About Local News Blues

Run by a group of local news producers, Local News Blues is designed to be a way to externalize the conversations so many of us local news producers have been having behind the scenes. Its aim is to allow us to share our analyses, experiences, hacks, and conversations with more of our peers and to speak back to so much of the frustrating pontificating and punditry committed by people who haven’t done local news in years (if ever). 

Consistently grouchy and helpful since January 2024, Local News Blues has grown quickly in influence. We've pushed for transparency and accountability among the big players in our field to good effect, and we've reached small-town news publishers who have told us we make them feel more informed and less lonely as we say what they're thinking and supply them with seriously useful survival tips.

Many of our contributors and most of our editorial board are members or friends of the upstart Alliance of Nonprofit News Outlets – read more about ANNO here – but we are not here just for independent nonprofit local news publishers. We know that for-profit independent local news publishers face many of the same challenges and barriers as nonprofits do. We're in this together.

Our readers include not only local news producers all over the U.S., but program directors for major funders, vendors of tech designed to help local news, people looking to start-up local ops, and two employees of the Council on Foreign Relations. (Go figure.)

Commenting at our site requires a paid membership, but if you are an independent local news producer (publisher, editor, reporter, or other staff or board member), we are happy to gift you that level of subscription for free. Just email us at lnb@michigoose.com.

And if you’re a local news producer, please add your voice to the comments section, pitch us your ideas, and consider writing commentary and analysis for Local News Blues. We want you with us.

Let’s stop grieving the past and talk frankly about the reality of doing local news.

Thanks to the folks who have helped behind the scenes:

Tech support provided by Morgan Lees. Logo by Cait Palmiter. Banner photo by Dylan Lees Photography. This newsletter uses Ghost, a great alternative to Substack.