Analyzing news and information landscapes from the ground up

Lately when traveling anywhere new I find myself looking at the houses and buildings I pass, wondering what news is being produced at that moment, in that town, that might be missed if it doesn’t have a local news outlet. If it’s a less affluent or rural area, chances are good that there isn’t a journalist attending its school board or municipal meetings. Yet as The Pivot Fund’s Tracie Powell wrote recently, all the money in the world can’t stand up a successful newsroom if it doesn’t first take a close look at the community it wants to serve: “Who is already trusted in this community to deliver news and information? What are the actual gaps in coverage, and who is attempting to fill them? How do people [here] find out what they need to know?”