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Each week we look at key debates in journalism sustainability and community engagement through the lens of local news. This week, we’re doing things a little differently…

Essential. Hero. Need. All of these words gained new meaning in 2020. Local journalists told those stories, while being essential workers themselves.

 As we head into the next week, we thought it was important to take a moment to thank you. Thank you to all the local journalists, who are reading the Fix today, sharing their stories, and building a better democracy for us all. 

Thank you to journalists who are in the field who are avoiding sensationalism and providing context on what’s working well rather than amping up fears over what’s not. We see this in FlintBeat’s Amy Diaz’s story about first time voters and Nick Isenberg’s reporting for KDNK Community Radio on how Colorado is improving the accessibility of its ballots. 

Thank you to the sometimes invisible coaches, like ElectionSOS’s Bridget Thoreson and the team who have trained hundreds of journalists in the past few months with resources like this First Aid Kit.

Thank you to those who keep journalism accountable like Free Press’ Tauhid Chappell and Vanessa Maria Graber, with tools such as this new database of resources to help keep communities safe and informed over the weeks ahead.

Thank you to Trusting News’s Joy Mayer, Lynn Walsh, and others who remind us to remind audiences to patiently wait for each vote to be counted — not stressing out about how long it’s taking to get results.

Thank you to all who remind all of us to take care of ourselves, like Karen Ho’s doomscrolling reminders and Cierra Hinton’s tips for learning from vulnerability.

We could go on for pages, but it’s Friday and we’re guessing you have a lot of work to do. So why don’t you thank someone for us over the next week? We know they’ll appreciate it. 

Until Next Week,
Teresa, Christine, and Areeba
@gteresa, @newsbyschmidt, @areebashah_

P.S. If you have the space to take some time away in the next week, we recommend the National Zoo’s panda cam (including a cub!), this roasted acorn squash recipe, or these three strategies for coping with election anxiety.

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The Local Fix is a project of the Democracy Fund’s Public Square Program, which supports promising new experiments redefining the public square in ways that make it more digital, participatory, and inclusive. The Fix was started by Josh Stearns and Molly de Aguiar. Disclosure: Some projects mentioned in this newsletter may be funded by Democracy Fund. You can find a full list of the organizations here. Follow us on Twitter at @TheLocalNewsLab.