Local journalism is hard work. Help us carry the load

Through my first decade in the field, Nora Hertel could see that local audiences did not feel well served as the media grew more polarized, nationalized and negative. So, she left in 2021 and launched her own news organization, Project Optimist.

Notes from the field: The power of location

Elizabeth Stephens, executive editor of the Columbia Missourian and Missouri Community Newspaper Management Chair at the Missouri School of Journalism, shares what she and her class learned about the state of community newsrooms around Missouri