The challenge for local media is clear: innovate and create new value, while deepening the relationship with audiences. The business models may differ. The technologies they choose to deploy may be varied. But the throughline for local media remains community: Who is the audience? What does it need? How do we pique their interest and earn their trust? How do we develop a relationship that is loyal and lasting?
These questions were under discussion last week in Chicago at the Local Media Association’s (LMA) “Local Media Fest.” The annual event was held from Aug. 18-20 at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center.
Local Media Fest kicked off with a keynote conversation with Dean Baquet, led by moderator Tim Franklin, senior associate dean, professor and John M. Mutz chair in local news at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Franklin described Baquet as “one of the most important transformational editors in the entire history.”
Baquet dedicated more than 25 years of his career at The New York Times, including his most recent roles as managing editor and executive editor. At 66 years old, he stepped aside from his leadership — which, he explained to the LMA audience, is an employment condition at the Times. It enabled Baquet to step into a new role leading The New York Times’ Local Investigations Fellowship and travel to local newsrooms around the country.
Out of more than 1,000 applications to the Fellowship program, Baquet and a group of advisers choose just 10-12 local reporters each year, based on their vision for an investigation they’d like to produce. The fellowship pays the reporter’s salary for a year and provides guidance and editorial support. The investigations are published by the Times and by the reporter’s local news platform.
Baquet stressed the importance of a healthy local news ecosystem. “The New York Times is not going to cover any local community the way the local newsroom can,” he said. During his travels to local newsrooms, he’s seen tremendous enthusiasm and a propensity for innovation.
Baquet said he’s optimistic about the future of local news based on the young, energetic reporters he encounters, “who are asking harder questions than my generation.” He finds the next generation of journalists to be more open-minded, more technologically proficient and attuned with different forms of communication.
“All of those things give me hope,” he concluded.
Hot topics
Over the course of three days, LMA hosted general sessions and breakouts on artificial intelligence (AI), the creator economy, local media case studies, community-focused journalism, advertising and sales strategies, marketing data, revenue diversification and audience development.
Spotlight Delaware’s Allison Taylor Levine presented a remarkable case study highlighting the nonprofit news outlet’s rapid growth. Levine launched Spotlight Delaware in January 2024 with two full-time employees and an email list of 700. They reported on five coverage buckets to start: accountability journalism, education, land use, rural communities and health.
But as they’ve listened and responded to what Delaware residents said they wanted and needed, that coverage expanded — and so did its platforms. By August 2026, Spotlight Delaware had 19 full-time employees, 17,000 email subscribers, 80,000 monthly website visitors, and 1,200 donors. The team now produces newsletters, events, vertical video, podcasts and a Spanish-language version.
Houston Chronicle’s Jennifer Chang, senior director of digital experimentation and innovation, spoke about the newsroom’s partnerships with content creators as the newsroom seeks new audiences, subscription conversions, newsletter signups and more social followers. Chang reported that one video produced in partnership with a content creator produced six news subscription starts; another generated a 150% spike in food-newsletter signups, compared to the weekly average.
For other news media publishers considering partnerships with local content creators, Chang said they should choose creators who “share the same mission and share the same values.” And it’s important that the news media partner retain the creator’s authentic voice rather than suppressing it, she said.
Dana Piccoli — LMA's Managing Director of News is Out, a queer media collaborative, and Project Manager of the Economic Opportunity Lab — led a panel on LMA’s Economic Opportunity Lab. The project connected 48 newsrooms with researchers at Harvard’s Opportunity Insights, who helped local journalists translate complex economic-mobility data into local-context reporting on schools, housing, health and employment opportunities. The participants have now produced “The Economic Opportunity Lab Playbook,” guiding other local news organizations that would like to harness, localize and communicate economic data.
Audience and revenue may be two distinct disciplines within a local news organization, but they are, of course, fundamentally connected. What do today’s advertisers and marketers want — and what will they pay for?
“They’re buying people. They’re buying trust. They’re buying influence. They’re buying connection,” said Rev. Dr. Robert Walker-Smith, Th.D., head of revenue for the Knight x LMA BloomLab. Dr. Walker-Smith moderated a panel on “Audience-First Media Sales,” with Corey Elliott, executive vice president of local market intelligence, Borrell Associates; Frances “Toni” Draper, Ph.D., CEO, publisher and board chair, AFRO News; and Brian Pitts, publisher, The Washington Blade.
“There’s a pastor in Baltimore that I’ve known for about 40 years,” Dr. Draper said. “And his famous saying is, ‘It’s all about relationships, or it ain’t about nothing at all.’” In August, The AFRO celebrated its 134th anniversary, but that wealth of historical significance isn’t what compels people to subscribe, support or fund the organization, she explained.
“It’s really about: what are we doing different? What’s the innovation? How do we do that even after all of these years? … This is not just an old newspaper; this is about an innovative company,” Draper said.
The discussion upended how news media defined ad sales in the past. It’s no longer about selling product, the panel concurred. Local media’s competitive advantage isn’t a particular product or platform; it’s an audience with which the news brand has an established, authentic and loyal relationship. That entirely changes the sales conversation from ‘What product can we sell you on?’ to ‘Who are you trying to reach?’
Naturally, AI was under discussion throughout the conference.
Nikita Roy is founder of the Newsroom Robots Lab, innovation fellow at Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI), and president of the Canadian Association of Journalists’ National Capital Region Chapter. Roy suggested publishers may be asking the wrong question when they focus primarily on AI for operational efficiency. Instead of simply asking how to preserve yesterday’s news products, news producers should ask what AI enables journalism to do for people that it couldn’t do before.
“If you knew nothing about newsrooms, homepages or publishing strategies — only that people need trusted, verified information — what would you build with today’s technology,” Roy challenged the audience.
Shannon Kinney — founder and client success officer at Dream Local Digital, and Editor & Publisher columnist — delivered a practical session on using AI as agentic assistants, or “interns.” Kinney explained how she established 12 custom-trained interns to assist throughout the sales process. They research prospects and study industry market conditions, competition and business pressures. They also help Kinney and her team prepare for sales calls and fine-tune proposals.
“I’m not using AI to do my job for me,” Kinney said. “I’m using AI to make me better at my job.”
LMA’s faculty, staff and leadership — co-CEOs Julia Campbell and Jay Small; Lindsey Estes, chief of staff; Dana Piccoli, LMA's managing director of News is Out, a queer media collaborative, and Project Manager of the Economic Opportunity Lab; Chief Innovation Officer Frank Mungeam; and CEO Emeritus Nancy Lane — are deserving of applause for an informative, engaging and perfectly organized conference. The event was an important reminder that products, platforms and technology will change at lightning speed — requiring news organizations to adapt in kind — but the purpose, the mission, remains resolute: to produce trustworthy journalism grounded in audience and community.
Gretchen A. Peck is E&P’s editor-in-chief. She welcomes your emails at editor@editorandpublisher.com.
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