Divest from the ‘news desert’ framework — grow information gardens
Jesse Hardman on divesting from the “news desert” framework by listening to and supporting locally-grown civic media makers and projects to help them thrive long-term.
Civic Media Series
The Objective, in partnership with Free Press and members of the Future of Local News Collective, is publishing personal essays from local news leaders across an emerging field.
Latest in Civic Media Series
We need a media ecosystem that urges justice
Cierra Brown Hinton on the imperative for media to use narrative as a tool to dismantle systemic oppression and redistribute power — instead of a device sustaining white supremacy and racism, classism, patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia, and xenophobia.
Local news must help build a civic life worth participating in
Richard Young on the possibilities for expanding and diversifying civic participation when changing how we think about local news.
Native peoples must be part of an emergent media collective
Jodi Rave Spotted Bear on the necessity of American Indians having a seat at the table to forge a new path in building independent Indigenous media.
Public access television: ‘More than a soundbite’
Antoine Haywood on the value of learning from community access television's roots in prosocial activism, public education, and civic communication.
The future of news is about service, not sensationalism
Ayinde Merrill on what the future of news and information means to historically marginalized communities in New Jersey and across the U.S.
It’s time for civic media
Fifteen years into the cratering of the local commercial newspaper business, a burgeoning noncommercial media movement is developing.
We need a media ecosystem that urges justice
Cierra Brown Hinton on the imperative for media to use narrative as a tool to dismantle systemic oppression and redistribute power — instead of a device sustaining white supremacy and racism, classism, patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia, and xenophobia.
Local news must help build a civic life worth participating in
Richard Young on the possibilities for expanding and diversifying civic participation when changing how we think about local news.
Native peoples must be part of an emergent media collective
Jodi Rave Spotted Bear on the necessity of American Indians having a seat at the table to forge a new path in building independent Indigenous media.
Public access television: ‘More than a soundbite’
Antoine Haywood on the value of learning from community access television's roots in prosocial activism, public education, and civic communication.
The future of news is about service, not sensationalism
Ayinde Merrill on what the future of news and information means to historically marginalized communities in New Jersey and across the U.S.
It’s time for civic media
Fifteen years into the cratering of the local commercial newspaper business, a burgeoning noncommercial media movement is developing.