I’m fortunate to have a front row seat to the remarkable daily work of public media organizations across the country. Hundreds of stations are making important daily choices, across programming, content, and format. Such strategic choices can be consequential and, if made carefully, help to shape how audiences experience their communities and the world.
If you’re steeped in the media industry, you might absorb headlines about the decline of print newspapers. But there are also signs of bright spots. According to a recent study from Gallup and the Knight Foundation, trust in local news remains high compared to other news types, and public radio and local radio is a top source of where audiences turn. Notably, public media is local, yet serves the whole country in communities of all sizes. In “Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries”, Victor Pickard and Timothy Neff note that “public media has myriad social benefits, including more diverse news coverage, increased public knowledge about politics and public affairs, and lower levels of extremist views.” They go on to say that “countries with independent and well-funded public broadcasting systems also consistently have stronger democracies.”
Across media, we’re also seeing digital startups evaluating and tackling the needs of communities. In some communities, an active “vacuum” strategy is underway — finding ways to fill a gap once held by local papers. In others, there are public-private partnerships emerging. While vehicles of information are evolving, organizations of all stripes can choose to explore audio — podcasting — as a medium. (Many public radio stations themselves have branched out into podcasting, and have done so successfully.) In 2023, organizations that do will benefit. Podcasting will grow as an essential source of news, storytelling, and opportunity within local communities.
There are several examples to draw from our experience at PRX to underscore podcasting’s value: a research and community-building project we undertook highlighted its empowering aspects. We manage in-person community spaces in Boston and in San Francisco — Podcast Garages — where people who call each area home can meet their peers, pursue learning opportunities, network, and record. Our training team works with journalists and storytellers across both digital and print to help build sustainable podcasts informed by defined points of view. We’re lucky to distribute podcasts from many talented producers across different engaging content areas. A lesson we’ve learned again and again: podcasts open up opportunities to connect with engaged listeners around shared interests, culture, storytelling, and language, and a rich opportunity to deliver stories, news, and information.
Audio consumption is on the rise. While radio stations are distinct in their hard infrastructure, podcasting opens up opportunities for organizations to think beyond those limitations. In the year ahead, those who choose to explore podcasting will further empower their audiences and themselves.
Kerri Hoffman is the CEO of PRX.
I’m fortunate to have a front row seat to the remarkable daily work of public media organizations across the country. Hundreds of stations are making important daily choices, across programming, content, and format. Such strategic choices can be consequential and, if made carefully, help to shape how audiences experience their communities and the world.
If you’re steeped in the media industry, you might absorb headlines about the decline of print newspapers. But there are also signs of bright spots. According to a recent study from Gallup and the Knight Foundation, trust in local news remains high compared to other news types, and public radio and local radio is a top source of where audiences turn. Notably, public media is local, yet serves the whole country in communities of all sizes. In “Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries”, Victor Pickard and Timothy Neff note that “public media has myriad social benefits, including more diverse news coverage, increased public knowledge about politics and public affairs, and lower levels of extremist views.” They go on to say that “countries with independent and well-funded public broadcasting systems also consistently have stronger democracies.”
Across media, we’re also seeing digital startups evaluating and tackling the needs of communities. In some communities, an active “vacuum” strategy is underway — finding ways to fill a gap once held by local papers. In others, there are public-private partnerships emerging. While vehicles of information are evolving, organizations of all stripes can choose to explore audio — podcasting — as a medium. (Many public radio stations themselves have branched out into podcasting, and have done so successfully.) In 2023, organizations that do will benefit. Podcasting will grow as an essential source of news, storytelling, and opportunity within local communities.
There are several examples to draw from our experience at PRX to underscore podcasting’s value: a research and community-building project we undertook highlighted its empowering aspects. We manage in-person community spaces in Boston and in San Francisco — Podcast Garages — where people who call each area home can meet their peers, pursue learning opportunities, network, and record. Our training team works with journalists and storytellers across both digital and print to help build sustainable podcasts informed by defined points of view. We’re lucky to distribute podcasts from many talented producers across different engaging content areas. A lesson we’ve learned again and again: podcasts open up opportunities to connect with engaged listeners around shared interests, culture, storytelling, and language, and a rich opportunity to deliver stories, news, and information.
