save Local News,” “Lean Out with Tara Henley,” Feb. 21, 2024. Ellen and Dan talk with Henley, a Canadian journalist and podcast host, who writes, “We hear a lot of grim predictions about the future of local news, both in the United States and in Canada. But my guests on today’s program are feeling optimistic.”
“The crisis facing community news,” “Keller at Large,” WBZ-TV (Boston Channel 4), Feb. 18, 2024. Host Jon Keller talks with Dan about the local news crisis, media trust and the lessons told in “What Works in Community News.”
“The local news crisis will be solved at the grassroots,” by Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy, Poynter Online, Feb. 15, 2024. An overview of our book grounded in Ellen’s reporting in Memphis, Tennessee.
“During frigid temps, some non-fiction books to warm you,” by Marjorie Arons-Barron (blog), Feb. 5, 2024. “In addition to chronicling the problems, Kennedy and Clegg have traveled the country finding new models of local news operations offering solutions for these news deserts. Northeastern journalism professor Kennedy, a friend and former writer for one of my alma maters, the Boston Phoenix, and Clegg, former editorial page editor of the Boston Globe, have uncovered some nascent success stories, reasons to hope.”
“A pressing matter,” by Terri Schlichenmeyer, the Marco Eagle, Marco Lake, Florida, Feb. 3, 2024. Reviews of “What Works in Community News” and “Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy, by Margot Susca.
“Denver’s news scene examined in new book ‘What Works in Community News,'” by Corey Hutchins, Inside the News in Colorado, Feb. 2, 2024 (third item).
“Finding ‘What Works’: Veteran journalists Clegg, Kennedy spotlight local news outlets that chart path forward,” by Mark Caro, Local News Initiative, Northwestern University, Jan. 30, 2024. The interview was republished at Poynter Online.
“What’s lost without local news,” editorial in The Harvard (Mass.) Press, Jan. 19, 2024.
Appearance on “LoveBabz LoveTalk,” hosted by Babz Rawls Ivy, WNHH-LP Radio, Jan. 11, 2024. Ellen and Dan are interviewed on the New Haven Independent’s radio station.
“Journalist Dan Kennedy talks about digital community newspapers and the end of the ‘ink-stained’ wretch,” by Doug Holder, The Somerville Times, Jan. 10, 2024.
“‘What Works’: How Dan Kennedy and Ellen Clegg offer solutions to the local news crisis,” by Sophie Quisenberry, Storybench, Jan. 9, 2024.
“New Book Explores Hopes and Challenges for Local News,” by Erika Brown, The Cricket (Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts), Jan. 9, 2024.
“What public media can learn from the model of NJ Spotlight News,” Current, Dec. 21, 2023. An excerpt from our book published by Current, a publication that serves people in public media.
“Algorithm Blues,” by Edward Miller, The Provincetown Independent, Nov. 29, 2023. “Luckily, there are bright spots on the landscape. Prof. Dan Kennedy of Northeastern and Ellen Clegg, formerly of the Boston Globe, have a new book: What Works in Community News. They’ve been researching startup news organizations and finding oases in the deserts.”
“A Powerful Tool for Fighting Corruption Is Going Extinct” (gift link), by Serge Schmemann, The New York Times, Nov. 26, 2023. “[T]here are signs that things are looking up. In their book, Ms. Clegg and Mr. Kennedy chronicle various ways in which local and regional news organizations — whether paper, digital or radio — are trying to restore local coverage. Most are nonprofits, often assisted by a number of foundations that assist news start-ups. It’s not a flood, but what is certain, they write, ‘is that the bottom-up growth of locally based news organizations has already provided communities with news that would otherwise go unreported.’”
Starred Review, by Alan Moores, Booklist, Nov. 1-15, 2023. “For readers who despair at the collapse of traditional media nationwide, this survey is a bolster; for journalists looking to create such viable news sources in their own communities, its a highly useful road map.”
What Works 