Local News – Media Nation

Mississippi’s nonprofit news outlets lead the way in reporting on Scott Colom’s historic victory

Mississippi’s two statewide nonprofit news outlets led the way this morning in reporting on Scott Colom’s historic victory. Colom, a Black Democrat, was declared the winner of that state’s Senate seat Wednesday, defeating Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

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The Mississippi Free Press has a lively account by reporter Nick Judin that’s rich with context and history. Here’s his lead:

Scott Colom, a Democrat, will be Mississippi’s next U.S. senator and the first Black senator to represent the state in the U.S. Capitol since 1881. His historic feat comes just six years after Mississippi retired its old Confederate-themed state flag.

Judin also observes that the last Democrat to represent Mississippi in the Senate was John Stennis, a segregationist, who once told Joe Biden — according to a 2006 interview with Biden by Free Press editor Donna Ladd — that he had come to realize the success of the Civil Rights Movement had “freed my soul.”

Although Mississippi had two Black senators during Reconstruction, Judin notes that Colom will be the state’s first elected Black senator since senators were chosen by state legislatures until the 17th Amendment was passed in 1913.

Over at Mississippi Today, reporters Taylor Vance and Michael Goldberg weigh in with a straight-news lead:

Democrat Scott Colom has won a hard-fought U.S. Senate race in Mississippi, breaking Republicans’ dominance of statewide offices, ousting one of the state’s sitting senators for the first time since the 1940s and becoming the state’s first Black senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.

Today also observes that Colom, a district attorney, had previously been nominated for a federal judgeship by President Biden — a nomination that was nixed by Hyde-Smith herself, using her home-state “blue slip” privilege. “Had Hyde-Smith not blocked Colom’s nomination,” Vance and Goldberg write, “he likely would have served on the federal judiciary for the rest of his life and never run for the Senate.”

Mississippi has a number of media outlets serving the Black community. Two prominent examples: the Jackson Advocate and The Mississippi Link. The Advocate this morning offers a huge headline along with a photo gallery by Joshua Martin from Colom’s victory rally Wednesday night at Tougaloo College. As of this morning, the Link had not yet been updated, running with a story by Dr. Edelia J. Carthan reporting that Colom “held a narrow lead.”

Mississippi’s most prominent daily newspaper, the Clarion Ledger of Jackson, leads with a story by reporter Bea Anhuci taking note of Colom’s victory that begins: “Many drops of water will make an ocean. Many Mississippi ballots will make a senator.” But print customers of the paper, which is part of the USA Today Co. chain, were greeted this morning with a top headline that says “Colom blames Secretary of State for delay” (via Today’s Front Pages). Yikes.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s news homepage is incoherent. Among the rotating headlines that appear at the top of the page is a story from Nov. 4 (!) by reporter Elise Catrion Gregg that reads “Results in Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race won’t be ready any time soon.” Below the carousel, though, is a small Associated Press story by Bill Barrow and Sophie Bates on Colom’s win.

How Mike Shapiro expanded his TAPinto network into a more flexible suite of publishing services

*Mike Shapiro, second from left, at TAPinto’s 15th birthday celebration in 2023.*

On the latest “What Works” podcast, Ellen Clegg and I talk with Mike Shapiro, a friend of the pod. He came on in 2022 to talk about his role as founder and CEO of TAPinto, a network of nearly 100 franchised local news and digital marketing sites serving more than 150 communities in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Shapiro is a graduate of Rutgers and Stanford Law School, but he’s got the journalism bug as well. He was working as an attorney in New York when his young son underwent open-heart surgery. Because he wanted to spend more time at home, he and his wife, Lauryn, launched The Alternative Press in 2008 to give their hometown of New Providence, New Jersey, an independent, all-digital daily news source.

Pretty soon, neighboring towns asked for their own sites, and a network was born. In 2013 Shapiro repositioned TAPinto as a franchise model: local owners run their own sites, while the company supplies the technology, training and back-office support. Franchisees share content and sell advertising across the network.

But now, he’s expanded the business model again. In 2024 he launched the Hyperlocal News Network, a licensing option that gives publishers more freedom to control their own branding but helps with those vexing back-office needs.

