Every community is different. That’s why there’s no single answer for the best model for local journalism — each outlet will have its own approach to best serve its audiences. 

But even as the end result looks different, there can still be common building blocks that help support publishers. That’s why The Lenfest Institute supports Newspack, an all-in-one publishing platform for small-and-medium-sized news organizations that helps them produce great journalism, drive audience, and generate revenue. 

Kinsey Wilson, the founder and head of Newspack, wrote recently in Poynter that the platform is “leveraging advantages of scale, while preserving the autonomy and independence that allows publishers to authentically address the local communities they serve.” 

Sharing some lessons learned from one effort to crack the code on local news. https://t.co/1Q3uke0a1N

— Kinsey Wilson (@kinseywilson) October 14, 2021

The Institute partnered with Automattic, Knight Foundation, and the Google News Initiative to create Newspack in 2019. Since then, more than 100 news organizations have started using the platform, and dozens more are in the pipeline. 

And there has been some early success, Wilson reports. One example of many is YubaNet, an independent news site covering the Sierras in northern California, utilized Newspack’s mobile-first design and revenue tools to grow its audience by 65% and its membership by 45%. 

You can learn more about Newspack and read Wilson’s full story at Poynter. 

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