The loss of local news coverage in many communities around the country is weakening American democracy and leaving communities without access to critical information. Between 2008 and 2019, about 27,000 newsroom employees lost their jobs. Local news outlets – consistently the most trusted of all sources – are disappearing rapidly or falling victim to failing business models. Independent, nonpartisan, fact-based journalism is imperiled.

Even within this disruption, though, there are signs of promise. Many local newsrooms are pursuing important stories, finding innovative ways to fill information gaps and engaging their communities to develop reporting that responds to pressing needs. We recognize that local reporters, not national news organizations like Reveal, are best positioned to do deep and sustained coverage in their cities, and we want to help.

Collaboration is key to everything Reveal does – from elevating local stories to our award-winning radio show and podcast to producing investigative stories with on-the-ground expertise and expanding our reach by helping other outlets localize our findings. Local partnerships allow us to dramatically expand our reporting capabilities, ensure the impact of our work and engage with people affected by our reporting, all while helping our local partners form their own collaborations, deepen their reporting and find answers to their communities’ most vexing questions. Some of the ways we partner with other newsrooms include:

• Co-productions for the Reveal radio show and podcast.
• Topic-based collaborations that allow us to go in depth on a single subject in multiple locations.
• Reporting networks that provide local outlets with data and reporting resources to localize issues we raise in our national investigations.
• Fellowships that build capacity for investigative reporting among communities and journalists traditionally underrepresented in our sector. 
• Developing collaborative podcasts and video projects.