News and Posts
The Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media is proud to host original article series, reports from faculty and researchers, and events promoting collaboration among researchers, journalists and universities. Browse our library of articles, videos, interviews, announcements, upcoming events and more.
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…
UNC Table Stakes participants working with Report for America
A key Table Stakes essential is partnering to expand capacity and capabilities at a lower and more flexible cost. Several participants of the UNC-Knight Foundation Table Stakes Newsroom Initiative are accomplishing this by utilizing resources from the Report for America…
Two UNC Table Stakes participants take part in innovative Charlotte news collaboration
This can be a scary time to be in local news, as the economic effects of COVID-19 are exacerbating the challenging circumstances that are already stripping newsrooms of employees and resources around the country. However, it’s those very challenges that…
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…
Assessing the news deserts landscape and looking forward: UNC CISLM Director Susan Leath shares latest research from Knight Chair Penny Abernathy
Susan Leath is the director of the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media at UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Today the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media’s Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media…
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…
An open letter from the Knight Chairs in Journalism
In recent weeks, the latest killings of African-Americans by law enforcement have not only anguished our country but locked its attention on police brutality directed at communities of color. As Americans have tried to come to terms with our history…
WATCH: Strategic Digital Media Entrepreneur
Revolutionary new technologies are compelling news organizations to recreate their business models or be left in history’s wake. New business models are beginning to emerge as leaders explore ways to tap into the potential unleashed by this interactive, always-on…
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…