Audio consumption is on the rise. While radio stations are distinct in their hard infrastructure, podcasting opens up opportunities for organizations to think beyond those limitations. In the year ahead, those who choose to explore podcasting will further empower their audiences and themselves.
Kerri Hoffman is the CEO of PRX.
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Bill Adair The year of the fact-check (no, really!)
Brian Moritz Rebuilding the news bundle
Michael Schudson Journalism gets more and more difficult
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Sue Schardt Toward a new poetics of journalism
Joshua P. Darr Local to live, wire to wither
Brian Stelter Finding new ways to reach news avoiders
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Ryan Gantz “I’m sorry, but I’m a large language model”
Eric Nuzum A focus on people instead of power
Matt Rasnic More newsroom workers turn to organized labor
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Cindy Royal Yes, journalists should learn to code, but…
Larry Ryckman We’ll work together with our competitors
Don Day The news about the news is bad. I’m optimistic.
Cari Nazeer and Emily Goligoski News organizations step up their support for caregivers
Mar Cabra The inevitable mental health revolution
Jesse Holcomb Buffeted, whipped, bullied, pulled
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Sarah Alvarez Dream bigger or lose out
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Al Lucca Digital news design gets interesting again
Christoph Mergerson The rot at the core of the news business
Wilson Liévano Diaspora journalism takes the next step
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Eric Thurm Journalists think of themselves as workers
Victor Pickard The year journalism and capitalism finally divorce
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Jim VandeHei There is no “peak newsletter”
Paul Cheung More news organizations will realize they are in the business of impact, not eyeballs
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Jessica Maddox Journalists keep getting manipulated by internet culture
Bill Grueskin Local news will come to rely on AI
A.J. Bauer Covering the right wrong
Jaden Amos TikTok personality journalists continue to rise
Jonas Kaiser Rejecting the “free speech” frame
Jennifer Brandel AI couldn’t care less. Journalists will care more.
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Gordon Crovitz The year advertisers stop funding misinformation
Joni Deutsch Podcast collaboration — not competition — breeds excellence
Eric Ulken Generative AI brings wrongness at scale
Mauricio Cabrera It’s no longer about audiences, it’s about communities
Christina Shih Shared values move from nice-to-haves to essentials
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Ben Werdmuller The internet is up for grabs again
Andrew Losowsky Journalism realizes the replacement for Twitter is not a new Twitter
Mael Vallejo More threats to press freedom across the Americas
Sue Robinson Engagement journalism will have to confront a tougher reality
Gina Chua The traditional story structure gets deconstructed
Kaitlyn Wells We’ll prioritize media literacy for children
Alexandra Borchardt The year of the climate journalism strategy
Dana Lacey Tech will screw publishers over
Alan Henry A reckoning with why trust in news is so low
Peter Bale Rising costs force more digital innovation
Danielle K. Brown and Kathleen Searles DEI efforts must consider mental health and online abuse
Hillary Frey Death to the labor-intensive memo for prospective hires
Rodney Gibbs Recalibrating how we work apart
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Barbara Raab More journalism funders will take more risks
Alex Perry New paths to transparency without Twitter
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John Davidow A year of intergenerational learning
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Jacob L. Nelson Despite it all, people will still want to be journalists
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Laxmi Parthasarathy Unlocking the silent demand for international journalism
Simon Galperin Philanthropy stops investing in corporate media
David Cohn AI made this prediction
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Joanne McNeil Facebook and the media kiss and make up
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Julia Angwin Democracies will get serious about saving journalism
Sam Gregory Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made
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Tamar Charney Flux is the new stability
Gabe Schneider Well-funded journalism leaders stop making disparate pay
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Dominic-Madori Davis Everyone finally realizes the need for diverse voices in tech reporting
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Sarah Marshall A web channel strategy won’t be enough
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Sarah Stonbely Growth in public funding for news and information at the state and local levels
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Jim Friedlich Local journalism steps up to the challenge of civic coverage
Karina Montoya More reporters on the antitrust beat
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Janet Haven ChatGPT and the future of trust
David Skok Renewed interest in human-powered reporting
Sarabeth Berman Nonprofit local news shows that it can scale
Eric Holthaus As social media fragments, marginalized voices gain more power
Daniel Trielli Trust in news will continue to fall. Just look at Brazil.
S. Mitra Kalita “Everything sucks. Good luck to you.”
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