#amateur-journalism-nick-shirley

#amateur-journalism-nick-shirley

"Too many leaders find themselves at the midpoint of their careers, or in senior positions, without leadership training. This program provides a space where they can learn from peers and Poynter facilitators about what makes a great leader, mentor, manager and coach."

For the first day, I was the first person on the scene, and then my phone died. So, I went home and was reporting from there as the information was coming out, and I was getting more and more media requests. I started saying yes, not because I thought I had the right to tell this story, but mostly because I knew that reporters-or let's say some reporters-have a tendency to not be sensitive in these situations.

If you've worked in a technical role in news for long enough, you likely remember when the "show your work" spirit was everywhere. Newsroom nerds shared code on GitHub, swapped tips on social media and unfurled long blogs guiding others on how to get things done. You might also have a vague sense that - like reaction GIFs, demotivational posters, and that guy who sang "Chocolate Rain" - you're seeing less of it these days.

Press Forward made almost $23 million in grants to 22 organizations aimed at bolstering the infrastructure for local news. The grants were the culmination of a request for proposals process that began accepting applications in November 2024, and elicited 559 proposals.

For Northwestern University's 2025 news report, they estimated that almost 40% of all local U.S. newspapers have vanished, leaving 50 million Americans with limited or no access to a reliable source of local news. The local newspapers that haven't closed their doors have immensely reduced their operations, cutting the amount of reporters in the newsroom from hundreds to just dozens and working out of rented office spaces instead of downtown buildings.

The pandemic changed Defector's course. New York shut down, the economy ground to a halt, and the offers of capital dried up. So the group decided to launch a new website on their own dime, this time structured as a worker-owned cooperative in which the journalists, rather than media executives, made all the decisions. The site became the kind of success that's rare in digital media nowadays, bringing in $3.2 million in revenue from over 40,000 paying subscribers in its first year alone.