In 2019, the Colorado Media Project published “Local News is a Public Good.” The report was produced over several months by a local working group and provided recommendations for statewide action in support of local news. The state government’s adoption of an info district statute was at the top of the list.
Read MoreLongmont, Colorado is considering creating an info district through the library and the Colorado Media Project is leading a public policy study to understand the role public funding could play in sustaining local public-interest journalism.
Read More“How To Launch an Info District” is a guide to establishing a new form of special improvement district – modeled after business improvement and library districts – to fund hyperlocal news and information projects.
Read MoreAn independent info district campaign launched in Longmont, Colorado led local stakeholders to closely consider how a new, publicly funded local news organization would be structured to avoid the pitfalls of government subsidy.
Read MoreThe Community Info Coop was awarded a fellowship at the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri to advance the Info Districts Project.
Read MoreThe 2019 International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy featured a panel led by the Community Info Coop facilitating a conversation between public media innovators from Canada, the U.S., and the U.K.
Read MoreLearn how dozens of journalists gathered in Philadelphia in 2019 imagined making their workplaces more democratic.
Read MoreThe typical way to reach and activate people living in a geographic area is direct mail, texting, micro-targeting, and canvassing. But public WiFi networks create additional opportunities for journalists and engagement professionals.
Read MoreMany local news deserts are “missing markets.” They have the resources to support local news and information production but lack the information, trust, and coordination to do so. Info districts provide all three to communities in order to create effective local news markets where there are none.
Read MoreThe business model is a journalist’s first editor. How a news organization makes and spends money creates just as many boundaries as the editorial strategy that dictates what and how to report. Participatory budgeting is one way journalists can overcome those barriers.
Read MoreWriting for the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy, Joe Amditis highlights how info districts and other community-based models are designed to incentivize more open, reciprocal, and accountable relationships between local news organizations and communities.
Read MoreWriting for Noteworthy, Joe Amditis outlines the case for publicly funded, community-driven solutions to the local news crisis, including info districts.
Read MoreWriting for Nieman Lab, Christine Schmidt outlines the case for info districts and how the Info Districts Project got its start.
Read MoreIn 2018, the Community Info Coop launched a Kickstarter to raise $2,000 to kickstart the Info Districts Project.
Read MoreWriting in Columbia Journalism Review, our founding director outlines the need for funding local journalism like a public service.
Read MoreThe advertising model of journalism is dying. Even the biggest media players are locked in a race to the bottom. In order for journalism to thrive again, we need a new model to support journalism in the public interest. Info districts are that model.
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