Laura Hazard Owen

These public radio stations have built online audiences that’ll help them survive federal cuts They may have been born on the airwaves, but these public media stations compete on the web as well. Here's our first monthly ranking of the top 25 local public media websites in the United States.

As a former homepage and engagement editor for NPR, I found @joshuabenton.com's latest Nieman Lab piece from their rankings of media (first local newspapers, then nonprofit news sites) takes a look at the top 25 local public media sites very insightful about the challenges ahead.

Nonprofit news sites are built to generate impact — but these are also generating audiences In markets large and small, these nonprofit news organizations are achieving traffic numbers that many commercial outlets would envy. Here's our first monthly ranking of the top 25 nonprofit news site...

New by me —>

These are the 25 largest nonprofit news sites in the U.S. by web traffic.

Some you’d expect (like @propublica.org), others you might not (@ncronline.bsky.social, @sciencenews.bsky.social, @lapublicpress.bsky.social, @notusreports.bsky.social)

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/nonp...

6AM City acquires Good Daily’s network of more than 350 AI-generated local newsletters 6AM City will continue to operate its "core" newsletters with human editors, but will treat Good Daily’s AI-generated newsletters as "seed markets."

"We're planting a seed in these cities."

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/good...

How did newspapers in places like Harrisburg, Birmingham, and Syracuse become some of America’s most-read online? They share an owner that sometimes gets forgotten — but which dominates much larger peers in web traffic. Here's our first monthly ranking of the top 25 local newspaper websites in the United States.

New feature alert @niemanlab.org: Traffic rankings for the top U.S. news outlets in three categories — local newspapers, nonprofit news sites, and public radio stations. First up, local newspapers

by @joshuabenton.com

What went wrong at the Houston Landing? “We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

If you are involved in trying to make nonprofit news sustainable, I wrote and reported this story for you!

So much news that deserves our attention right now, but I hope you'll spend some time with my Houston Landing retrospective for @niemanlab.org (1/3)

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/what...

What went wrong at the Houston Landing? “We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

WHAT went wrong at the Houston Landing? almost nobody wanted to talk about it, but after months of reporting, @speppered.bsky.social got the story anyway

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/what...

no more "click to cancel" www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/good...

Deseret News through the eras: A story of grit, gumption and changes galore The staying power and determination to continue to print Truth and Liberty, no matter what, is the legacy of the Deseret News.

"People could get a paid subscription in exchange for the worn top from the covered wagon that brought them across the plains." www.deseret.com/special-seri...

Samantha Henry named editor of Nieman Reports  - Nieman Foundation She previously worked as Nieman’s assistant director for programming and special projects.

We’re pleased to welcome Samantha Henry as the new editor of @niemanreports.org. She says: “I am honored to continue Nieman Reports’ long tradition of standing for press freedom and shining light on the vitally important work of journalists around the world.” nieman.harvard.edu/samantha-hen...

How to subscribe to our work The Daily Digest Nearly 70,000 people get our newsletter, The Daily Digest, which goes out at 3 p.m. ET Mondays through Thursdays. It includes both our own stories and our curated rundown of the most...

we've made some updates to the "What We're Reading" section of @niemanlab.org's daily newsletter...more quotes, more numbers, more pictures (all design work by @joshuabenton.com) & I think you'll love it so subscribe here if you don't already! www.niemanlab.org/subscribe/

got it ok

Google Discover adds AI-generated bullet points to some news articles When I was scrolling through Google Discover this week, I noticed something new: AI-generated bullet points teasing or summing up some articles in the feed. The bullet-pointed articles appear somewha...

So far I've seen these on articles from the Wall Street Journal, Boston.com, and MarketWatch.

This owner thinks newspapers are better off diminished than dead “It's just kind of the way it is. Do we have the watchdog role? Can we do that now in all these areas? No. I think that's obvious."

Diminished. Decimated. Devastated.

Swap in whatever adjective you want, but here's the question: Is even a _____ newspaper better than no local newspaper at all?

www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/this...

Google’s chief emissary to the news business is stepping down — and looking back "If there's a regret, it's that I was not as effective as I would have liked to be in influencing and driving change across the board."

Richard Gingras to the news industry: "I would be very, very cautious not to see licensing by language models as being, somehow, the path to sustainability. There's not going to be a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow."

Business Insider is tracking employees’ ChatGPT usage as part of a new AI push An enterprise version of ChatGPT is now available to all staff, with 70% using the tool “regularly.”

gawker leaderboard but for chatGPT use, fun!!! (don't just ask me, ask BI's spokesperson who indeed calls it "fun")

National Trust for Local News sells 21 newspapers to a company with a history of gutting local outlets The Times Media Group is an out-of-state, for-profit media company with a history of reducing roles in local newsrooms.

"precisely the outcome the National Trust for Local News was founded to prevent"

Looks like the students won: www.alxnow.com/2025/05/09/f...

Inside a high school newspaper’s fight for editorial independence The Alexandria, Virginia school board says it wants to “help students grow as journalists." Theogony's student journalists wonder who, exactly, the board is protecting.

"If you’re going to have the principal as editor of the paper, it’s simply an extension of the district’s PR office. It’s absolutely not a student newspaper." www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/insi...

working on a story on this and just DM'd you :)

Scan this QR code with your phone to chat with me on Signal.

SOURCE REQUEST 🚨

I'm working on a @niemanlab.org story about what’s come of media companies' 2020 DEI promises.

How have newsrooms' DEI priorities changed over the last 5 years? What impact have DEI initiatives had on journalism/journalists?

DM me here, on Signal, or email (hanaa@niemanlab.org).

Eggs are <em>how</em> much? News outlets launch grocery price trackers Tracking the prices of supermarket staples over time is a service to readers — and a way to keep an eye on the national economy.

1/ This story triggered a though I've had the past couple of months about the value of the news in times of information chaos. Simply, the U.S. is dismantling whole swaths of the government tasked with providing reliable data for the public. I do think Trump's folks think if we have no data ...

the news outlets I spoke with aren't using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for this. instead they're turning to market research firms.
there are multiple reasons for that. but one is concerns that the BLS data won't be reliable post-DOGE

Eggs are <em>how</em> much? News outlets launch grocery price trackers Tracking the prices of supermarket staples over time is a service to readers — and a way to keep an eye on the national economy.

News outlets large & small are launching grocery price trackers. cool stuff here from @bostonglobe.com @mainepublic.org @washingtonpost.com

perfect thank you

I'm writing a story about ways news outlets large and small are tracking grocery prices. If that's you lmk!

I'm hoping to write about this for Nieman Lab, please check your email? :)

Gannett will stop publishing diversity information, citing Trump’s executive order The company also removed mentions of "diversity" from its corporate site.

NEW: Gannett will stop publishing company diversity/demographic data, citing Trump's January executive order to eliminate DEI initiatives.

If other news companies taking similar actions, you can find the info to securely send me a tip at the bottom of this story.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/gann...

Gannett will stop publishing diversity information, citing Trump’s executive order The company also removed mentions of "diversity" from its corporate site.

asked why they did this gannett cited an "evolving regulatory environment" and sent a link to Trump's executive order on DEI

www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/gann...

after

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