Kevin Loker

1 month ago | americanpressinstitute.org | Kevin Loker

Virginia, the American Press Institute’s home state, is filled with communities steeped in history. As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary, local news can play a part in raising such history in our collective consciousness. And humanities-focused funders may find alignment with the growing experimentation in how local news intersects with local identity. Local news organizations across the country are embarking on history-based projects to serve community needs and help sustain the business.

1 month ago | americanpressinstitute.org | Samantha Ragland |Kevin Loker

The American Press Institute is convening its second API Local News Summit of 2025, addressing a challenge shared by local and community-based media of all types: commercial or nonprofit, rural or urban, start-up or legacy. In our current moment and going forward, how might local media bridge civically-oriented coverage and conversation across generations? An inclusive democracy and society requires collaboration from all Americans, regardless of age.

2 months ago | americanpressinstitute.org | Samantha Ragland |Kevin Loker

Although news fatigue is on the rise, people often have an endless reservoir of love and care for the places they live and the neighborhoods they call home. This presents opportunities for local news leaders who want to strengthen community relationships that sustain their businesses. In April, the American Press Institute convened nearly 70 news leaders and experts from non-news spaces for our Local News Summit on Local Identity, History and Sustainability in Nashville, Tenn.

2 months ago | editorandpublisher.com | Samantha Ragland |Kevin Loker

Posted Monday, April 21, 2025 10:45 am If a good newspaper, as the playwright Arthur Miller said, is a “nation talking to itself,” then it follows that a good local news organization must be a town, or a community, doing the same thing.

2 months ago | americanpressinstitute.org | Samantha Ragland |Kevin Loker

If a good newspaper, as the playwright Arthur Miller said, is a “nation talking to itself,” then it follows that a good local news organization must be a town, or a community, doing the same thing. But those conversations are quite different today than when Miller made this observation more than six decades ago. And journalists’ role in the discussion has changed amid a splintered media environment, political polarization, economic uncertainty and a national epidemic of loneliness.