About Us
Understanding to support interventions in the Local information Crisis
The Local News Impact Consortium (LNIC) is a collaborative initiative of the research community to establish best practices, common standards, and shared tools and methods for studying the health of local information ecosystems.
Our Goal
Connecting and empowering journalists, funders, and researchers at the local level
The LNIC believes that understanding and intervention in the local information crisis could be improved if researchers, founders, and funders shared a common set of research standards, protocols, and playbooks.
Our goal is to bring together researchers, journalists, and funders around developing a shared set of practices for measuring local information ecosystem health. In doing so, we will enable more systematic evaluation of changes in these ecosystems across geographies and over time.
mapping our progress
We’re just getting started
Our first workshops
After a series of planning workshops in 2023 and 2024, an organizing committee emerged, led by faculty members representing Rutgers University, the University of Texas – Austin, the University of Missouri, Northwestern University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Oregon.
Governance and bylaws
During a 2024 planning workshop, organizing committee members Matthew Weber, Talia Stroud, Damon Kiesow, Tim Franklin, Stephanie Edgerly, Ben Toff, and Regina Lawrence developed a governing structure and bylaws for the LNIC.
Pilot Funding
In December of 2024, the LNIC received pilot funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to research and prototype the proposed best standards and to seek additional funding sources for the project.
Our Leadership
Meet the LNIC steering committee
Damon Kiesow
LNIC Chair
- Knight Chair in Journalism Innovation, Missouri School of Journalism
Benjamin Toff
Research Chair
- Director, Minnesota Journalism Center
- Associate Professor, Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Minnesota
Matthew Weber
Treasurer
- Professor of Communication, Rutgers University
- Member of Rutgers’ NetSCI Network Science lab
Johanna Dunaway
- Research Director, Institute for Democracy, Journalism, & Citizenship in Washington, D.C.
- Professor, Department of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University
Stephanie Edgerly
- Professor and Associate Dean of Research, Northwestern University
Regina Lawrence
- Associate Dean, SOJC Portland at the University of Oregon
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Research Director, Agora Journalism Center
Natalie (Talia) Jomini Stroud
- Professor in the Department of Communication Studies and the School of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin
- Founding and current Director of the Center for Media Engagement in the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin
Help shape the future of local news
The LNIC unites researchers, journalists, and funders to rebuild sustainable, data-driven local news ecosystems. Click the button below to join our Slack group, sign up for our newsletter, and more.