by Josh Stearns and Teresa Gorman

Welcome to the Local Fix. Each week we look at key debates in journalism sustainability and community engagement through the lens of local news.  But first, we always begin with one good idea…

One Good Idea: 🔎

Doing some investigation and verification of digital and social media? Have we got the resource for you. This document from Bellingcat is full of digital forensics toolsto help you track down exactly what online tools get the verification job done. Most of the tools are open and free. The guide also includes guidance of how to approach your investigations. Dive in and play around. [H/T @tglaisyer]

New Tools and Resources for Sunshine Week

This week is Sunshine Week, dedicated to celebrating and fighting for freedom of information. The Freedom of Information Act was established in 1966 and has since become one of the most important legal tools for journalists and citizens to shine a light in dark places and hold our government accountable. At Democracy Fund, we support a number of organizations working in this area. Sunshine Week is a chance to highlight the important journalism that FOIA makes possible, but also a reminder of the challenges transparency faces. 

• Sunshine Week brings Trump’s information darkness to light – Washington Post 
• In NC, 10 newsrooms filed nearly 50 records requests probing a specific question: How do local, county and state agencies keep track on what they do in secret meetings? – Tyler Dukes 
• Working with whistleblowers: a guide for journalists – Government Accountability Project and Society of Professional Journalists 
• New report about increasing secrecy in Washington with a focus on journalist access [PDF] – OpenTheGovernment 
• New tool to tap your readers, followers, and fans to help crowdsource your FOIA finds – MuckRock and Document Cloud 

Local News and the Complicated Future of Misinformation

While much of the debate about misinformation has focused on national stories and big platforms, we are starting to see the local impact of these viral disinformation campaigns. In the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, fake stories, conspiracy theories, and doctored tweets circulated that targeted Miami Herald reporters and sought to undermine their credibility. These kinds of sustained campaigns to undermine local news legitimacy will continue to escalate. Does your newsroom have an action plan for combatting misinformation? How might we work together in regions and across the country to better prepare for these sorts of attacks? Send us your ideas. Below are some recent pieces that further complicate our understanding of misinformation and broaden the debate beyond Russian bots.

• Hoax attempts against Miami Herald augur brewing war over fake, real news – McClatchy 
• YouTube, the Great Radicalizer – Zeynep Tufecki
• “Verify, then trust”: My testimony before the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy – Craig Silverman
• You Think You Want Media Literacy… Do You? – danah boyd

Local News and Youth Media

We’ve been reminded of the power of youth voices the past few weeks as students have taken over headlines and demanded for their voices to be heard. Many young people have been speaking up for years, but were local news outlets listening? Hopefully, this moment can remind us to respect the work that youth media does, and value it for it’s contribution to local news ecosystems. Have you collaborated with youth media? Have any tips or examples to share? Just hit reply to this email and send ’em our way.

• Covering Walkouts and Protests – Student Press Law Center 
• In Parkland, journalism students take on role of reporter and survivor – Columbia Journalism Review
• The power of youth voice – California Statewide Youth Media Conference and Youth Radio
• Media, Millenials, and Making News that Matters [From the Archives] – Josh Stearns
• There is a large need for putting young people at the helm of addressing our country’s most pressing problems  – Pacific Standard
• Student reporters capture national day of walkouts – Student Reporting Labs

Have a good weekend,
Josh and Teresa, with help from Melinda
@jcstearns, @gteresa, @SzekeresMelinda

The Local Fix is a project of the Democracy Fund’s Public Square Program, which invests in innovations and institutions that are reinventing local media and expanding the public square. Disclosure: Some projects mentioned in this newsletter may be funded by Democracy Fund, you can find a full list of the organizations we support on our website.