Local news must help “build a civic life worth participating in”

Written By Richard Young

When Darryl Holliday asks you to write your thoughts about the future of local news, you say yes! Happy to write this piece for the The Objective, Free Press, and Future of Local News Collective. Read it here.

My thoughts:

  • Will robust local news & journalism "fix" American democracy? Nope!

  • Why not? It doesn't matter how much we inform and engage our communities if the civic life they show up to isn't worth participating in.

  • We need more integrative approaches to strengthening civic health. I think local news is best positioned to integrate other parts of the healthy democracy ecosystem. It just needs to get itself unstuck from legacy models.

Richard Young
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