Ellen has a Quick Take on The Minnesota Star Tribune‘s lack of endorsements in some very consequential state races. The Strib’s editorial board didn’t interrogate candidates, do its own reporting and weigh in on who would make the best governor or senator. Instead, op-ed columnists wrote in support of each candidate. The Strib called these columns “closing arguments.”

I’ve got a Quick Take about OpenAI’s support for local journalism. On the one hand, it’s a welcome development. On the other hand, I’m worried that news organizations may be getting co-opted by a technology they should remain deeply skeptical of. Will newsrooms shy away from critical coverage of AI lest they offend the golden goose?

You can listen here, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcast app.

It’s NewsMatch time once again. This year, please consider donating to CommonWealth Beacon.

*CommonWealth Beacon recently sponsored a debate on Question 3, which would institute all-party primaries. Photo (cc) 2026 by Leise Jones / CommonWealth Beacon.*

For nonprofit news organizations, it’s the most wonderful time of the year — the beginning of a two-month sprint when their fundraising will be partially matched by the Institute for Nonprofit Journalism through its NewsMatch program. The campaign began on Sunday and extends through the end of December.

That’s why I’m asking you today to consider a donation to CommonWealth Beacon, a 30-year-old digital news outlet that covers Massachusetts politics and public policy. I’m a member of the editorial advisory board and an occasional contributor to its opinion section. CommonWealth puts it this way:

If you’re not already familiar, CommonWealth Beacon has been a trusted source of reporting in Massachusetts for 30 years, helping readers connect the dots between decisions made on Beacon Hill and their impact on everyday life. At a time when fewer resources are devoted to covering state government, their reporting is more important than ever. A great example is their ballot question explainers, which have been receiving great feedback from the vast majority who have engaged with it.

According to INN:

This year, 437 newsrooms will leverage over $7 million in funding from a network of 19 local and national funders to spark community giving, building a base of donors who sustain fact-based reporting….

Over the past 10 years, NewsMatch has secured $45 million in matching gifts to help drive $432 million in community support to newsrooms. But NewsMatch is more than just a match. INN’s NewsMatch includes fundraising training and resources that help participating newsrooms attract donations while strengthening their long-term fundraising strategies to ensure sustainability.

If your community is served by a nonprofit news organization, then it’s probably taking part in NewsMatch as well. You can search here to find out.

Just like public television and radio, nonprofit local news depends on the support of individual donors in order to sustain itself. This is a time of year when your gift can go further. If you’re not a CommonWealth reader (or listener), I hope you’ll check it out. And if you like what you see and hear, please consider making a gift.

Please use this link to donate.

Longtime Boston political analyst Jon Keller tells us about the art of moderating debates

*Jon Keller analyzes the recent gubernatorial debate that he moderated. Photo via YouTube.*

On the brand-new “What Works” podcast, I talk with Jon Keller, who has been explaining Massachusetts politics to Boston broadcast audiences for nearly half a century. Co-host Ellen Clegg couldn’t make it on air for this episode, but she handled the editing and will be back soon.

Jon returned to WBZ-TV just in time to cover a contentious governor’s election. He brought his trademark quick thinking and level-headed approach to the recent debate between Democratic incumbent Maura Healey and her Republican challenger, Mike Minogue. Jon was a colleague of mine at The Boston Phoenix, where he wrote a political column. His “Keller @ Large” show remains one of the longest-running political franchises in local television.

Boston magazine twice named him “Best TV Political Analyst,” and he’s won a boatload of New England Emmys. In the Jurassic era, Jon wrote an opinion column for Ellen at The Boston Globe, and today he writes a column for the MASSterlist political newsletter.

Jon has also been caught in the Paramount media swirl as well. WBZ-TV laid him off in October 2025 as part of Paramount’s cuts, but WBZ brought him back as a special contributor in March of this year.

I’ve got a Quick Take about turmoil at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. Executive editor Rob Curley, who’s leading an effort to take the paper nonprofit, was placed on administrative leave recently for unspecified inappropriate behavior. Now a deeply reported article by two nonprofit news outlets tells devastating story about what went wrong.

You can listen here, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcast app.

