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:  Subscribe to the Solution Set 🔎
We just got the first edition of the weekly Solution Set newsletter from the Lenfest Institute in our inboxes and it looks excellent. The newsletter focuses on one case study a week, and explores how that one idea offers solutions to challenges newsrooms are facing. It is clear, compelling and action oriented. It’s going to be a useful addition to our inboxes and we think you’ll like it too. 

In Praise of Local Investigative Journalism 💪🏾

At the end of the year we shared a list of 20 amazing investigative stories from nonprofit newsrooms in 2017. Continuing on that theme for one more week, we wanted to share a few great posts that also highlight the accountability and watchdog role of local news. We love seeing newsrooms share their best reporting and shining a spotlight on great reporting across the industry. Let’s not wait until the end of 2018 to amplify the impact of local news – let’s start now.

• The Growing Impact of Local Non-Profit Investigative Journalism in 2017 – Mediashift 
• Local online news orgs provided crucial accountability journalism in 2017 – LION 
• Taking heart from top-down efforts to bolster local journalism – Columbia Journalism Review 

Building Small, Many, and Diverse 🛠

For years, many in media and technology have been building for scale, but recently some clear cracks in that strategy have started to show. A number of authors have written about how and why people are turning to smaller and more private corners of the internet to connect and share information and how journalism might respond. How might we leverage the great strengths of niche reporting, small communities, and private networks, while also creating connectivity across these groups? What if instead of seeking scale we sought connection? What would it look like to build less for reach and more for relationships?

• We are returning to a media model that existed before broadcast: with many voices from and for many worldviews – Jeff Jarvis 
• The year we wanted the internet to be smaller: Why tiny, weird online communities made a comeback in 2017 – The Verge 
• How niche sites are building safe spaces and better communities – Model View Culture 

Plan Ahead 📆

January is a time for making plans – let’s avoid calling them resolutions shall we – and we want to help. Below are three very different approaches to planning for organizations, newsrooms and storytelling projects. We are particularly fond of the POP framework as a super simple and useful way to structure everything from a one hour meeting to a year-long project. 

• A blueprint for planning storytelling projects – NPR Training 
• From journalism to bug tracking: how The Information runs its newsroom in Asana – Asana 
• POP everything! Strategic planning in 30 seconds or less – Rockwood Leadership 

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.