Rebranding Local News: A New Lens On Audience Needs

Nobody cares about your investigative journalism. Not really.

We do. There’s nothing more glamorous in a newsroom than the reporter who “speaks truth to power” and is known as the dogged “watchdog” of local government. It’s difficult, time-consuming, at times scary, and, occasionally, drives real change.

But for most people? The work barely registers. Your newsroom’s journalism can be good, important and meaningful, but it may not meet the everyday information needs of your audience.

Open any newspaper, scroll through a news site, or turn on any newscast: How many stories feel relevant to your life? Now, open Netflix. How many shows and movies match your interests? Netflix excels at understanding its audience and meeting their needs. Local newsrooms, less so. It’s tough medicine.

It’s time to rethink the role local newsrooms play in people’s lives. Most audiences aren’t looking for 5,000-word exclusive investigations. They don’t care who got a story first. They’re all looking for tools. Tools to make smarter decisions, engage with their communities, protect their families and trust that the information they’re receiving is accurate.

The old value proposition — holding power accountable — still matters, but it doesn’t always connect with what audiences need from local news. That’s where the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework comes in.

What Are Audiences Really Hiring Local News To Do?

JTBD, famously developed by Clayton Christensen and many others, guides innovation by focusing on needs. It’s about understanding the practical and emotional outcomes people seek when they engage with a company, in our case, local news.