New Jersey's Civic Information Bill: The story of the campaign to transform local media

This case study explores the lessons learned and perspectives gained from key stakeholders involved in the Civic Information Bill’s passage. The goal here is to tell the story of the campaign, with an eye to teasing out learnings that can be applied elsewhere.

Fostering informed and civically engaged communities depends on access to accurate, relevant, timely and trustworthy information. However, runaway media consolidation, new technologies and changing consumer habits have led to widespread job losses and newsroom closings. The local-news crisis has left communities across the country in the dark.

These challenging times for local news — accelerating due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis — have created opportunities for innovation around funding, sustainability and community engagement.

One bright spot has been the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium.

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