Better News: Building strong community partnerships

The Sacramento Bee has used groups outside of mainstream media to attract new readers, gain access to a diverse talent pool of journalists, and elevate the voices of under-resourced communities in the Sacramento area.

Ryan Lillis is the assistant managing editor at the Bee and Liv Monahan is the editor-at-large of the Community Voices project. We talk to both of them about how the legacy newspaper has built strong community partnerships with Community Voices and Ryan shares context on how this project fits into the broader strategy of The Sacramento Bee. Read Better News’ full report about the project here.

The Better News podcast is a partnership between It’s All Journalism and the American Press Institute to a) showcase innovative/experimental ideas that emerge from the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative and b) to share replicable strategies and tactics that benefit the news industry as a whole. Sign up for the Better News newsletter to receive news about the latest resources, case studies, and insights. For more news about the It’s All Journalism podcast and future episodes of Better News, sign up for the weekly IAJ newsletter.

More Episodes

536. Axios has a brief message for journalists

Mike Allen, co-founder of Politico and Axios, talks to It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell about the new book he co-authored with Jim VandeHei and Roy Schwartz: “Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less.”

Listen »

304. Fighting for truth through transparency and sunlight

Alex Howard, open government advocate and former deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation, shares some illuminating thoughts with producer Michael O’Connell about the importance of holding those in power accountable and the role of media in bringing shady intentions and actions into the light.

Listen »