What if the newsroom you've spent years competing against could become your most valuable partner? As local publishers struggle with shrinking staffs, declining revenue and the relentless pressure to reach new audiences, an ambitious experiment involving 48 newsrooms is offering a different path forward. The Economic Opportunity Lab has demonstrated how collaboration can help news organizations share resources, expand their reach and attract funding they might never secure independently. In this episode of E&P Reports, Dana Piccoli of the Local Media Association and Jared Council of the Lenfest Institute reveal what worked, what they learned and how even the smallest publishers can put their free playbook to work.
Building an infrastructure no newsroom could afford alone
The Economic Opportunity Lab connected newsrooms across Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C., with researchers from Opportunity Insights, a Harvard-based research organization studying economic mobility.
The collaboration included legacy newspapers, community publications, digital-first outlets and organizations serving Black, Latine and LGBTQ+ audiences.
For Piccoli, the greatest accomplishment wasn't simply the journalism produced. It was creating a shared infrastructure that allowed participating organizations to access resources they might otherwise lack.
"I think the biggest thing that we created was an infrastructure around the journalism that no single newsroom had to build on its own," Piccoli explained. "Everyone has different audiences, but we were able to share resources, and everyone had access to the same tools."
Those resources included economic mobility data, researchers, subject-matter experts and connections with journalists investigating similar issues in other markets.
Rather than producing identical stories, participating newsrooms translated national research into reporting relevant to their communities. "You're not just sharing resources. You're building knowledge that every newsroom can then use," Piccoli said.
One story, multiple audiences
Council experienced the benefits firsthand through reporting on Philadelphia's creator economy.
His assignment explored whether digital content creation could provide economic opportunities for residents seeking to escape poverty.
The reporting became a collaboration between Metro Philadelphia and Technical.ly, two organizations with different audiences and publishing strengths.
Metro Philadelphia contributed photography and published the story in print and online. Technical.ly, which focuses on entrepreneurship and startups, published the reporting digitally and enlisted its creator-in-residence, comedian Tata Charisse, to adapt the story for social media.
The result demonstrated how one reporting project could reach audiences through multiple formats without requiring every participating newsroom to develop the same production capabilities.
"For a lot of smaller news organizations, it's really not possible," Council said of producing journalism across numerous platforms independently. "They don't have the capacity or the connections to do that, and I think collaboration really helps enable that."
The approach also creates opportunities to reach potential subscribers through partners that already have established audiences. "Part of what collaboration helps unlock is getting exposure to these different audiences and getting exposure on platforms that maybe you don't have a great presence on yet, but this partner that you're working with does," Council explained.
Finding the money to make collaboration work
For publishers interested in replicating the model, funding remains a fundamental question.
The Economic Opportunity Lab received financial support from Comcast NBCUniversal, but Piccoli emphasized that smaller collaborations don't necessarily require substantial investments.
"I think you should start small and focus on a shared concern," she advised. "You don't need hundreds of thousands of dollars to be able to produce something in this vein."
She recommended identifying a community issue, such as housing affordability, education or transportation, and developing a specific reporting proposal that demonstrates its importance.
Multiple participating newsrooms can strengthen that proposal by contributing different perspectives and reaching broader audiences.
Piccoli also encouraged publishers to look beyond organizations traditionally associated with journalism funding.
"Go to community foundations, health-focused foundations, economic development organizations," she suggested. "Many are already funding the issues that you're covering, but they may not have even thought of journalism as part of the solution."
There are already indications that the Economic Opportunity Lab model is attracting interest beyond its original markets.
Council revealed that a community foundation in the South had approached him about potentially developing a similar initiative.
"They want to connect those reporters with researchers and with data that can help anchor the reporting on this topic," he said.
The discussions remain preliminary, but the interest suggests opportunities for additional collaborations.
A model for smaller communities
Although the Lab operated in major metropolitan markets, Piccoli believes its underlying principles can work in smaller communities without established journalism networks. "I think that collaboration doesn't necessarily require an established network," she said. "It just requires a shared goal and willing partners."
She identified three essential ingredients: a common community issue, a small group of willing participants and someone responsible for coordinating their efforts.
Those partners could include a newspaper, radio station, digital publisher, university researcher or community organization.
For publishers wondering how to get started, the Economic Opportunity Lab has released a free, step-by-step playbook that includes a six-step replication framework, a newsroom readiness checklist and practical guidance on securing funding, coordinating reporting and measuring impact.
Importantly, collaboration doesn't require news organizations to merge operations or surrender their individual identities. "You're gonna share resources, not necessarily stories," Piccoli explained. "You keep your own unique voice. You're just sharing capacity to help strengthen your individual newsrooms."
Council offered an example from Philadelphia's Every Voice, Every Vote initiative, which connects newsrooms and community organizations.
When one newsroom organized a candidate forum, another media organization recognized an opportunity to broadcast the event to its own audience.
The collaboration emerged organically, without requiring an elaborate joint reporting structure. "Focus on the topic, and just try to find small wins," Council advised.
Protecting editorial independence
Outside funding inevitably raises questions about whether sponsors might influence coverage.
Piccoli said the Economic Opportunity Lab established clear boundaries to protect participating newsrooms. "The funding provided resources and access, not editorial direction," she explained.
Funders did not select stories, determine reporting angles or approve published journalism.
Reporters also retained flexibility to use research beyond the Opportunity Atlas when its datasets didn't adequately represent their communities.
That distinction proved particularly important for LGBTQ+ publications, which sometimes needed alternative research sources. "Editorial judgment guides the reporting," Piccoli said. "It creates capacity and access, but it doesn't dictate the journalism."
Start small, build relationships and expand
For publishers operating with only a handful of employees, Piccoli and Council offered similar advice: Don't wait for a major grant or an elaborate partnership structure.
Begin by identifying an issue that matters to the community, then find another organization interested in exploring it.
"You don't need a grant or a data reporter or a large team to start putting these lessons into practice," Piccoli said. "You could start by listening."
She recommended identifying gaps in existing coverage, choosing one potential partner and experimenting with a single collaborative reporting project.
Council encouraged publishers to recognize their individual strengths while helping develop a broader local media ecosystem. "Start small. Start with the problem that you're trying to solve for," he said.
He also urged publishers to consider partnerships with social media creators and other organizations that can connect journalism with audiences beyond traditional distribution channels. "The rising tide does lift all the boats," Council observed.
For an industry confronting declining resources and growing pressure to innovate, the Economic Opportunity Lab offers a practical proposition: Local journalism's future may depend not only on what individual newsrooms can accomplish, but also on what they're willing to build together.
|
|
|
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here