Whiteville’s The News Reporter adopts UNC Table Stakes’ digital-first mindset for successful transition
This Editor & Publisher piece profiles the digital success of The News Reporter in applying lessons learned from the UNC-Knight Foundation Table Stakes Newsroom Initiative. The 124-year-old newspaper in Whiteville, NC, took part in the 2018-19 cohort of the initiative.…
Penny Abernathy’s research referenced in piece about recent UNC Hussman lecture
Penny Abernathy’s research on news deserts has influenced the national conversation over the future of journalism, writes Ferrel Guillory in a column for EducationNC, in which he offers commentary on a recent lecture by Martin “Marty” Baron, executive editor at The…
Q&A with Penny Abernathy
The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) featured a Q&A with Penny Abernathy, Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, where she covers everything from the impetus behind her U.S. News Deserts…
Better News features UNC Table Stakes participant Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Better News recently featured the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for a project the paper modeled after lessons learned in our UNC-Knight Foundation Table Stakes Newsroom Initiative. The newspaper used a “mini-publisher” model to form a group of nearly 15 people from…
WATCH: CBS THIS MORNING features Penny Abernathy
CBS This Morning featured UNC Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics Penny Abernathy in a segment focused on Wyoming’s Casper Star-Tribune, which has cut the number of days it prints the newspaper from seven to five weekly, making…
Supporting digital startups
As legacy news models continue to struggle, digital startups appear promising. However, while barriers to publication are few — no printing press or delivery trucks needed —digital startups face challenges as they build brands from scratch. This Medill Local News…
LISTEN: Knight Chair Penny Abernathy featured on Axios podcast
UNC Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics Penny Abernathy recently appeared on the “Axios Today” podcast — featured in a conversation about the future of local news and its vital role in democracy. Abernathy recently published “News Deserts…
Poynter profiles new local news report from Knight Chair Penny Abernathy
An article by Tom Stites in Poynter examined findings from the recently released “News Deserts and Ghost Newspapers: Will Local News Survive?” — the fourth in a series of reports by Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics Penny…
Better News profiles UNC Table Stakes participant EducationNC
This Better News piece profiles an innovative town hall-style event hosted by EducationNC, a 2018-19 participant of the UNC-Knight Foundation Table Stakes Newsroom Initiative. The February 2020 EducationNC event allowed high school students in a rural North Carolina county to…
Editor & Publisher features ‘Project Oasis’
This Editor & Publisher piece details Project Oasis, a partnership between the UNC Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, Google News Initiative and LION Publishers created to identify, share and implement the best practices that help local digital…
COVID-19’s continuing effect on local news
COVID-19 has shuttered more than 30 local newsrooms across America, says Kristen Hare in this article for Poynter. The pandemic’s far-reaching economic effects continue to exacerbate pre-existing industry conditions creating not only closures but mergers, and the newspapers disappearing —…
Los Angeles Times editorial looks at strategies to save local newspapers
This Los Angeles Times editorial looks at key causes of declining newspaper numbers across the nation: including changing reader habits; the migration of classified advertising to Craigslist and other internet services; the dominance Google and Facebook built over online advertising; and the slowness of legacy…