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: Shine Theory 
It’s a perfect time to share who you’re thankful for in local news, especially women working in local news. Poynter’s Katie Hawkins-Gaar started an epic “shine fest” on Twitter, leading to a Twitter list of over 1,000 names (and rising) of women working in journalism to be thankful for. Need more names? Check out our list from the spring of women working in local news Fix readers admire, and who Local Fix readers said they were grateful for last Thanksgiving. We encourage you to spread the love, too – share the women you’re thankful for in journalism on Twitter, or just send them a nice note. Tis the season.

Collaboration Nation

Elections, international corruption and financial networks, misinformation — each of these things tend to be complex and high stakes issues to report on. Increasingly, newsrooms are pulling together to tackle big stories and wicked problems in ways not one of them could alone. Whether it is a global story or a uniquely local one, relationships between journalists are fueling new kinds of stories rooted in partnership. In New Jersey, 28 newsrooms worked together to lift up the voices and concerns of local voters ahead of this months election. In the US, France, Germany and other countries newsrooms are combating the spread of misinformation, which seeks to sew social unrest and undermine facts, by collaborating on shared solutions. And around the globe, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), is working with 95 newsrooms, 381 journalists who speak 30 languages and publish across 67 countries to tell the story of the Paradise Papers. 

• Block by block, New Jersey news organizations are hosting potlucks and telling voters’ stories – Poynter  
• How the ‘Paradise Papers’ Set the Bar Even Higher for Global Collaboration – MediaShift 
• The scale of misinformation online is global. First Draft is pushing for more collaboration — and more research — as an antidote – NiemanLab 
• We’re building a database of journalism collaborations. We need your help. – Center for Cooperative Media 

Big Research On Small Newsrooms 

In a week when much of the news seemed to focus on the fortunes of big digital publishers like Mashable, BuzzFeed and others, we wanted to step back and highlight some recent deep dives into critical issues in local news. In their new research on “small-market” publications Christopher Ali and Damian Radcliffe lament how the “future of news” narrative often leaves out a vast sector of journalism: small local newsrooms. In their community research on local news habits Pete Brown, Andrea Wenzel, and Meritxell Roca-Sales remind us “Platform companies talk about ‘users.’ Publishers pursue ‘scale.’ Both [are] somewhat dehumanizing terms refer to people—people who make up news audiences.” Not every local newsroom has resources to do in-depth user research, but this new report from the Tow Center offers useful feedback and reminds us how powerful listening can be. And finally, in a new study published this week in Science, Harvard researchers found that “Even small publishers have a large effect on the national discourse.” One key to that impact: Collaboration. Read more about each of these studies below. 

• Small-market newspapers in the digital age – Christopher Ali and Damian Radcliffe 
• Local audiences consuming news on social platforms are hungry for transparency – Pete Brown, Andrea Wenzel, and Meritxell Roca-Sales
• Harvard Experiment Finds Large Effects From Small News Outlets – Jason Alcorn

Connecting the Dots Between Research and Newsrooms

Speaking of research, we couldn’t stop ourselves with just the section above. We have a new feature over at the Local News Lab debuting this week, and you’re the first to get the link. Conversations between academic research and local newsrooms are often siloed. Interesting and useful findings from research are trapped in long papers that those in local newsrooms may not know about or have time to sift through. To help highlight some key findings from recent research and what they could mean for those working in local news, Jessica Mahone will summarize some key findings from recent research on news and information, what the findings could mean, and some interesting takeaways to consider. To kick things off, Mahone highlights research on how audience metrics can impact civic affairs reporting, who shares hyperlocal news and how, and how broad collaboration helps improve local news. 

• Neighborhood involvement is a critical factor in the sharing of hyperlocal news, research shows – Local News Lab 
• Is there something that you want to know more about from local news related-research? Email us at localnewslab@democracyfund.org

Have a good weekend,
Josh and Teresa
@jcstearns, @gteresa

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.