The Coastal Courier is a weekly community newspaper in Georgia with an office on Main Street — and a VR channel.

“Are they adequately meeting the information needs with their technology?” Jesse Holcomb wondered. “Are they carving out a space on social platforms or avoiding them altogether?”

Holcomb, a Calvin College professor and former Pew researcher, highlighted the Coastal Courier’s digital adaptation — not necessarily innovation — at an event at Columbia Journalism’s Tow Center Wednesday evening. He conducted research to answer those very questions more broadly in the journalism industry, finding that one in ten local news outlets don’t even have their own website, among other tidbits we summarized here.

New in this talk: Holcomb shared the starting-a-local-news-outlet to-do list of Brian Boyer, head of product at digital local news chain Spirited Media: A website, a subscriber box, and an email newsletter. Then, “start publishing some shit on the internet.”

After presenting his research, Holcomb, CUNY/Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism’s Jenny Choi, WNYC’s vice president for news Jim Schachter, and Hearst’s senior vice president for revenue Esfand Pourmand paneled it up. Here are some of the top hits from the evening, as well as the full video:

58% of local news sites use google/doubleclick- only 28% have paywalls #localnewsadapts @TowCenter @JesseHolcomb

— Max Resnik (@MaxResnik) October 10, 2018

#localnewsadapts "The smart phone screen is the only screen in some communities." – @JesseHolcomb

— Simon Galperin (@thensim0nsaid) October 10, 2018

Despite national attention to FB's role in news ecology, Google plays an outsize role in local media (Google ads used far more than alternatives).#localnewsadapts

— Mike L. Miller (@mlmillerphd) October 10, 2018

#localnewsadapts @WNYC is a launching a series to get folks interested in voting for thing that aren't humans to get them interested in voting for humans 💯 Democracy is a muscle. Journalists need to help folks exercise that muscle.

— Simon Galperin (@thensim0nsaid) October 10, 2018

.@jennychoinews – you need to look at the news ecosystem- smaller newsrooms don’t always have capacity to innovate – collaborations help build capacity- make smart business decisions and identify movers and shakers to get new projects started #localnewsadapts cc @city_bureau

— Max Resnik (@MaxResnik) October 10, 2018

#localnewsadapts @Hearst's innovation process was asking what does innovation mean to us, what are the channels where we have customer touch points, what is our value proposition to them on that channel, and how do we spark engagement knowing all of that

— Simon Galperin (@thensim0nsaid) October 10, 2018

@jennychoinews: local news orgs need to consider what their strengths are before chasing shiney new technologies. While it might make sense for a radio station to launch a podcast, makes less sense for DNAinfo.#localnewsadapts

— Mike L. Miller (@mlmillerphd) October 10, 2018

.@jimschachter – the voices of @Gothamist and @WNYC are distinct with diverging and overlapping interest. We moved the Gothamist team into the WNYC newsroom and we talk all the time #localnewsadapts

— Max Resnik (@MaxResnik) October 10, 2018

.@jennychoinews – understanding audience in a meaningful and respectful way is key – tech should serve that desire to understand – talk to your communities #localnewsadapts

— Max Resnik (@MaxResnik) October 10, 2018

.@jimschachter – You need to have the audience first – everything is on your phone at once – communities can make journalism in competition or in cahoots. Encourage them to be in cahoots and be a tribe together with the newsroom #localnewsadapts @TowCenter

— Max Resnik (@MaxResnik) October 10, 2018

.@jimschachter – we are thinking about new places to do interactive journalism (@LinkNYC kiosks and the ticker outside @WNYC) – I’m not sure how scalable that is #localnewsadapts

— Max Resnik (@MaxResnik) October 10, 2018

You can rewatch the event’s livestream (just an hour long) here.