A common community cause

Not long ago I sat at a ballroom table with kindred spirits. I had traveled from Columbia to a big convention hotel in Philadelphia to be with like-minded people dedicated to the task of ensuring every community in this country recognizes the importance of supporting a great local news organization.

We were there as part of the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit. The idea was to get 350 fund-raisers and foundation leaders together to sharpen their skills, make connections, and hear what’s working around the country to keep locals news sources vital and alive.

The Lenfest Institute celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. And what a decade it has been!

The brainchild of billionaire Philadelphia philanthropist Gerry Lenfest, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism has given out more than $117 million over the last 10 years to 600 grantees (mostly in the Philadelphia area) looking for new ways to keep local news organizations afloat and vital.

From the institute’s inception, Gerry Lenfest was clear about what he was trying to do. He’d given millions to his college alma mater, millions to Philadelphia art and music venues, but said saving local journalism was the most important philanthropic task he had ever undertaken. A strong local press was, to his mind, fundamental to the health of a community’s civic life.

Innovative ideas flew like paper airplanes around the summit, from seeking foundation support for specific news coverage areas like health and agriculture to sponsoring community engagement campaigns around thorny local issues to broadcasting local sporting and school events. The discussion went on for three days.

At the end, the bottom-line takeaway was in today’s fractured, too nationalized media environment, local news organizations have a challenging but doable path forward. The key to a sustainable future begins with this question: how can we work together to make our community better?

That’s not the same as blind boosterism. Or ignoring controversies. Rather, this blueprint requires conscientious effort to build trust across a community. It’s about covering events and people with compassion and humility, while offering up valid information in a civil, honest, solutions-oriented way.

Here in Missouri, the remarkable resilience of community newspapers presents a major opportunity to keep local news organizations healthy and moving forward. More than 130 Missouri newspapers today have been in business for more than 100 years! Missouri loves local news! Here, news deserts aren’t a thing — yet.

Many inspired digital news startups also are sprouting in Kansas City, Springfield and St. Louis. Yet in most Missouri counties, legacy print operations along with their established websites and digital presence, remain the most fertile soil to plant the seeds of success for strong local news organizations for decades to come.

Yes, it would be great if every Missouri town had the equivalent of a Gerry Lenfest to come to the aid of the local news organization. That’s not likely.

Instead, bloom-where-you-are-planted Missourians need to recognize among themselves the essential role local news organizations play in their towns. Then, these kindred spirits can work together, embrace new ways to support local news as a community necessity — and make it happen.

These grown-in-Missouri efforts to keep local news going will involve people from all walks of life: old and young, liberal and conservative, townspeople and country folk. They care about a healthy civic life and seek to form a partnership to preserve local news at home. A Missouri Local News Partnership.

That’s the big idea I brought back from the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit.

Let’s get to work building it.