Big Local News
Lately I've been a volunteer contributor to the Big Local News project at Stanford. In my next post I'll describe what I've been doing — I think it's interesting. But this post is about the people and the project, which has been the best part.
Why Journalism? Why Journalists?
I didn't go looking to be part of journalism. It's not something I've ever done, not really even something I've aspired to. I didn't write for my high school paper. Intermittent posts to this blog are the most writing I've done in a long time. This blog is proof that I'm not much of a writer and I'm certainly not an investigator.
What I've come to understand is that writing is only a part of the journalist's job, maybe not even the most important part. Sure, you have to know structure and grammar, and know how to present complex ideas in a cogent way. But look at how Britannica defines journalism:
Journalism is the collection, preparation, and distribution of news and information to the public. Embedded in the idea of journalism is the notion that it exists to inform the public and hold the powerful to account.
There are a lot of verbs in there, none of which are "writing" or "editing."
These days the journalist's job seems to be as much about data as the traditional parts of the job: working the phones, cultivating sources, and shoe-leather chasing down leads. Journalists are now expected to know how to get data, evaluate it, and analyze it to pull out insights. Aside from the purely narrative stories, most stories are built on foundations of insightful data.
Indeed, if you read the FAQ at the Stanford Master's in Journalism program page, when someone asks "I'm a writer but I don't know how to program, is this program a fit for me?" the answer is "we'll teach you." I think that's pretty common in the field these days. But it's also a tall order. Some journalists want to be data engineers too, but some don't.
Back to the definition: "collection, preparation, and distribution" of news sounds like data science to me. But also read that second part, about "informing the public" and "holding the powerful to account." Good stuff, right? Journalists (at least the ones I've been working with lately) bring a sense of mission to the job. Sure, it's work, it's of civic importance, and there's pride in the craft. But what they seem to enjoy the most is speaking truth to power. They're troublemakers.
Big Local News
I found my way to the Big Local team through my friend Hannah. She's a librarian at Stanford. She introduced me to Cheryl Phillips, the director and program founder, and we met over coffee. We hit it off.
Two things impressed me. First, the mission. Big Local News uses technology to bend the cost curve for local journalism — make local news cheaper. I'll say a little more about why that resonates with me below. But I believe local news is worth fighting for, and I like how BLN is doing it. Trying to fix the demand side of the news business model feels really hard, swimming against a lot of currents — more readers! more exciting stuff! I think Big Local News, by taking on a supply-side fix, is taking a novel and more scalable approach.
Second, I really liked the BLN team. They are muckrakers and do-gooders, exactly the kind of mission-driven people I described above. Sure, they also have good technical chops and I enjoy doing tech stuff with them. But first and foremost they're journalists. Most have worked a beat or spent time in a newsroom. They know the domain, and they know what problems local news organizations actually have. So I have some confidence that if we build this stuff, it'll reach the local news outlets that need it. It's also important that they are bright, nice people.
After meeting the team and going to a conference I got to work (more on the project coming soon). For the past three months I've worked as a member of the team. They've welcomed me into their meetings. I sit with them in the McClatchy building on the Stanford campus, I'm in the Slack, and I went to their year-end party. It's nice to be affiliated with these folks. I like having an excuse to hang out with some troublemakers.
Last week I was proud to be added to the team "about" page — scroll down to the "Collaborators" section. 😀
Motivation
I think everyone's aware of the decline of the business model behind local news over the past twenty-some years. It's gone from bad to worse. A couple of examples.
In some places, like the Bay Area Peninsula where I live, local papers banded together as a nonprofit, Embarcadero Media, on the theory that they are a public good (which they are). Being a 501(c)(3) enables charitable giving to fill in gaps left when classified ads and subscriptions dried up. That's a fine solution to the problem — honest, and probably useful — but I think that might only work in wealthy places like here.
Not so much for Fresno, where I'm from. My mom and dad still both live there (separately) and each gets the daily paper. Both bemoan the slow decline of the Fresno Bee: the print version that Mom wants is down to three days a week and upward of $500/year to have delivered to your door. That's just too much, so Dad takes the SF Chronicle, a good paper but not local. Without news about your community, is it any surprise that people feel less connected to and invested in where they live? And yes, the mundane things like weather and high school sports do matter.
What's a place like Fresno to do? I recently came across Fresnoland, which looks to be doing some good reporting. They're structured as a nonprofit, like Embarcadero, and they've gotten good donors. I hope that's keeping the lights on! I see two members on their staff for whom Report for America pays half their salary — that seems like a cause worth supporting. Maybe it's presumptuous, but I imagine Fresnoland might need some help with the data science. They're exactly the kind of team that Big Local News is aiming to help.
I think having better, shared news is one part of healing the divisions in this country. If I can help with a little bit of that, it's worth doing.