ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK

As we close out 2023, it’s a good time to look at the state of local journalism.

I want to give a shout-out to Andy Conte and the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University for taking the lead in launching the Pittsburgh Media Partnership, an organization that advocates for local journalism, in 2020.

While media companies typically compete for stories and advertising, there are 27 local media outlets in this partnership that are sharing resources and expertise to keep local coverage strong, relevant and vibrant. Up until Oct. 26 there were 28 partners, but the Gazette 2.0, a citizen journalism-based endeavor that covered McKees Rocks and area communities, ended publication because of mounting debt.

The partnership’s creation was partly inspired by a similar group at the other end of the state, Resolve Philadelphia.

In Pittsburgh, members range from our own 54-year-old city lifestyle magazine to one-person operations to radio stations to nonprofit newsrooms to the region’s largest newspapers. Paid interns, training and grants for collaborative projects are among the initiatives funded primarily by the Heinz Endowments ($416,157) and Hillman Foundation ($300,000). The partnership is based at the Pittsburgh Downtown Media Hub in the Benedum-Trees Building on Fourth Avenue; philanthropist Bill Benter donated the space and The Benter Foundation renovated the floor and provides operating support for the hub.

In one example of collaboration, the partnership earlier this year awarded $5,000 to enable more than a half-dozen outlets to pursue a project to examine how misinformation and disinformation is being used to influence Western Pennsylvania residents.

Pittsburgh Magazine last fall combined resources with the nonprofit investigative organization PublicSource (not a PMP member at the time) to take a deep look at how a widespread shift in local leadership is reshaping the region. The package of stories, which ran in our February issue, would not have been as comprehensive if we had done this on our own.

The partnership in early 2024 is kicking off a teaching newsroom staffed by interns, recent graduates and seasoned journalists who want to work on reporting skills. “Our whole goal,” Conte says, “is to get back to the style of reporting that relies on developing relationships with sources. You know, doing critical thinking… We want to create a space for a deeper type of reporting.” Content produced will be shared among the partners.

And next fall, Conte hopes to hold a Newsapalooza-type event to get Pittsburghers thinking about their role in journalism. A recent study, he says, showed that a half million Pittsburghers who had subscribed to local newspapers are no longer doing so, which means they aren’t paying for this news.

“How do we get those people back involved?” he asks. “How do we re-engage people in the process of local news so that they start to see that with the democratization of news, it belongs to all of us now?”

Virginia Linn can be reached at vlinn@pittsburghmagazine.com.