New on ‘Beat the Press’: Katie, we hardly knew you; plus, covering executions, and AI news sites

*Click here or on image to watch on Contrarian Boston (scroll down).*

On the all-new “Beat the Press with Emily Rooney,” we analyze the microscopically brief tenure of White House press secretary Katie Zacharia, who lasted just 0.45 Scaramuccis before she was unceremoniously tossed overboard.

In other topics, we look at the debate over whether television should be allowed to cover executions following Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s on-again, off-again plan to livestream the death of the Fort Hood shooter by firing squad; and we check in on two very different AI projects — Mass Daily News, a right-wing propaganda site whose anonymous author recently revealed himself (sub. req.) in a Boston Globe story, and South Shore News, which covers local government in nearly 20 communities. Plus our panel’s Rants and Raves.

Emily was joined by Scott Van Voorhis, the publisher of Contrarian Boston as well as our host; Cosmo Macero, a partner at Seven Letter and a former columnist and editor at the Boston Herald; and me. Our producer extraordinaire is Tonia Magras of Hull Bay Productions.

Join Lara Salahi and me this Thursday for a talk about her new book, ‘News-Academic Partnerships’

*Lara Salahi. Photo via Endicott College.*

I hope you’ll join Lara Salahi and me this Thursday, Oct. 22, for a conversation about her new book, “News-Academic Partnerships: The Great Experiment Powering Local Journalism’s Comeback.” The 7 p.m. event will take place at Belmont Books, which is located in downtown Belmont at 79 Leonard St.

Salahi, an associate professor of broadcast and digital journalism at Endicott College, has been on our “What Works” podcast about the future of local news. In she was named the New England Journalism Educator of the Year by the New England Newspaper and Press Association and the Journalism Education Foundation of New England.

Here’s the announcement for Thursday’s event.

Drawing on a political economy framework, Salahi examines the power dynamics between media, academia, and the public. She shows how these partnerships emerged as a strategic response to the collapse of community news ecosystems.

Grounded in case studies, research, and her own practical experience, Salahi offers a nuanced analysis of how these collaborations work. She demonstrates how they supplement dwindling local news coverage, bridge gaps in civic information, andserve as vital training grounds for aspiring journalists. At the same time, she does not she away from its challenges. Salahi also exposes the economic, technological, and ethical tensions that can challenge the long-term sustainability of these efforts.

Ultimately, Salahi argues that news–academic partnerships are more than temporary fixes. They are transformative experiments with the potential to revitalize community-centered journalism, strengthen democracy, and empower the next generation of storytellers.

Clay Wirestone tells us how opinion journalists brought voice and authority to local news in Kansas

*Clay Wirestone ignores the cookies. Photo by Sherman Smith.*

On the latest “What Works” podcast, Ellen Clegg and I talk with Clay Wirestone, the opinion editor of the Kansas Reflector, a digital nonprofit that’s part of the States Newsroom network. His first book was published Sept. 29. It’s called, aptly enough, “Opinionated: Kansas Journalists Who Proved Why Commentary Matters — Then and Now.” His second is scheduled for 2028.

Wirestone seems to be on a first-name basis with Kansas opinion journalists past and present, and he profiles a number of them. He knows the state well: he graduated from the University of Kansas and lives in Lawrence with his husband. He also edited news at The Topeka Capital-Journal and spent more than a decade at New Hampshire’s Concord Monitor, where he worked with my Northeastern colleague Meg Heckman, a past guest on this podcast.

I’ve got a Quick Take about yet another new book — “Deserted: Life Without Local News in Rural America,” by Nick Mathews. I reviewed it recently for The Arts Fuse. Mathews offers some interesting insights into what happens to community life when there’s a shortage of reliable news and information.

Ellen’s Quick Take is on an excellent Substack post by media observer Richard J. Tofel on the recent massacre at the McClatchy newspaper chain, which is being gutted by its private-equity owner. It’s like a slasher movie, and the slasher has come for newspapers that were great in their heyday.

You can listen here, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcast app.

How Rob Curley’s plan to take The Spokesman-Review nonprofit ended in a newsroom revolt

Rob Curley, Michael McCarter and David Dunn-Rankin discuss the future of newspaper opinion content at the 2025 America’s Newspapers Mega-Conference in Orlando. Moderated by Editor & Publisher’s Mike Blinder, the panel is featured in Episode 281 of “E&P Reports.”

