If the ambition is real systemic change — not just another innovation pilot — then backing locally embedded, community-rooted journalism is not charity. It is common sense.
In search of a New Year’s resolution
Technology keeps advancing, and artificial intelligence (so much talked about) advances with it. But what about understanding and being informed?
It’s early spring after a turbulent winter, another Friday working remotely, and I feel it: there is an epidemic of loneliness around us. We were promised closeness: the internet and social media would connect us, and here we are: social media turned out to be neither social nor media, feeds scroll endlessly and conversations flatten into comments and we end up drifting into bubbles. What was meant to inform us now serves other purposes and other interests — not ours.
To combat feeling fooled and disappointed, I turn to what feels radically real and hopeful, toward what I have seen actually working: true connection, physical presence, accountability to the people you meet again the next day.
I turn to local journalism.
Through my journey with CORRECTIV.Europe, I have come to believe that despite the dire state of the local media ecosystem, local media may still hold the strongest position for journalism’s future. Not because of scale. Because of depth. As Nic Newman notes in his prediction for journalism in 2026, in a world flooded with content, newsrooms cannot win on scale, but they can compete by being distinctive, human, and deeply relevant to clearly defined communities. Colleagues at FT Strategies also underline this in their recent Local News Playbook, pointing to community connection and direct relationships as the primary drivers of sustainable local news.
Local journalism understands this instinctively. We do too. In CORRECTIV, we practice it by treating journalism as a civic cycle rather than a one-way broadcast: investigative reporting at the core, surrounded by participation and empowerment. We open investigations to citizens through tools like CrowdNewsroom, share community-based solutions via Starthub community. We insist on being physically present in Gelsenkirchen, our local newsroom Spotlight works from inside a café, not behind glass walls; and in Berlin, we collaborate with actors and comedians to produce FunFacts, a live satire news show that weaves fact-checked reporting together with laughter and music. In both cases, the boundary between newsroom and community becomes more porous.
Across Europe, I see many similar instincts. Bristol Cable runs live podcast recordings and community events calendar, Revista Late in Madrid brings journalism and debate into the same room; Mensagem de Lisboa turns investigations into theatre and public readings. Different formats, shared conviction: journalism gains strength when it is embedded. Local journalists know their streets, understand the rhythms of their towns, and can specialize in what truly matters. They choose depth over width because they know that in a time saturated with noise, depth is strategic, and in a time of isolation, presence is structural. And this is something those who invest into or structurally support journalism might want to look at more closely. If the ambition is real systemic change — not just another innovation pilot — then backing locally embedded, community-rooted journalism is not charity. It is common sense.
