Independent Local Journalism In A Digital Age
Join Bill Shaner, founder of the newsletter Worcester Sucks and I Love It, to discuss the decline of legacy media and the rise of new methods of local journalism.
Without intervention, experimentation, and reinvention, the craft of local journalism could soon become a relic of a different time. Media consolidation is destroying local newspapers across the country. There are five times fewer working local journalists than there were even just a decade ago. With legacy media in decline, new methods for the distribution of and funding of local journalism are on the rise. The lines between journalist, citizen journalist, and concerned resident are blurring, especially at the local level--to positive but often negative effect. How to navigate it all? How can you fill the gaps emerging in your community? These are questions Bill Shaner, founder of the newsletter Worcester Sucks and I Love It, will tackle. Shaner's independent outlet has thousands of subscribers. He has written for Mother Jones, The Intercept, Teen Vogue, The Columbia Journalism Review and Welcome To Hell World, among others.