Next Big Idea!

So a cool thing has happened: The Next Big Idea Club has selected Death of the Daily News as a big idea worth sharing. Check it out here.

Even if you don’t know the Club you’ll probably recognize some of its thought leaders, such as Malcolm Gladwell and Daniel Pink. These are authors I have admired for their big ideas, and it’s nice to know they think mine are worth sharing too.

The link takes you to the five big takeaways from my book. I’ve been feeling lately like an evangelist for local journalism, and it’s nice to see people starting to take notice.

The disruption that has come to our industry has caused unbelievable pain – BUT it’s also now creating unimaginable opportunities. It’s time for all of us to lean into this present future to make the most of this moment.

Our revolution starts with the basics

Saving local news depends on restoring trust between the public and journalists. John Nagy, editor of The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines, North Carolina, points out that too often people forget what that means in their community.

“Unfortunately, trust and appreciation for what a community newspaper brings to the community table often go unappreciated or unrealized until it’s too late,” he wrote recently. “That is the case made in a new book by Andrew Conte called ‘Death of the Daily News.'”

Those bonds start with telling the ordinary, every day stories of where we live. That might not seem all that important, but it turns out to be perhaps the most significant thing local news does. Nagy says we rightly focus on financial sustainability but we cannot overlook the real reason local news exists.

“Within the newspaper industry, the struggle for revenue is real, and in many communities, it’s insurmountable,” he wrote. “But it’s the self-inflicted wounds — losing relevance, no longer telling stories about your community — that are avoidable.”

For me, it’s a blessing to see Death of the Daily News resonating with the people who tell our local stories in communities across the United States. They’re the ones leading the revolution that maintains and grows local journalism into the future.