It's All Journalism

The broccoli of media-focused podcasts.

  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • How to Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • Take a Survey

#116 – Josh Stearns β€” Building sustainability for local news

1October 17, 2014 by ItsAllJournalism
http://podone.noxsolutions.com/launchpod/ItsAllJournalism/mp3/IAJ-2014-10-17-136.mp3

Josh Stearns has been interested in promoting press freedom for a long time.

“The reason that I got into press freedom is that I was concerned about the state of local news specifically, and protecting the smallest journalists and the smallest operations,” he said. “I just think that when it comes to the health of local communities, we need those people who are both doing the accountability/watchdog reporting locally but also just the neighborhood news, the things that connect us as people to our communities and to others in our neighborhoods.”

Josh Stearns

Josh Stearns is the director of journalism and sustainability at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. (Photo by Michael O’Connell)

Stearns is director of journalism and sustainability for the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, which is working on a two-year grant from the Knight Foundation looking at community engagement and journalism sustainability issues for community websites.

“I’m working with six local sites around New York and New Jersey basically as a startup mentor and R&D coach, helping them figure out how do they move from just getting off the ground to actually having a diverse revenue stream that’s going to sustain them over the long term.

The sites Stearns is working with range from those founded by former reporters at CNN and The New Jersey Star-Ledger who launched their own hyper-local news sites, to Justin Auciello, an urban planner who founded the Jersey Shore Hurricane News, a Facebook-based news site. The White House honored Auciello for providing Jersey Shore residents with up-to-date news in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

“It’s a really wide-range of groups, but all of them are really focused on supporting their local communities and trying to fill the news gaps that are occurring in New Jersey,” he said.

The work Stearns and his colleagues are doing is being documented at The Local News Lab.

Stearns’ roots began in storytelling for social change, working in press freedom and Internet freedom for about seven years.

“While I was doing that, the key intersection was ‘What is the role of journalism in local communities?’ and ‘Why should local communities care about defending press freedom and supporting local journalists?'” he said. “Through that, I just got really interested in getting away from the advocacy side and actually getting towards building better structures for local news.”

It’s All Journalism talked to Stearns at the 2014 Online News Association Conference in Chicago about how the sites he’s working with are tackling the same problems other local news outlets are dealing with β€” reporting the news and supporting their communities while exploring new avenues for sustainability.

β€” Michael O’Connell

Related Stories:

#84 – Hank Sims β€” Lost Coast Outpost finds its voice in local news

#78 – Scott Brodbeck leads thriving hyperlocal news network

#28 – Tom Jackman – The Washington Post’s eyes on Northern Virginia

Share Button
If you like this post, please share it along:

Previous Post

Umbreen Bhatti and Kaizar Campwala
#115 – Diversity, entrepreneurship and making podcasts more visible

Next Post

Amy O'Leary & Tyson Evans
#117 – Amy O’Leary & Tyson Evans — Behind the scenes of the New York Times Innovation Report

Trackbacks

  1. #193 – Experiment in local engagement and sustainability says:
    March 24, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    […] #116 – Josh Stearns β€” Building sustainability for local news […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply




Related Posts

  • 448. Giving sources the power to tell their own stories
  • It's All Journalism producer Michael O'Connell gives a table talk presentation about podcasting at ONA 2015 in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Hill/The Columbian)#166 – Creating Your First Podcast
  • Krissy Clark is the creator of NPR Marketplace's new podcast, The Uncertain Hour.#205 – Where economic policy and real life meet
  • Ezra Klein of Vox.com by Dan Archer#144 – Vox founders look back at first year

Learn How To Podcast

Turn Up the Volume equips journalism students, professionals, and others interested in producing audio content with the know-how necessary to launch a podcast for the first time. It addresses the unique challenges beginner podcasters face in producing professional level audio for online distribution. Beginners can learn how to handle the technical and conceptual challenges of launching, editing, and posting a podcast.

Order this new book by It’s All Journalism Producer Michael O’Connell.

Take a Survey, Earn Some Swag

If you haven’t heard, we created a five-question online survey to help us assemble a toolbox for journalists that we’ll share on our podcast and website. Please take a few minutes to share the tools that help make your job easier.

We’ve also just launched a new survey on how to improve our podcast. Let us know how we could do better.

To those people who complete one of our the surveys, we’ll be sending out a limited number of It’s All Journalism coffee mugs while supplies last. Show your support for good journalism by taking the survey and get a reward in return.

Help Support Our Podcast

Promoting good journalism is essential in a democracy. By donating to the It’s All Journalism Patreon page, you will help ensure that we continue producing the weekly podcast that focuses on good journalism. You’ll also help to boost us to the next level with live events and exclusive content. Donate here.

Sign Up for Our Weekly Newsletter

Latest Posts

  • Better News: Nonprofit newsrooms turn rivalry into revenue stream
  • 456. What Is Life shares stories of prisoners facing life sentences
  • 455. Making Google, Facebook pay their fair share for news
  • 454. Solutions Journalism tackles community problems
  • 453. Making sure Wikipedia shows that Women Do News

Copyright © 2021 · Pintercast Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in