By Wilson Criscione and Daisy Zavala Magaña

This report was produced in a collaboration between InvestigateWest and RANGE and republished by permission.

When The Spokesman-Review announced plans to transfer Spokane’s 143-year-old, family-owned newspaper to a nonprofit founded by Executive Editor Rob Curley, it took over the front page.

“The People’s Paper,” read the April 16, 2025, headline, saying ownership would transfer “to you, the community.”

Key to the plan was Curley, the folksy self-proclaimed “journalism nerd” who burst into Spokane a decade ago, declaring a love for Gonzaga University basketball rivaled only by his love for Disney. The transition to Comma Community Journalism Lab was cast in media industry publications not only as a way to save Spokane’s daily newspaper, but as part of a growing movement to resurrect dying papers by making them less dependent on ads and corporate ownership and more on philanthropy and community partnerships. As proof of concept, the paper had already added several so-called “community-funded” journalists to its staff.

Note: I’ve followed Rob Curley’s career for years and met him at the Orange County Register in 2015 while researching my book “The Return of the Moguls.” I shared excerpts about Curley from “Moguls” in August, after he was placed on administrative leave as executive editor of The Spokesman-Review. — DK

But in The Spokesman-Review newsroom this summer, that hopeful vision ran into persistent concerns about Curley’s leadership. More than a dozen current and former employees, along with contemporaneous records reviewed by InvestigateWest and RANGE, reveal how the newsroom had raised concerns about Curley’s management for years, culminating in his suspension from the paper on Aug. 7 and a vote of no confidence from the union, the Spokane Editorial Society. He is currently on leave as the paper conducts an internal investigation.

Continue reading “How Rob Curley’s plan to take The Spokesman-Review nonprofit ended in a newsroom revolt”

INN’s NewsMatch program switches from an annual fundraising drive to a year-round effort

From “NewsMatch at 10: A Decade of Impact.”

For nonprofit news organizations, the most important time of the year is November and December, when the NewsMatch program goes live. An initiative of the Institute for Nonprofit News, the program provides national funding as a percentage of money raised locally. It’s not a one-to-one match, but it provides crucial revenues to small (and large) projects as well as an incentive they can use in attracting donors.

Now INN is making a change. According to a new impact report, marking the 10th anniversary of the program, NewsMatch is moving to a year-round model. According to the report:

The next phase will focus on helping newsrooms build on that foundation with more advanced, flexible campaigns tailored to their goals and stage of growth. To support this evolution, NewsMatch is shifting from a single year-end campaign to a year-round model.

We talked to newsrooms about what they were looking for from this opportunity, and they emphasized the value of flexibility, experimentation, and shared learning. In 2027, we’re excited to pilot NewsMatch Catalyst Campaigns, supporting a select group of INN members as they test new fundraising strategies, deepen donor engagement, and build toward long-term sustainability.

According to the report, NewsMatch has raised more than $477 million for local news over the past 10 years, with INN itself growing from 27 investigative news organizations in 2009 to some 500 member outlets today. (INN was originally known as the Investigative News Network.)

Karen Rundlet, INN’s CEO and executive director, calls NewsMatch “the people-powered engine of the nonprofit news field, democratizing donations from a public that wants good, accurate information that helps them with daily decision making. People from all corners of the country donate to newsrooms via NewsMatch.”

Sophie Culpepper of Nieman Lab has a good overview of the impact report.

Talking about threats to shut the Toledo Blade, cuts at McClatchy and rural news deserts

The Blade building in Toledo, Ohio. Photo (cc) 2019 by David Wilson.

I had a chance to take part in a conversation Wednesday on “All Sides with Amy Juravich” on WOSU Radio in Ohio. Our topics included the Block family’s threat to shut down The Blade of Toledo if a buyer isn’t found, devastating cuts at the McClatchy newspaper chain, and the ongoing problem of rural news deserts.

Dee Drummond, a former Blade reporter now at the University of Toledo, and First Amendment lawyer Michael Berry were Juravich’s other guests, though we were not on at the same time.

If you’d like to give it a listen, you can click right here.