The Local News Lab

The Local News Lab
Name	The Local News Lab
Type	Nonprofit research and training organization
Founded	2017
Headquarters	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Key people	Angela Pasqua; Cora Chang; Mark Gold
Focus	Local journalism training, newsroom innovation, community engagement

The Local News Lab is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization focused on strengthening local journalism through training, research, and collaborative projects. It works with newsrooms, academic institutions, philanthropy, and civic organizations to pilot newsroom practices, provide professional development, and publish evaluations of local reporting initiatives. The Lab situates its work at the intersection of newsroom innovation, community engagement, and nonprofit journalism.

History

The Local News Lab was founded in 2017 amid national discussions on newsroom sustainability following events such as the 2016 United States presidential election, widespread newsroom closures documented by the Pew Research Center, and philanthropic initiatives like the Knight Foundation's local news investments. Early collaborators included the University of Pennsylvania journalism programs, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and city outlets such as WHYY (TV) and the Philadelphia Inquirer. In its first years the Lab ran pilot projects influenced by models from organizations like ProPublica, Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, and Columbia Journalism School. Growth in the late 2010s brought partnerships with regional public media entities such as WHYY (AM), nonprofit newsrooms like The Hechinger Report, and civic groups including Philadelphia Community Corps. The Lab adapted approaches from experiments documented by the Pew Research Center and adopted tools promoted by the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy.

Mission and Programs

The Lab's mission emphasizes capacity building for local reporting, drawing from frameworks popularized by Institute for Nonprofit News, American Press Institute, and Center for Investigative Reporting. Core programs have included newsroom fellowships modeled on Investigative Reporters and Editors training, audience research workshops inspired by Media Insight Project, and data journalism clinics influenced by Bureau of Investigative Journalism and OpenNews. The Lab offers teacher-training style fellowships analogous to programs from Poynter Institute and Columbia Journalism Review, community engagement initiatives similar to City Bureau, and sustainability pilots echoing experiments by Texas Tribune and Spot.Us. Programmatic emphases have included collaboration with municipal actors like Philadelphia City Council, civic tech partners such as Code for America, and digital platforms including Google News Initiative concepts.

Research and Publications

The Lab publishes reports, toolkits, and case studies that reference methodologies used by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center, and the RAND Corporation. Its publications tackle topics covered elsewhere by Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Data & Society Research Institute. Notable outputs include evaluations of audience development trials that cite metrics frameworks from Google Digital News Initiative case studies, comparative studies on nonprofit newsroom models similar to those by Center for Public Integrity, and playbooks for community reporting influenced by Solutions Journalism Network. The Lab has contributed chapters and presentations at conferences like NICAR (National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting), ONA (Online News Association), and panels organized by the American Journalism Project.

Partnerships and Funding

Funding and partnerships mirror networks common in media philanthropy: collaborative grants from foundations such as Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and William Penn Foundation, program support from regional funders like Presser Foundation, and project-based grants aligned with Google News Initiative. Partnerships have included academic collaborations with Temple University, Drexel University, and Rutgers University, newsroom collaborations with WHYY, The Philadelphia Inquirer, City & State PA, and nonprofit newsrooms like ProPublica Local and The Hechinger Report. Civic and technology partners have included Code for Philly, Open Data Philly, Microsoft Philanthropies initiatives, and policy dialogues involving Pennsylvania Press Association.

Impact and Reception

Assessments of the Lab's impact appear alongside evaluations by the Pew Research Center, Columbia Journalism Review, and the American Press Institute. Coverage of its pilots has been cited by regional outlets such as WHYY, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Billy Penn, and national commentators in Nieman Lab and The Atlantic's media analyses. Supporters point to successful fellowship alumni who went on to staff outlets like ProPublica Local, The Trace, and The Marshall Project; critics reference debates visible in forums hosted by MediaShift and First Draft News about scalability and measurement. Independent evaluations have used metrics frameworks pioneered by Reuters Institute and program review conventions from Urban Institute.

Organizational Structure

The Lab's governance follows a nonprofit model with an executive director, program directors, and a board composed of media leaders and academics drawn from institutions such as University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University, and representatives from outlets including WHYY and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Staff roles have mirrored positions at organizations like Poynter Institute, American Press Institute, and Investigative Reporters and Editors with specialists in data journalism, audience research, and community engagement. Advisory boards have included journalists and technologists affiliated with ProPublica, Columbia Journalism School, Knight Foundation, and civic groups like Code for America's local chapters.

Category:Organizations established in 2017 Category:Nonprofit organizations based in Philadelphia