How can local news reach new people and better serve existing audiences?
Interviews yield helpful, but sometimes surprising, answers
“Local kids win science prize.” “The story behind the coolest coastal hiking trail.” “Program gives youth a second chance.”
Those headlines reflect some of the stories I’ve reported over my two decades in local news. They are stories that I would’ve considered “fluff” pieces. By that, I mean they provided a good listen; they are stories that would make you smile, but ones that overall, I felt, weren’t about serious topics that might have more impact on people’s lives.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed reporting these types of stories; I just didn’t value them the same as something more hard-hitting. That’s why I’m surprised by some of the things I’m learning in these early stages of audience interviews for my project as a John S. Knight Senior Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.
My work explores ways small local newsrooms can grow their audiences and amplify the reach of their work using audio. I’m currently partnering with The Californian, and separately, the Monterey County Weekly. Both are based in Central California.
I’m taking a design-thinking approach in this first phase of my project by doing deep interviews with a variety of community members. I’m aiming to uncover unknown and unmet needs that will help drive the development of audio prototypes.
With The Californian I’ve identified two, sometimes overlapping, audiences we want to target for this research: first-generation English speakers and early-career young adults.
The Salinas Valley, where The Californian is based, is home to a large population of immigrants who have come to the U.S. to work in agriculture. Their children are often first-generation English speakers who take on the role of translating English news and information for their parents, keeping them abreast of the things they need to know. The Californian sees the potential for a long-term relationship with this audience. Can we create new engagement through audio?
The Californian knows it has readers among those who are just entering adulthood. This means people younger than 35 who have their first job making decent money, who are taking on new responsibilities, such as paying household bills or trying to buy their first home. This younger audience already comes to The Californian to stay up on local issues. Can we strengthen the relationship with them through audio?
Within those groups, I’ve been interviewing people who offer unique perspectives, like a farmworker, single parent, and someone who lives in a multigenerational household. Here are a few interviews that have stood out.
Interviewee: Abby, early-career young adult
Perspective: Newcomer to the area
Background: Abby moved to Salinas to work in the growing field of agriculture technology. Her feeling of being a newcomer to the community was inevitable, but it’s being drawn out by the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the opportunity to mingle in the community and get to know people and places, she doesn’t know the best places to grab breakfast or to go for a bike ride. It’s this type of inside information she seeks from a local source. “Since it’s local, it’s something that I trust more, typically, because that’s what local people in this community prefer. Like that’s the favorite bar to read at versus ‘36 hours in Monterey’ [a New York Times feature].”
Local news and information needs: A sense of community, so she can feel like a local.
Interviewee: Ash, early-career young adult
Perspective: Formerly gang-affiliated youth
Background: Ash was born and raised in Salinas. She didn’t have an easy upbringing. Her family was involved in gangs. She lost a sibling to gun violence and was homeless for three years. She says growing up on “the other side of the tracks”, she and her friends had two options: “a death sentence or prison sentence.” She was able to turn her life around and wants others in her community to have the same hope. “I think the greatest currency you can offer someone is inspiration because when you inspire people there is no limit to what they can do,” she said. Right now she finds that inspiration in music; can local news deliver it too?
Local news and information needs: Stories of inspiration, so her community sees alternatives to a predestined future.
Interviewee: Manuel, first-generation English speaker
Perspective: Immigrated to the U.S. as an adult
Background: Manuel emigrated from Mexico to the Salinas area in pursuit of more educational opportunities. He learned English then pursued his associate’s degree. He’s now finishing his bachelor’s degree, while he works as a tutor helping people earn their GEDs. His mother picks leafy greens at a commercial farm and his dad works in a produce-packing plant. Manuel sees education as the key to a better future and he’s always on the lookout for opportunities that will help his parents, his students, and himself. He also seeks out stories of people who have made it; he says he attends local graduations just to hear student stories. “You need to hear them because that’s the thing for motivation. You can see people with more difficulty than us and they did it,” he said.
Local news and information needs: Information on educational and career opportunities, so he and other members of his community can pursue the better life they came to the United States seeking.
What stands out to me about the needs of the people I am interviewing is that local news outlets do create this type of content: stories of inspirational people in our communities; lists of the best things to do; and reports on local programs and opportunities. It’s there, but maybe not with the frequency and accessibility people need. This is the information I’ve mislabeled as fluff, stories that I did not consider of high value, but I’m learning that community members see it as essential. I think by shifting our view of this content, we can be more intentional about how, why, and when it’s produced.
These are just a few of my early insights. I have more interviews to conduct and needs to uncover. Together they will inform the next phase of my project, which is to create and test prototypes of audio products that will meet some of these needs. Follow along as I detail those successes and failures in my next posts.
