It’s always nice to get emails out of the blue like this recent one from a public television program in Texas:

Our show “underwent a dramatic shift and turned its focus to become a community journalism project that really listens to the communities we cover. Your playbook and work was instrumental in informing what we are doing today. We haven't been doing this new work for long, but we've already gotten so much praise from community members who feel like a media organization is finally listening to what they have to say.” 

Which takes me back to some of the ideas and projects that inspired us before we started the Listening Post Collective. In the early 2000s I remember listening to Jamie Kalven talk about his A View From The Ground project where he covered public housing in Chicago from within a vacant unit at the Stateway Gardens public housing development. Another project that’s always inspired me is Question Box, a public call box placed in rural parts of India and Uganda. With the push of a button users can connect with service agencies that can help them with questions about public health, education, agriculture, and jobs, or even just do an internet search for them.

As 2021 kicks off we’re thinking deeply about where we’ve been (take a look at our LPC index), how we got there and even more importantly, whose work is inspiring us now and deserves to be highlighted. That’s why we’re creating space in our newsletter every month for some new voices. In this edition we asked some collaborators in Los Angeles and Iowa to share some work related to the impact of Covid-19 on their communities. Read on! -Jesse Hardman

Welcome to our latest newsletter! This month we're heading back to our roots with a visit to New Orleans, we're sharing what we're thankful for (our newest Listening Post Collective hires), and we're checking in with media in a country that just had a challeng(ed)ing election (not the one you think). 

Welcome to our latest newsletter! This month, Mary Margaret White-- CEO of Mississippi Today-- is sharing a must-read reflective guide on how to place community at the center of what media managers do. We also have some tips on how to responsibly cover election violence while staying safe as well as an update on our 50 tweet tour of local media in the US. Read on! 

Lately we’ve been choosing a different format each month to share our newsletter, including a podcast, Instagram series, and for September, we’re sharing it in the form of an Op-Ed. Listening Post colleagues Olivia Henry and Jesse Hardman struck up a lively discussion this summer about the trajectory of the media industry, our journalism work, and how best to ensure local reporters and communities are supported. Here’s where that conversation wound up. 

This month we're dedicating our newsletter to tips on how to use Instagram to connect communities with news. Meeting people where they're at increasingly means on social media, which means designing and editing news and information to look a little different. Here are some examples and tips from our collaborators around the country. You can also experience our newsletter through our LPC Instagram feed!

There’s a lot going on to put it mildly. Newsrooms are being pushed to confront their lack of diversity and grapple with ever present sustainability issues, and journalists around the US continue to cover BLM protests and the COVID-19 pandemic all the while wondering if they’ll have a job tomorrow. As always we wanted to highlight how local media is navigating this complicated time. This month we interviewed some of our collaborators and one of our funders to talk about the essential work they are doing for their communities.

AND...this month’s newsletter is a podcast! Take a listen while you’re baking your sourdough bread or tending to your garden. On the pod we have Nicole Pritchard from the Irvine Foundation, Cicero Independiente’s April Alonso and Irene Romulo, and Fresno based journalist Jamila Harris.

The killing of George Floyd on May 25th prompted historic protests across the US against police violence, systemic racism, and a culture of white supremacy. Local journalists continue to document and report on daily marches, despite the threats and violence they’ve experienced while out in their own streets covering protests.

This month we’re turning our newsletter over to our partners to share what they’re seeing and hearing as they cover the impact of these protests on their communities.

Last year was busy at the Listening post Collective and we have bigger goals and projects ahead of us! We are introducing more Mentorship, Small Grants and Deeper Dives. Learn more and keep up with LPC work in Fresno and Sacramento in our March Newsletter.

We’ve been busy the past few months making sure communities less likely to get the Covid-19 information they need are receiving news they can use on platforms and in languages they’re most likely to access. Take a look at what we’ve been up to.

Welcome back and ☀️ happy summer! ☀️ We’ve been on a bit of newsletter hiatus due to the launch of new projects, embarking on phase two of existing projects and bringing new team members into the Listening Post Collective fold! We are excited to get you up to speed with our June Newsletter.

Before we look back at all the great things that happened in 2018, and before we look forward to all that is to come in 2019, we want to deliver one final newsletter this year, giving you all an insight into some pretty powerful community driven journalism happening around the world today. Enjoy, and be well!

This month we're chatting with folks from the world of international media development who are getting a lot done with a little. We check in with Max Graef who is installing a radio station in The Gambia, William López who is sustaining radio in Guatemala through diaspora donations, and our own Justin Auciello who is leading a citizen reporter movement in post-Maria Puerto Rico. That and more here: October Newsletter

In this month's newsletter we take a look at the information ecosystem of La Pine, Oregon with an engaged journalism class from the University of Oregon. We talk engagement with Olivia Henry, sustainability with Jason Alcorn, and check in on the Boyle Heights Beat. Read up here: Listening Post Collective: August Newsletter

In this month's newsletter we're looking at information needs at the border in Tijuana, community radio in the Hoopa Valley, Madeleine Bair's Information Needs Assessment for El Tímpano and a whole lot more. Read up here: Listening Post Collective, July Newsletter

The Scripps Howard Foundation is taking applications for its 12-month fellowship program, offered in conjunction with the Scripps News Washington Bureau/Newsy and ProPublica. We're particularly excited about the Engagement Reporting track that would see fellows working with ProPublica's incredible engagement team. 

The Knight Foundation will be partnering with four locally-focused funders who will be looking at the information gaps in their communities and finding ways to fill them. We're thrilled that information gaps and needs will be addressed in creative ways in these communities. 

The Texas Tribune is hiring an interactive designer/developer to create narratives that drive audience participation across platforms and inform and engage Texans about policy issues.

This is a four-day seminar that will foster the next generation of opinion writers from a wide spectrum of backgrounds by focusing on fact based opinion writing — and using social media to spark a conversation — across digital and other platforms. Deadline is Aug. 14!