Press Forward Survey Highlights Value of Local Journalism

This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette.

STATE COLLEGE — People across the Pennsylvania Wilds still believe local news matters. They simply want more of it.

That was the central message conveyed on Monday, Aug. 24 as Press Forward PA Wilds unveiled the results of a yearlong research project that gathered feedback from more than 2,000 residents across nine counties, including 804 survey respondents, about how they access news, what they trust and where they believe coverage is lacking.

Hosted at the Hilton Garden Inn in State College, the event brought together journalists, community leaders, elected officials and philanthropic partners to discuss what organizers described as the beginning of a larger conversation about strengthening local journalism in rural Pennsylvania.

Before sharing the findings, Press Forward PA Wilds Director Joy Vincent-Killian reflected on the months she spent traveling throughout the region.

“When we began Press Forward last fall, one of the first commitments we had was before we decide what local journalism needs, we need to listen,” Vincent-Killian said. “Over the past year, we traveled through our region and asked a few questions: How do you find out what’s happening in your community? What information do you trust? What’s missing? And how has your local news changed?”

She said the response was overwhelming.

“We heard from more than 800 survey participants,” Vincent-Killian said. “People still care deeply about local news. They want to know what their elected officials are doing, how their tax dollars are being spent, what’s happening in their schools and communities, and what decisions will affect their families.”

The research found that residents struggle more to find information about their own communities than they do national or international news. Word of mouth remains the leading source of local information, while rural residents continue to rely heavily on newspapers, community organizations and local businesses.

Among the topics residents most want covered are local government, health care access, public safety, environmental issues and community events. Survey participants also said they want more reporting about how tax dollars are spent and what elected officials are doing to solve local problems.

David Lieb, president and CEO of the Centre Foundation, said supporting local journalism fits naturally with the foundation’s mission of building stronger communities.

“Supporting local institutions and the community good also means supporting local news, which brings our partner agencies’ work to life and tells the stories to our neighbors,” Lieb said. “It’s ensuring our rural communities continue to have access to reliable, independent, locally relevant information.”

Marisa Kwiatkowski, director of journalism at the Knight Foundation, said communities with access to trustworthy local information are better equipped to make important decisions.

“We do believe that communities who have access to high-quality fact-based information are really the healthiest communities so that you can make the best decisions for your family and for those that you serve,” she said.

Caroline Merenda, director of chapter advancement for Press Forward National, noted that the organization’s network has expanded to 48 chapters nationwide and invested hundreds of millions of dollars into local journalism.

“The challenges to local news are universal but the solutions are local,” Merenda said. “Local news isn’t dying, it’s transforming.”

Fiona Morgan of Branchhead Consulting, who helped design the survey and analyze the data, said one of the study’s most encouraging findings was that residents were eager to talk about local journalism.

“The main thing is that people value local news,” Morgan said. “People really had a desire for more local coverage. They talked a lot about the need for basic government watchdog coverage, school boards, borough meetings and all these things.”

Looking ahead, Press Forward PA Wilds plans to continue awarding grants to support local reporting, including high school journalism initiatives, technology improvements for newsrooms and additional community reporting projects. The organization is also working to raise $400,000 in local matching funds to unlock additional support from the Knight Foundation.

Vincent-Killian said preserving local journalism will require participation from far more than news organizations alone.

“Press Forward PA Wilds can’t determine the future of local news alone,” she said. “It will require journalists, news organizations, philanthropy, community institutions, businesses, and most importantly, the people that live here.”