A project of Democracy Fund
The Local News Lab has been archived as of March 1, 2023. This page will remain online but will not be updated. More info.

November 14, 2016

How to Listen Better


More than 30 tools, guides and examples to help journalists — and anyone else — be better listeners.

In my weekly newsletter, The Local Fix, I compiled a list of guides, tools, and examples of how newsrooms can listen more deeply to local communities. I’m sharing it here in case it can be useful to others, and to encourage people to add to the list.

Photo by Don Graham, used via Creative Commons

Listening Articles and Guides

Photo by Simon Law, used via Creative Commons

Listening Projects in Newsrooms

Photo by runran, used via Creative Commons

Listening Tools and Models

Finally, I want you to know that I’m listening. Share your additions, examples, stories and more as comments. Help grow this as a resource.


Josh Stearns is Associate Director of the Public Square Program at the Democracy Fund. Follow him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/jcstearns.

(Thanks to Teresa Gorman for help compiling this list)

This post originally appeared on Medium.